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| Panoramic Shot of Sanctuary Forest |
The Sanctuary Forest is a small but important link in the restoration of the Mattole Watershed in Humboldt County. Located right off the main road, a very public process that has taken many years is now nearing completion.
With a lot of public input, a final plan was implemented to thin the stand of excess younger trees, perform extensive road improvements to lower sedimentation, add structures (boulders, large woody debris) to build habitat in the river for salmon and, at the same time, all the existing ancient and large trees have been protected. The plan is to possibly reenter the stand one more time in 2 or 3 decades to complete the spacing improvement on the remaining smaller trees and then to leave the stand untouched in perpetuity as an example of excellent restoration forestry.
Mr. Tim Metz has been the forester on this job since Day 1 and is closely supervising every aspect of the job. The small amount of timber removed will enhance the spacing of the remaining trees to more closely mimic what an unlogged ancient stand looks like.
All the lumber will be milled by Forever Redwood and will be made into tables, pergolas and other products in 2016 and 2017. We are very happy to be a part of this solution and will continue to work with Tim on his many other restoration projects throughout Humboldt County’s Redwood forest in the coming years.
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| Canopy is kept mostly closed after the thinning is completed | Some of the logs harvested from Sanctuary Forest | Stand after harvesting but with logs still on the ground |
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| Tim on site | View of Sanctuary Forest stand after thinning completed |
