The Making of ForeverRedwood

We want to take a minute to apologize to some of our customers. We are still behind schedule at the shop due to a large volume of work orders the past couple months. Although we are finally getting caught up, we want to apologize for the 6 to 8 week turnaround some have experienced and a few are still experiencing.

The guys are working as hard as they can 6 days a week, 11 hour days. Forever Redwood is all built by hand to very high standards. The quality is excellent, but slow is the only way we know to make sure each piece is perfect.

To acknowledge our slowness this summer, we are having our first ever "Take Your Time" sale. Yes - if you are not in a hurry and can wait 6 weeks for your stuff, we will happily discount any item on the website 20%. (Please note our normal turnaround time is down to 5 weeks right now and will be back to 3 weeks by mid-September. If we have committed to shipping or delivering your order out on a specific date, please don't worry - we will.)

To take advantage of the sale, just type "TAKEYOURTIME" in the coupon code box at checkout (or mention it when you call in) and we'll know you are a patient supporter of our work willing to wait to save and get a great piece built. The sale will end on Monday the 17th.

What You Can Do To Save Red Wood : ForeverRedwood.com

Restoration takes time and money. OGA’s work is partly funded by grants from the California Department of Forestry and the Tides Foundation of San Francisco, CA. OGA is funded by a combination of grants, tax breaks for our property owner-partners and sales of our wood products (firewood, patio furniture sales and custom milling). OGA accepts tax-deductible donations/grants to help defray costs for road and stream restoration work, additional forest improvement and land acquisition.
OGA is action-oriented. We don’t write letters to our congressman or do petition drives. We are hard-working, tree-hugging business people. We buy forestland, restore it and practice excellent stewardship ourselves. Talking doesn’t get the job done. We prefer to get involved directly and walk the talk. Please consider this a personal invitation… Consider showing up and making it happen. There is an endless amount of work to do. Kick down some $$ to restore and protect your own piece of the planet. Restore forestland and wildlife habitat, make a little money down the road and, if you like, get dirty in the woods in your free time… Investing the time and money to do the restoration right pays off because forest volume and quality multiplies. Some of this growing timber volume is carefully harvested perpetually at an ever-increasing premium while the global cooling overall timber volume increases, and the diversity and beauty of the forestland continually improves.
Restoration forestry is physically demanding. If you or your children would like to work in the woods, the field tasks are tailored to meet individual abilities. Regardless of the weather, a day in the oods is always sweetened by a reinvigorated mind, body and spirit.
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Restoration forestry helps reverse global warming. Large trees have many times more growing shoots than young trees because they have more layers of branches and each branch continues to develop growing shoots like an individual tree. Although a 200-foot tree does not have branches near the ground, it generally has over one hundred feet of sun collecting, carbon absorbing and oxygen creating large branches. By limiting the rate of harvest to 1% per year, restoration forestry allows young forestlands to regain almost all the volume of an ancient forest over the course of 120 years. By allowing a working forest to return to volumes close to a climax ancient forest, enormous amounts of carbon are sequestered while at the same time maintaining the forest in production. By contrast sustainable forestry, at a rate of harvesting of 2% per year also sequesters carbon in perpetuity, but at a fraction of the amount per acre of a forest managed at a rate of cut of 1% per year (see forest volume accumulation charts on page 53).
Although mature forests grow at slower rates than young forests, they add volume at a greater rate decade to decade. The young forests under industrial or “certified sustainable” programs like the Forest Stewardship Council and others are cut at rates of 2.0 to 2.5% per year limiting the accumulation of volume and carbon sequesteration to a fraction of the carrying capacity of the forest. Under restoration forestry, the accumulated volume of a mature forest is left uncut and standing to eep the global cooling carbon from being released back into the atmosphere.
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We hope to restore as much of our Redwood watersheds as quickly as nature, finances and our backs allow. As this project proceeds, it will stand on its accomplishments as an example and inspiration for others to emulate. Visitors are welcomed.
The standards on the pages that follow are simple to understand. They are “on the ground” standards for “doing yourselfers”. These standards are the foundation for a “Global Cooling Standard” for forestry practices. For more information, contact Raul Hernandez at (866) 332-2403, email at raul@sonic.net, or write:
Old-Growth Again
Box 19
Annapolis, CA 95412 U.S.A.

What You Can Do : ForeverRedwood.Com

Restoration forestry exists worldwide; unfortunately, it is small compared to industry and government practices. If you share the old-growth again vision, here are four possible avenues for your interest:
First, if you own forestland, attach a “restoration forestry” conservation easement. This way, you retain ownership and use while restoring and protecting the land in perpetuity. Conservation easements are tailored to the property owner’s wishes. They outline how the forest can be used. They legally protect the land’s biological diversity by allowing the forest’s beauty and majesty to increase decade by decade. Placing a conservation easement on forestland often results in a federal income tax deduction, estate tax relief and/or annual property tax relief. The easement also insures that the recreational value of the property grows as the forest matures into an older ecosystem. And, in time, you and your children will be financially rewarded when the restored forest begins to yield sustainably harvested timber. If the land is in Sonoma or Mendocino Counties, OGA can be contracted to help coordinate the easement process and/or to manage the long-term forest restoration. For more information, call us at 866-332-2403 or email us at info@oldgrowthagain.org. Appendix A explains the conservation easement and includes a complete copy of a conservation easement agreement.
Second, learn how and do it yourself. Our internship program accepts a handful of responsible individuals every year. The goal is to train others to do “hands-on” restoration forestry elsewhere. Tuition is free – room and board is traded for 80 hours of field work/study spread out over a calendar year. (See internship program, page 13).
Third, become a neighbor. Forestland in the area is usually available. Almost all parcels have been logged and are ripe for restoration. Tax breaks are available for investing in forest restoration. Zoning usually allows for two residences per parcel. Parcel size ranges from 2 acres up to 640 acres. Roads are usually gravel and electricity is only available in some areas. For electricity, many residents use a combination of solar power, generators and batteries. Conventional phone service is often available. Cellular phones often work well. Water is plentiful via springs, wells, rain collection or from streams. Property taxes in California are generally fixed at 1% of the property’s purchase price. Property taxes increase only when new structures are built via the county’s building permit process. Property taxes are often decreased when conservation easements are attached to the deed. OGA maintains a list of available properties.
Fourth, own part of an OGA Project. If direct ownership is complicated or liability issues are a concern, co-ownership is another option. For example, you can own shares in a corporation that holds title to the land. This limits liability and eliminates land management duties. Some OGA managed land is co-owned in corporations or in trusts, while other parcels are owned by two or three individuals in partnerships.
OGA has grown through hard work and relationships with like-minded friends. The most difficult work is the gradual reduction of the hardwood volume and the slash cutting, soil preparation and planting to help the conifers become dominant again. The hardwoods are cut and removed and most is sold for firewood. Firewood is a difficult business to make a profit, but it lowers restoration costs and thereby contributes to the bottom line. OGA’s investor partners have invested over $5,000,000 to date. If you would like to be a partner in this vision, please contact us. Tax breaks are available for restoration forestry investments. Besides doing your part to restore forestland, when you add the tax benefits, and land value appreciation, forest restoration is a handsome financial investment long-term.

Forest Work Objectives : ForeverRedwood.Com

Restore Old-Growth Species Variety and Canopy Structure: Restoration forestry works with the land’s biological relationships. Before removing a tree, its relationship with the canopy, soil, slope of the land, erosion, fire hazard, age and species distribution of neighboring trees are all considered. OGA performs a series of “low-grade” thinnings at intervals of ten years to help the forest slowly recreate a canopy and species structure similar to what existed prior to logging. These “low-grade” thinnings do the opposiwhat the logging did by removing mostly deformed and crowded immature trees. Each decade, the thinning removes 10% of the forest’s total standing timber volume. Because a young stand adds over 30% new volume of wood per decade, thinning 10% per decade translates into less than 33% of the 1year growth rate. As the forest matures, the growth rate slowly declines to 10% per decade after the forest is over 200 years old to match the thinning a Over the coming decades, the forest will again have a tall coniferous canopy of about 150 trees of all ages with several large snags and deformed (wolf) trees per acre. The species composition volume will slowly return to being approximately 90% conifers from the present day 50%. And, the landslides can slowlstabilized and overall erosion reduced so that the forest can naturally rebuild its soil. Once the large erosion sources like landslides, gullies, poorly designed roads and skid trails are corrected, some of thstream’s spawning gravel beds and rearing pools can be rebuilt. This
ealing allowing salmon and trout populations to grow in less time. Demonstrate Financial and Ecological Sustainability: To help recreate a canopy dominated by old-growth and large mature trees, OGA always thins to improve the stand. This allows a high percentage of the best trees to eventually become mature and old-growth. For example, OGA seaside an average of five of the largest and healthiest trees per acre to live out their lives o
500 years or more. Redwoods are favored because of their longevity, but all species are represented. These old-growth trees will grow alongside younger trees that are thinned selectivelyevery ten years. The stand will eventually have a distribution of trees in declining amounts in the under 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200 and over 200-year age groups. By maintainingdiverse stand of old-growth, mature and young trees, the forest will approximate its pre-logging structure. A mature forest with trees of all ages offers ideal habitat for many different life foand offers the richest biological influence for the surrounding area’s atmosphere, water and wildlife. As the forest matures, it will become of growing importance as a wildlife corridor for “mature forest dependent” animals. In contrast to sustainable forestry, restoration forestry makes long-term permanent contributions to global cooling by absorbing and holding a large amount of carbon. Sustainable forestry requires only marginal increases in standing timber volume. The rateof cut allowed under certified sustainably management plans lead to only a smal
carbon over many decades while restoration forestry contribution is enormous. The Restored Forest Becomes an Educational Model: The forest’s living example of maturing to old-growth while contributing economically will demonstrate the viability of restoration forestryand encourage others to adopt its principles. Once the streams, the soils, the landslides and the road problems are stabilized, a careful and conservative thinning program performed once a decadebecomes the long-term restoration tool. Eventually, as the stand matures to over 200 years, it will approach full stocking and growth and will then match the thinning rate of 10% per decade. At this point, with an average of 150 trees of all ages per acre, each decade’s harvest removes one to three mature trees each acre. This is a small portion of the total mature tree volume (up to 30 mature and old-growth trees per acre). The forest with trees of all ages and a canopy dominated by mature and old-growth conifers can be maintained in this state in perpetuity as long as the 10% per decade thinning rate is not increased. These standards are “restorative” in nature because they mforest towards its ancient form. Restoration forestry standards7
requirements to certify a forest as “sustainably-harvested”. Conifers begin making quality wood after age 70. By providing rare mature \wood, OGA can harvest consistent income from a fraction of forest growth. In this way, the ecosystem flourishe and contributes economically. Ecologically, the key is to consistently harvest very lightly and carefully. Economically, the key is to manage land with little or no debt.

Custom Designs Foreverredwood.Com

We are always willing to do a custom new design. Custom designs, custom options & details and custom sizing are the secrets to our ever-expanding product selection. We don’t run a factory. We operate an old-fashioned wood working shop. Everything is made by hand and will always be done this way. This gives us the flexibility to say yes as often as possible. Sometimes we can’t get it done, but usually it leads to interesting new items we wind up adding to our website’s offerings.

If you have a design you’d like made, send it over. It will take a bit of time, but odds are we’ll come up with a beauty.

In this photo our in-house master carpenter Tony Toledo and I are working out ways of strengthening and refining the basic skeleton of an arched hammock stand design (next to us on the table).

This is the finished product, which we've named the Noah's Arc Hammock.

es, you can have large wood furniture items shipped cross-country (or across the oceans) to your door without a glitch. We do it every day. Since 1995, Forever Redwood has shipped thousands of items of all sizes all over the US, Canada, and occasionally Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Our shipping partners (Fed Ex, UPS, YellowFreight and other LTL carriers) are fast and reliable. In the rare case something gets dinked, we remake replacement parts at no cost and ship within a week.

If you order Forever Redwood furniture, you will never receive boxes full of hundreds of parts to decipher. All small items ship fully assembled (that includes Planter Boxes up to 1′ W x 1′ H up to 8′ L, Swing Seats, Mini & Tiny Foot Stools, all the folding items, etc.). For larger items, we design to minimize re-assembly (ship many sections already assembled). For example, Dining Chairs usually ship in 4 to 6 parts—just enough to limit the size of the packaging and keep shipping costs down. Even many large items are less than 10 parts, for example, the 8 ft Patio Table ships in 8 parts.

If you’re curious how an item is re-assembled, download the PDF instructions for it at:
www.foreverredwood.com/assembly.html

Small orders usually ship Fed Ex Ground. Large items (like picnic tables, swing sets or pergolas) ship in a crate with padded boxes strapped in it via LTL carriers like FedEx Freight or UPS Freight. Once your crate arrives at the distribution center near you, you’ll be called to set up a convenient time to deliver. Crates are dropped off on your driveway. Then, you can unscrew the crate and move the individual boxes easily (no box weighs over 90 lbs). We ship from San Diego, CA. If you live in CA, we can assemble your order for a small extra charge.

Robert Galusha is a good friend of Forever Redwood and is the designer behind some of our most successful products. Based in Kingman, Arizona, he offers fine furniture made to order. From reinterpretations of classic styles to the freshest of contemporary pieces, his award-winning work has appeared in many design publications including the cover of “Architectural Digest.” If you are interested in commissioning a unique accent piece or a whole room full of furniture, we highly recommend his services. You can learn more by visiting www.RobertGalusha.com.

Economy and Ecology : Forever Redwood Concern

Humanity exists within an intricate web of biological/energetic relationships. Over time, this web has evolved seemingly infinite biological expressions on the earth from landscapes to homosapiens.1 Where forestland develops, the most evolved landscapes are the old-growth forests. At the dawn of history, these all-age forests covered half of the earth’s land surface outside of the arctic regions. Since then, over 40% of this forest has been converted to human use or turned into desert. This historical conversion continues with a growing percentage of the remaining forest being simplified, fragmented and/or degraded. (A 1997 United Nations study reports that between 1980 and 1995, deforestation totaled 2,000,000 km2 in developing countries while the industrialized world reclaimed a modest 200,000 km2 of forest area.)
The large biomass of a mature forest moderates the earth’s energetic extremes in a variety of ways. For example, mature forests have a tremendous capacity to retain water and influence overall weather patterns. They continually recycle and increase local rainfall. They release large amounts of moisture when the air is dry and re-absorb moisture at night or when raining. They moderate streams by quickly absorbing and slowly releasing water into the watershed. The forest absorbs pollution and also moderates temperature and wind. The larger and more extensive the forest cover, the greater the moderating effect. The larger the biomass of a forest, the greater amount of carbon it holds.
In contrast, the highest and best use of land economically begins with skyscrapers and moves down in order of economic concentration to suburbs, industrial agriculture and forestry. By its short-term nature, the market economy undervalues the highly evolved state of “undeveloped” earth-land and its web of biological relationships. As long as equal value does not exist for both ecology and economy, the quantity and quality of the Earth’s forests and all related life will continue declining. Despite the work of environmental organizations, the planetary trend is toward more population, resource consumption and pollution while old-growth forests continue to decline. If you are sympathetic to changing this dangerous course, read on. Otherwise, please recycle.
The tree planting programs of the large timber companies is a good example of economy and ecology not being considered equally. These programs are generally praised – even though they convert biologically complex forests into young tree-farms. The tree-farms maximize profits in the short-term and maintain tree cover over the land. But, tree-farms often alter the forest structure and trigger an interrelated chain of consequences. For example, many tree-farms plant only fast-growing “genetically-engineered” species. Chemical herbicides are used to eliminate the naturally regenerating competing trees. Because of these practices, industrially managed tree-farms reduce tree species variety and composition. Less tree species and the logging of all trees while young and small (60 years-old) eliminates habitat for some animals and insects and keeps the biomass of the land at a small fraction of its carrying capacity. The relatively small biomass of the young forest limits the moderating effect of the forestland and its capacity to sequester carbon. (The illustration on page 2 and 3 dramatically illustrates the size and structure differences of a 60-year-old tree-farm stand and a mature and old-growth forest.)
Removing tree species that time selected for a specific area invites long-term imbalance into the forest. The interrelated chain of events continues to slowly unfold. Because different tree species use and build-up varying amounts of soil minerals, altering species composition eventually causes imbalances in the mineral content of the soil. Chemical fertilizers are then used to compensate for the soil imbalances. Because the predators of certain insects are eliminated with their host trees, insect populations change. Insect infestations become common and widespread. This leads to insecticide use and more genetic altering to develop “bug-resistant” trees. The regular use of herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers cause the soil’s natural productivity to drop because the populations of microorganisms and fungi that are part of its biological web decline. Genetic engineering and the use of chemicals add instability by changing the forest’s self-regulating form.2 But, by equally weighing economy and ecology, restoration forestry balances the over-emphasized financial perspective that allows biological degradation to occur.

Restoration Forestry and Global Cooling

The simplest definition is “a forest that has never been logged.” But, old-growth/ancient forests are ore complex than that. At least six components make-up an old-growth forest:

1.Trees 200 or more years old.

2.Trees of all ages.

3.Large standing dead trees (snags).

4.Large fallen trees in streams and on the forest floor.

5.Many canopy layers (uppermost branchy layer of the forest).

6.Fertile, textured soil.

Until one is committed,
there is hesitancy,
the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.
Concerning acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth
the ignorance of which
kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
That the moment one definitively commits oneself,
then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one’s favor
all manner of unforeseen incidents
and meetings and material assistance
which no person could have dreamt would come their way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now. - Goethe