Montana DNRC Field Trip
Posted: June 3, 2013We had the privilege of giving a tour to the Montana DNRC last week. The field trip started off with a power point presentation about Sustainable Lumber Co. and then a detailed step by step process of our company.
The first stop was one of our past logging sites. Dallis Hunter (our certified green logger) educated the group about one of his past thinning projects. The project was for a private land owner looking to reduce beetle kill pine trees. The land owner desired to reduce forest fuels and wanted to improve the overall forest health of his property in order to enhance and support more wild life. Dallis gave us a tour of the 1000 acre project that included the removal of beetle kill pine trees, snags left behind for small forest animals to call home, pockets of thick immature lodge pole trees for dear and elk to bed down in, and thousands of living trees that were left intact and manicured individually by de-limbing the lower branches to reduce their chances of a forest fire. One of the most notable statistics was the 178 miles Dallis put on his four wheeler to carefully re-seed the entire forest after the thinning project wascompleted.
The next stop was Dallis sort yard. Dallis sorts his logs and takes the smaller diameter logs to local sawmills to be processed into lumber which is then distributed across the country and used in home construction. The larger diameter old growth beetle kill Ponderosa Pines are cut up and processed into our product lines consisting of flooring, doors, and cabinets. Currently we are the only company in the lumber industry processing salvaged old growth Ponderosa Pine and grading for color and character. The average age of our old growth Ponderosa Pine averages 200-400 years old, just imagine if these trees could talk and tell us stories about what they have seen. To give these majestic trees a second life and display their beauty and wisdom for another generation is an honor.
The next stop was our millwork plants in Gold Creek, MT. Once the boards are cut into planks they are placed into our kilns and slowly cured to 6-8% moisture content. Once cured we handcraft into the finest quality flooring, doors, and cabinets on the market. Our products are individually hand crafted and we check quality up to 12 times per board. Our finished products are the highest quality on the market today and are sold to some of the most exclusive homes and commercial projects across thecountry.
The tour ended in cocktails and lots of good conversation.
A personally thanks to the Montana DNRC for their support.