An active training program

In order to make this vision a reality, the importance of maintaining an active training program for local carpenters, with an emphasis on forest restoration training led in 2001 to the establishment of a forestry apprenticeship program in Bonny Doon, California. Traditional hand craftsmenship skills are taught using adzes, and hand planes for mortice and tenon joinery. Many traditional textures are employed to create the hand-hewn post and beam timbers. Careful attention to the forest season allows us to harvest trees during the short bark peeling season, when the finished beams can be polished smooth and left completely natural. As trees age and die naturally they are harvested, and most of their branches are chipped into mulch to be re-distributed on the forest floor. Low impact trails are maintained by using skid-sleds to transport beams out of the forest, eliminating the use of tractors and heavy equipment.

Community

Outreach to the community takes the form of hosting local elementary school field trips each year and involving area landowners in the process of selective harvests, with the support of the local watershed association.