Whatcom County Farm Forestry Association announced its 66th annual Tree Sale event to raise money for forestry education programs. Seedling pre-orders from a selection of 15 species of trees starts on Feb. 1 and runs until March 12.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions about forestry and tree farms,” said Lisa Tiemersma, the chairperson for the Tree Sale. “We’re just hoping to educate people on the benefits.”
Tiemersma and her father, Tom Westergreen, described a variety of benefits provided by the community, from diverse wildlife habitat and carbon sequestering to financial support for schools and other local taxing districts when timber is harvested.
The nonprofit association, affiliated with the Washington Farm Forestry Association, has established itself as the voice for small forest landowners, said Westergreen, who is the nonprofit’s membership chair.
“People are into planting trees,” Westergreen said. “They always have been, and they continue to be — so that’s a public service that we provide.”
Whatcom County Farm Forestry Association has sold more than 1.3 million seedlings over the years and will make 23,300 more available this year.
The seedlings, which are 1–2 years old, are usually about 12–24 inches tall. The price for them has gone up from $1.25 to $1.50 apiece this year.
The more popular trees are noble firs, Colorado blue spruce, Fraser fir, incense cedar and giant sequoias, which can sell out quickly.
There are large quantities of western red cedar, western hemlock and Douglas fir, as these are the species foresters in Whatcom County often use to replant after a large harvest, Tiemersma explained.
They are also the species grown from seeds harvested locally from trees with particularly good characteristics.
“We do have limits per species,” Tiemersma said, noting that the limit is set to about 10% of the total quantity of each species. There is no minimum number of trees that can be purchased.
Pre-ordered trees can be picked up at the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds in Lynden between 10 a.m. and noon on March 15. They can be purchased here starting on Feb. 1. There are no in-person sales.
Educational programming by the association includes a free field trip for fifth graders to learn about forestry, as well as a six-hour workshop for teachers.
While the nonprofit is mostly focused on education opportunities, it is also looking at ways to better engage with the public. Last year, it held a workshop at the Bellingham Library discussing carbon sequestration and the positive role tree farms have in capturing carbon.
“Our trees are a continuing solution to climate change, absorbing carbon from the air while they grow and then when we need to harvest some, the carbon is stored in manufactured solid wood products,” Westergreen previously told Cascadia Daily News.
Tiemersma pointed out that “everyone uses timber products.”
Despite this, however, many people who want to stop timber harvests in the region fail to realize the environmental consequences of the import of timber products from overseas, as well as the impact it has on local tree farms and the industry, she said.
“There’s still this huge misunderstanding of what forest management is all about here in Whatcom County,” Westergreen said.
Westergreen said he hopes increased education in the community about forestry practices will make it possible to get the “social license to grow and harvest our trees.”
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.