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Sept. 20, 2004
Modern Use of Draft Horses in Logging and Restorative Forestry
Demonstrated
 BOONE--A restorative
forestry lecture and demonstration will be held Friday, Oct. 1,
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Springhouse
Farm
in Valle Crucis. Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch.
The event is sponsored by Appalachian State University’s
College of Fine and Applied Arts, Department of Art and Sustainable
Development Program.
Jason Rutledge from the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation will lead the lecture
and demonstration along with Clifford Cox and his horses.
Tree farms often are planted with pines and then clear-cut, producing a 35-year
tree crop. Some loggers selectively cut the best trees, a practice called “high
grading” which can create a poor forest.
Healing Forest Foundation endorses a process that works the opposite way. Woodsman
cut about 30 percent of a stand every 10 to 15 years. Damaged or defective trees
are cut first, like weeding a garden. The additional light, water and nutrients
help the remaining trees grow. “You just go out and take the worst trees
first, and the forest will get better,” Rutledge said.
Horses work perfectly with Rutledge’s vision of helping forests through
logging. Horses can easily get to select trees, and their hooves do less damage
to the trunks and roots of the remaining trees than heavy equipment.
Rutledge is president and co-founder of the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation,
a 501(c)3 organization established to develop, implement and support community-based
sustainable forestry initiatives through the widespread use of animal-powered
extraction of logs. The group promotes what it calls restorative forestry and
promotes “worst firs” single tree selection of individual trees in
timber harvesting.
Directions to Springhouse Farm: From Boone, take Hwy. 105 South (towards Foscoe/Banner
Elk). Turn right at the first stoplight outside of Boone (just over the Watauga
River bridge) onto Broadstone Road, towards Valle Crucis (follow signs to the
Mast Store). Drive 2.8 miles and turn left onto Hwy. 194 towards Banner Elk,
directly in front of the Valle Crucis Elementary School. Drive approx. 1/2 mile
and turn left onto Clark’s Creek Road (the first state road). Drive 1.8
miles, the road turns to gravel, and the road name changes to Justus Road. Continue
to drive straight 1/3 mile, the farm is the second house on the right after the
road turns to gravel (just over the second small bridge). Look for a shed covered
with old license plates along the road and a brown mailbox labeled Springhouse
Farm.
Call (828) 963-4656 for additional information.
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