Sherwood Demonstration Forest History

Ralph and Alexy Playfair purchased this tract of land in the early 1930's. The varying stump heights and sizes attest to the different logging methods used over the years. The original old-growth fir, pine, and larch were cut with crosscut saws and hauled by horse-drawn sleds to a sawmill located on the south edge of the farm. The site was frequently burned until 1945 - first by Native Americans and trappers traveling to the Pend Oreille valley, and later by the landowners clearing brush for livestock grazing. Between 1910 and 1950 a total of five sawmills operated in the Chewelah valley not far from this site. During those years, it was easier to move the mill to the timber site rather than haul the oversized logs to the mill. These and other activities, such as fall burning and woodcutting, formed the present landscape. (NOTE: This information is specific to this area only. All forest treatments should be implemented with proper planning, following site specific guidelines for proper management.)

Site Facts:

In northeastern Washington, Private Family Forest landowners own more than 900,000 acres of forestland.

• Acreage by county:
  • 411,000 acres Stevens County
  • 223,000 acres Spokane County
  • 148,000 acres Pend Oreille County
  • 118,000 acres Okanogan County
  • 96,000 acres Ferry County
• Stevens County, Washington, has the most family forest landownership acreage in the state and west of the Mississippi River. (2001 DNR Database).
• In 1998, Private Family Forest landowners harvested nearly 1.4 billion board feet of timber in Washington. By volume, this accounts for more than 38 percent of the timber harvested for the entire state.

Forest Terminology:

• Defoliating: Removal of leaves and foliage.
• Forage: Food for animals
• Foraging: To search for food; grazing or browsing.
• Forestry: The art and science of establishing and managing forests and their associated resources for a variety of benefits and values
• High-Grading: A harvesting technique that removes only the best trees to obtain high, short-term financial returns at the long-term expense of remaining stand growth potential.
• Invertebrates: insects and other organisms lacking a spinal column.
• Limiting factors: Environmental factors that far outweigh other factors in restricting normal increase of a species.
• Regeneration: The replacement of one forest stand by another as a result of natural seeding, sprouting, planting, or other methods.
• Residual stand: Trees that remain following any cutting operation.
• Salvaging: Harvesting or removing damaged or defective trees for their economic value.
• Seedling: A tree, usually less than one inch in diameter, and no more than three feet in height, which has grown from a seed (in contrast to a sprout).
• Silviculture: The art, science, and practice of establishing, tending, and reproducing forest stands with desired characteristics, based on knowledge of species characteristics and environmental requirements.
• Site Preparation: Preparing an area of land for forest establishment. Methods used may include clearing, chemical vegetation control, or burning.
• Snags: The upright trunk of a dead or dying tree.
• Sprout: A stem produced vegetatively from stumps or roots; sometimes a branch after the stem was formed.
• Stand: A grouping of forest vegetation sufficiently uniform in composition, age, and condition to be distinguished from surrounding vegetation types and managed as a single unit. Stand and unit are sometimes used to describe the same area.
• Stewardship: The wise use and management of forest resources to ensure their health and productivity today with regard for generations to come.

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