WFFA Farm Tour 2025 • 1
Senescent alder on the right (> 70 years old), (already dead & removed on the left), replaced by Bigleaf maple in the background and planted Port Orford cedar in the foreground. Cannot regenerate conifers in riparian zone below until rule waiver allows alder harvesting. Tried and failed to underplant in the ravine below.
WFFA Farm Tour 2025 • 2
First thinned alder stand (~45 years old, thinned at ~20yrs). May grow out another 10-15 years before harvest to increase value of veneer logs. Hand and self-pruned more than 15 years ago. More success with understory planting with more light from the “edge effect.”
WFFA Farm Tour 2025 • 3
Mature hardwood stand (< 20% conifer) showing average spacing of more than 20 feet between trees (< 100 TPA), with fully closed canopy. “Perfect” alder in foreground with top veneer grade up to about 30’.
WFFA Farm Tour 2025 • 4
Measured alder in 1/8-acre stand (~45 years old, thinned at ~25yrs). High site index for alder (>100). DBH measured in 2007 and 2021, showing basal area growth of 65% in that period. Average DBH 2007: 11.7”, 2021: 15.1”. Estimated currently 184 TPA, 227sf BA. Demonstrates that productive stand size < 1 acre is possible.
WFFA Farm Tour 2025 • 5
Multi-species, multi-age stand complexity in the Central Ravine, including large maple snag. Replanting will mostly be cedar and hemlock in the openings provided by fallen/dying legacy maples on the steep north-facing slope.
WFFA Farm Tour 2025 • 6
“Banyan” Cedar. An artifact of silvopasturing, in which decades of cattle grazing around an open-grown cedar protected by a thicket of blackberry allowed the branches to “layer” on the ground and re-root, producing a ring of younger cedars encircling the mother tree.
Lewis County Washington Garm Forestry Association Annual Picnic and Twilight Tour – July 15, 2025
In an approx. half mile walking tour along mowed paths with some gentle grades, we will visit the four key components of Wild Thyme Farm’s forest and agricultural landscape management plan:
1) Native forest (~100 acres) managed for multiple tree species and age classes, with a balance between hardwoods and softwoods.
2) Wildlife-focused habitat (~10 acres): mostly in afforested riparian floodplain along Garrard Creek, featuring wide and narrow buffer strategies.
3) Agroforestry plantations (~5 acres): Black walnut, ash and other nut and fruit species for timber, food, wildlife, etc.
4) Arboretum (scattered across ~5 acres): Specimen trees, Coastal redwood and Giant sequoia groves.
We are in the process of submitting an Alternate Plan for harvesting alder within our Np riparian core zones, and will explain the process and our strategy for successful reforestation in steep, brush-choked ravine sites.
The afforested agricultural riparian zone along the south side of salmon-bearing Garrard Creek is now 25 years old, and we recently planted a “mini-buffer” (25 feet wide) on the north side to provide maximum shade while maintaining a productive hay field close to the creek.
We will also tour our expanded value-added lumber processing facility, going beyond simple milling to shaped, dried lumber and slabs for furniture. Attendees are welcome to further explore the barn after the tour to learn more about the wood processing venture. Our ability to process timber between formal log harvests has changed how we manage the forest and maintain productivity without sacrificing aesthetics.