The Forest Guild teams up with Southern Forestry Foundation and Biltmore Forest to demonstrate results of soft silviculture and light touch logging
[ North Carolina ] More than a century has passed since the Vanderbilts recruited Gifford Pinchot, and his successor, Carl Schenck, to introduce scientific forest management in Biltmore Forest . They rescued the gullied and cut-over land they acquired just outside of Asheville , which now comprises the bulk of Pisgah National Forest . Against this backdrop of American forest history, a couple dozen visitors converged on a beautiful June day to see, listen, and reflect upon the various places that Biltmore curator, (and Guild member), Bill Alexander included in his tour. Attendees saw large white pines that originated from the days when Schenk retired worn out pastureland with reforestation projects. At one early stop, tour participants saw a promising young hardwood stand smothering former eroded pastureland, and scattered with large pine stumps – a veritable case study of forest species succession. These acres, which had not displayed for two centuries the diversity that this region is famous for, are well on their return to their former splendor.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org