The Forests:

The three forests making up Hyla Woods (Mt. Richmond – 550 acres, Timber – 160 acres, Manning – 70 acres) are examples of temperate rainforests in various stages of regrowth and recovery from roughly a century of active human use.

 

Within the forest we find an exciting range of interdependent species.  We actively work to increase our understandings of how these forests work.

 

The forest’s dominant tree species, Douglas Fir, makes up 84% of the standing volume. Grand Fir (14%), Cedar (3%), Hemlock (0.2%), Maple (3%), and Oak (1%) make up the other significant species.

 

Due to our choice to harvest at a level that is less than half of the annual growth rate of five to eight percent, the standing volume of Hyla Woods has increased steadily over the past twenty years to more than 8.3 million board feet. 

 

The Forestry:

During the twenty years of our ownership our focus has been restoration and enhancement.  This has included clearing and reforestation of brush patches, selective harvest of lower quality trees, development of road networks, and improvements to overall equipment and facilities.

 

While it is easy to say that our aim is to grow multi age, multi species, ecologically complex forests, figuring out how best to get there is a significant challenge.

Key Challenges:

  1. Single Age to Multi Age - One legacy of past harvest is that much of the forests is in even age stands.  We wrestle with the question of how to make the transition from even age stands to multi age, given the dependence of many species on a minimum level of sunlight to grow.
  2. Invasive Species – Throughout the forests, we are challenged to keep invasive plants – particularly scotch broom and blackberry – from choking out native species. 

 

Elements of our forestry approach include: