Forestry
Tools
Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy. 2010.
Yellow Wood partnered with the Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC) to develop the Community Roadmap to Renewable Woody Biomass Energy: A step-by-step decision-making tool for NH communities through a contract with the North Country Resource Conservation and Development Area Council. This workbook is a civic decision-making tool to help New Hampshire communities through the information-gathering process required to decide whether woody biomass heating technologies applied to one or more buildings can help meet one or more community energy goals. This valuable tool was created so that communities will have the information they need, and a logical process to follow, to make informed decisions about the role biomass may play in their energy future. Click here to access the Roadmap electronically.
Research
U.S. Forest Service Wood Energy Resource Center, Woody Biomass Technical Assistance Team. 2009 - present. In an effort to help the Northeast and Midwest meet their needs for renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction through the sustainable utilization of woody biomass, the U.S. Forest Service has engaged Yellow Wood Associates to conduct third party feasibility analyses that help agencies, communities, and institutions evaluate how wood energy can meet local energy needs; what technologies are available; at what scale and cost; and what benefits could result. To date this effort has resulted in 24 studies in four states, including an analysis for a small biomass district energy system for Trapp Family Lodge, located in Stowe, VT. Two facilities provided services through this contract have received additional funding to implement the recommended biomass systems.
"Just thought you might want to know that last Thursday, our board approved moving forward with the wood boiler at the parks and town garage. The stoves have been ordered and the installer is meeting with our parks and highway guys today. The construction company has been picked…we ended up ordering two smaller boilers (I think they are 345) Aquatherm. Your study provided such a good foundation for us in making this decision. It took many, many months to get everyone to a place where it could happen, but having good information definitely helped. Thanks!"
-Sue Montgomery Corey, Supervisor, Highways and Parks Department, Town of Minerva
U.S. Endowment for Forests and Communities. 2009. Shanna Ratner and Susanne Moser, PhD worked together to explore the issue of community resilience from the perspective of literature and key informant interviews with 25 rural development practitioners from around the country. They identified stages of community resilience and investigated the role of institutions, policies, leadership and culture in creating the capacity for resilient response to stressors. The relationship between community wealth and community resilience was also explored. The final report can be found at http://www.usendowment.org/communityresilience.html. Appendices contain tools, selected research, an essay on the historical evolution and meaning of the concept of resilience, and a list of interviewees.
SmartWood Certification Assessment of Essex Timber Lands. February - June 2001. The Principal of
Yellow Wood participated as socio-economist with a three-member interdisciplinary team to conduct management
assessment of 83,000 acres of private forestland according to criteria established by the Forest Stewardship
Council. Contact Mark Lorenzo, National Wildlife Federation, 58 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 229-0650.
New York Sustainable Forestry Survey. May - August 2000. Yellow Wood prepared, distributed,
developed a database, entered data and Empire State Forest Products Association, 828 Washington Avenue,
Albany, NY 12203, (518) 426-9502.
SmartWood Certification Assessment of New York State. May 1998 - January 1999. Yellow Wood
coordinated the design and implementation of public involvement needed for assessing the management of
700,000 acres of New York State multiple-use forest land for Smartwood certification. Activities included
press releases, key informant interviews, design of a series of public meetings, facilitation of a technical
advisory committee, and compilation of the final assessment report. Contact Mark Lorenzo, National Wildlife
Federation, 58 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 229-0650.
Northeast SmartWood Certification Guidelines for Assessing Forest Management. May - December 1998.
Yellow Wood performed a review of the SmartWood certification guidelines for green certification of logs,
lumber and wood products. Linking consumer consciousness with sustainable forestry practices, the assessment
was conducted with special attention given to social and community interaction with forest resources. This
review was in response to a request by the Northeast Natural Resource Center of the National Wildlife Federation.
Contact Mark Lorenzo, National Wildlife Federation, 58 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 229-0650.
Forest Land Bank Feasibility Study, Center for Compatible Economic Development of The Nature Conservancy.
July - November 1998. Yellow Wood worked in conjunction with Robert J. Turner Co. to assemble data on timber
production, markets, and price trends to evaluate the financial feasibility of a forest land bank in western
New York. The work was conducted on behalf of The Nature Conservancy’s Center for Compatible Economic Development.
Contact Robert Turner, R J Turner Company, 656 Vermont Route17, Bristol, VT 05443, (802) 453-2171, or Kent Gilges,
Center for Compatible Economic Development, The Nature Conservancy, 339 East Avenue, Suite 300, Rochester, NY 14604,
(716) 232-3530.
Fund for Rural America Planning Grant. September 1997 - February 1998. Yellow Wood, in collaboration
with the Forest Trust of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the National Network of Forest Practitioners, received a
Planning Grant from the Fund for Rural America to develop a national center to create and support citizens'
research capacity in rural, forest-dependent communities. The Planning Grant process included site visits to
communities in New Mexico, Vermont and Kentucky to determine which services of such a center would benefit
communities the most. Contact Henry Carey, Executive Director, Forest Trust, PO Box 519, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
(505) 983-8992.
Northeast Stewardship Project Forest Resource Center, Pre-Feasibility Study. June - November 1997.
Yellow Wood prepared a study for a Forest Resource Center, including a forest heritage program, an incubator
for secondary wood processing companies, and a training program for loggers. The study also researched and
compared similar initiatives from around the United States, and includes findings, lessons learned, and
recommendations for next steps for the Northeast Stewardship Project. Contact Jim Wood, Northeast Stewardship
Project, PO Box 374, Concord, VT 05824, (802) 695-1006.
Tug Hill Eastern Core Forest. June - July 1997. Yellow Wood used telephone interviews and
literature reviews to prepare a case study based on the collaborative efforts of the East Branch of
Fish Creek Working Group to conserve and protect the Tug Hill Eastern Core Forest. Contact Jonathan
Kusel, Forest Community Research, PO Box 11, Taylorsville, CA 95983, (916) 284-1022 and Bob Quinn,
Executive Director, Tug Hill Commission, 317 Washington Street, 10th Floor, Watertown, NY 13601, (315) 785-2380.
Flexible Manufacturing Network for Wood Products Firms. July 1995 - January 1997. Yellow Wood
prepared a paper on Flexible Manufacturing Networks for Wood Products Firms for the Maine Rural Development
Council and the Maine State Planning Office. The paper includes discussion of the network concept and
profiles of U.S.-based wood product networks, and a brief summary of lessons learned from past experience.
Contact Jim Connors, Maine State Planning Office, 184 State Street, Augusta, ME 04333, (207) 287-3261.
Forest Stewardship and Economic Development in Rural Communities. June - November 1996. Received
a grant from the Vermont Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research to prepare a Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) grant proposal. YWA proposed to develop a Participatory Training Program for
Forest Stewardship and Economic Development in Rural Communities. Contact Dr. Christopher Allen, University of
Vermont and State Agriculture College, Chemistry Department, Cook Building, UVM, Burlington , VT 05405,
(802) 656-7969.
Northern New York Maple Cooperative. June - November 1990. Yellow Wood worked with the Lewis County
Industrial Development Agency to prepare a business plan with recommendations for organizational development
of the Northern New York Maple Producers Cooperative, Inc. of Lewis County, New York. Results identified
organizational weaknesses, prepared market analysis, and evaluated three alternative production and marketing
scenarios for maple syrup. The plan was used to secure funding to hire a marketing specialist for the cooperative.
Contact Ned Cole, Lewis County Industrial Development Agency, 7642 State Street, PO Box 106, Lowville, NY 13367,
(315) 376-3014.
Facilitation
Maine Low Impact Forestry Project. May 1999 - February 2000. Yellow Wood facilitated a series of
focus groups on starting a value-adding forest landowners cooperative to be coordinated bby the Maine Low
Impact Forestry Project of the Hancock County Planning Commission. Participants included approximately
30 landowners with varying levels of experience in forest management. Contact Ron Poitras, Hancock County
Planning Commission, 395 State Street, Ellsworth, ME 04605, (207) 667-7131.
NNFP - Under One Roof. April - June 1999. Yellow Wood facilitated three workshops entitled
“Under One Roof: Exploring New Ways of Working Together in the Northern Forest,” sponsored by the National
Network of Forest Practitioners. These workshops brought together small groups of people from northern
New England with varying interests in forestry and forest products. Participants were invited to share
personal perspectives from their work and visions for the future of the Northern Forest and the forest
products industry. They identified mutual interests and common needs for additional information to
facilitate better decision-making. Contact Thomas Brendler, National Network of Forest Practitioners,
Northeast Regional Office, 305 South Main Street , Providence, RI 02903, (401) 273-6507.
Northeast Stewardship Project Forest Resource Center, Feasibility Study. December 1998 -
September 1999. Yellow Wood evaluated the feasibility of establishing a facility and demonstration
forest to support and coordinate progressive logger training for the region encompassing northern
Vermont and New Hampshire. This project was based upon our pre-feasibility work documenting lessons
learned from forest heritage programs, incubators for secondary wood processing companies, and logger
training programs from around the U.S.
"We think you worked very cooperatively and professionally. You were very
helpful in refining and defining a process to get an overall end result and you had good follow-up
after the project."
-Jim Wood, Northeast Stewardship Project
SmartWood Certification (assessment) of New York State Forest Lands. May 1998 - January 1999.
Yellow Wood coordinated the design and implementation of public involvement needed in assessing the
management of 700,000 acres of New York State multiple-use forest land for SmartWood certification.
Activities included press releases, key informant interviews, design of a series of public meetings,
facilitation of a technical advisory committee, and compilation of the final assessment report.
Contact Eric Palola, 58 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 229-0650.
Training
See The Forest® – Phase II. September 2000 – March 2004. The Southern New England Forest Consortium
sponsored development of materials and implementation of See the Forest for communities in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Participants learned about forest health, forest economics, and institutional
arrangements governing forests in each of their communities. They developed goals, indicators, measures, and
actions regarding their local forested resources. For example, in Burrillville, Rhode Island, community
members conducted a survey of residents to determine how forests are used for recreation and made plans
for a trail map in order to encourage residents to utilize the full range of forest resources in the
community. Contact: Chris Modisette, Southern New England Forest Consortium, P.O. Box 760, Chepachet, RI
02814, (401) 568-1610.
See The Forest – Phase I. May 1998 - October 1999. Worked with conservation commissions in
Starksboro and Huntington, Vermont to develop an interactive workbook and training program designed
to help communities integrate forests into their thinking and planning for stewardship and economic
development. The program, which includes five training modules, was developed as a pilot and funded by
U.S.D.A.’s Small Business Innovations in Research program. The program was successfully test marketed in
New York and West Virginia . Contact Charles Cleland, Director, SBIR Program, USDA/SBIR STOP 2243, 1400
Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20250, (202) 401-6852; Robert Turner, R J Turner Co., 656 Vermont
Route 17, Bristol, VT 05443, (802) 453-2171; Michaela Stickney, 1520 Moody Road, Huntington, VT 05462,
(802) 229-2938.
Strategic Planning
Wood Products Development Strategy for Northern New York. June 1990 - April 1991. On behalf
of the Adirondack North Country Association, YWA prepared a detailed primary and secondary wood product
development strategy for six counties in northern New York. Work included extensive field and phone
interviews with wood products manufacturers within and outside the region, focused literature review,
industry analysis and bench marking to uncover the key characteristics of successful wood products firms
in specific markets. Contact Terry Martino, Adirondack North Country Association, 28 St. Bernard Street,
Saranac Lake, NY 12983, (518) 891-6200.
"This is the best strategy of its kind I have seen."
-Dennis Allee, Senior Deputy Commissioner,
New York State Department of Economic Development
Evaluation
Aspen Institute. May – October 2002. The Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group,
which is administering the Ford Foundation’s Community-based Forestry Initiative in the United States,
invited Shanna Ratner of Yellow Wood Associates to review and analyze the monitoring plans of nine
program participants. Participants include: The Watershed Center (CA), National Wildlife Federation
(VT), Healthy Communities, Healthy Forests (WA), Rural Action (OH), Uncompaghgre (CO), Penn Center (SC),
New England Forest Foundation (MA), Alliance of Workers and Harvesters (Pacific Northwest), and Jobs
and Biodiversity (NM). The analysis highlighted themes that were important to participants in the areas
of economy, forests, community, and organizational development, and formed the basis of discussion at
a national retreat for program participants. Contact Susan LeVan, USDA Forest Service, Forests Products
Laboratory, One Gifford, Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53705-2398, (608) 231-9518.
Integrated Service Delivery for Secondary Wood Processors. July 1995 - May 1996. Yellow Wood
worked with the Maine State Rural Development Council to evaluate a program providing integrated service
to secondary wood processors in five areas of the state. The work involved literature review, on-site
interviews, focus groups, analysis, and recommendations for improvement. Contact Bob Ho, Maine Rural
Development Council, 104 Libby Hall, Orono, ME 04669, (207) 581-3192.
"I’m very pleased with the quality, and detail in this report. It
should get wide distribution, and a permanent place in the literature. "
- Jim Connors, Maine State Planning Office
"I found it to be most informative, objective and extremely well
executed. Your document, if read, referred to and ‘lessons learned’ used by service
providers; they will have invaluable insight into ‘how to’ or ‘how not to’ approach
their clients."
- Timothy F. Washburn,
Central Maine Manufacturing Extension Center
Service
National Network of Forest Practitioners. Shanna Ratner, principal of Yellow Wood is a
founding member of the National Network of Forest Practitioners, serving on the organization’s
Executive Committee, and as Chair of the Research Subcommittee. Ms. Ratner worked with the Forest
Trust staff and subcommittee members to develop a research process bringing trained researchers,
forest practitioners, and community members together to solve issues identified by communities and
practitioners related to forest-based community development. Contact Henry Carey, Forest Trust,
PO Box 519, Santa Fe, NM 87504, (617) 338-7821.
New York State Governor's Council on Forest Resources. October 1994 - January 1995.
Shanna Ratner, Principal of Yellow Wood, served on statewide council to improve industry - government
communications, and strengthen the forest products industry of New York State. Ms. Ratner served
as the Chair of the Public Awareness Subcommittee. She participated in a fact-finding mission
to the states of Washington and Oregon to learn about forest industry support programs. Contact
Bernadette Kulas, NYS Department of Economic Development, 1 Commerce Plaza, Albany, NY 12245, (518) 473-4886.
National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region. March 2000 – 2004.
Citizens and communities of the Northern Forest region have demonstrated the power of local knowledge
and participatory research thanks to a grant from the US Department of Agriculture. Over the course of
four years, the National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region trained local community
researchers, fostered new relationships between communities and the traditional research establishment,
and created new ways for rural people to access information and participate effectively in natural resource
decision-making.
The Northern Forest Regional Center of the National Community Forestry Center was created and administered
by Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. of St. Albans, Vermont, and served Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and central
and eastern New York. The Center helped rural people conduct and use research to inform decision-making about
forest resources. To fulfill this purpose, the Center created a citizens’ Advisory Council with members from
four states and many walks of life and focused on adding value to the work of communities, organizations, and
institutions in the region who share a vision of healthy communities and healthy forests.
The Center’s activities have included developing a network of partnerships with like-minded organizations;
assisting rural communities in defining research agendas and engaging scientists in participatory research;
conducting targeted research to address region-wide issues and opportunities; responding to requests for
information and technical assistance related to community forestry; establishing communication channels
to facilitate information sharing and networking across the region; creating and sustaining the activities
of an advisory council and technical advisors, and working intensively with six communities. The Center’s
work has included qualitative and quantitative research as well as facilitation and training. To receive
further information about the National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region contact Yellow
Wood Associates, Inc., 228 N. Main Street, St. Albans, VT 05478, (802) 524-6141, yellowwood@yellowwood.org.
Browse information on www.ncfcnfr.net for more information about the Center and access to Center resources
including publications and searchable databases.
The National Community Forestry Center was a project of the National Network of Forest Practitioners.
Network members share an interest in rural community development based upon sustainable forestry. The grant,
which provided funding over four years, was the result of a highly competitive national process through the
Fund for Rural America. The National Community Forestry Center was the only project of six centers funded
that was not located at a land grant university and tested an alternative model of research, education, and
extension to meet the needs of rural Americans. Contact Henry Carey, Executive Director, The Forest Trust,
PO Box 519, Santa Fe, NM 87504, (505) 983-8992.
"I have been most impressed by the uniquely distinct role that this
organization has in the natural resources field. I know of no other organization that is so
strongly grounded in the community with the interests of the local citizens and their relation
to the natural environment as the prime objective. I feel that the work of this organization
has just started to make a difference in our communities and can play a role that no other
organization has yet discovered how to do."
-Nancy Patch, North Woods Forestry and Advisory Council member
"The great strength of the Northern Community Forestry Center has been
dialogue and interaction through communication that is truly innovative for our region. The
process has enabled each state in the region to see the possible solutions that other states
have come up with and those ideas have generated new ideas that would not have been possible
otherwise. "
- Don Cyr, Association Culturelle et Historique du Mont-Carmel
and Advisory Council member
"The center, and the communities and people it has served, have achieved
many important and lasting results. Our efforts have reached to the working people of our
region. "
- Ann Ruzow Holland, Planner and Advisory Council member
National Community Forestry Center, Northern Region
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From 2000-2004, Yellow Wood administered the National Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region. Through the Center, YWA staff assisted communities in developing plans and conducting research on a wide range of issues. For more information, visit the NCFCNFR
home page. |