Chainsaws: What To Look For
Chances are you’ve never run a chainsaw and maybe never will; but if you’re a ruralite, a rancher or an outdoors enthusiast you’re going to need one sooner or later. Even North Idaho urban dwellers this year saw the need…
Sweet Rain: Minimizing Forest Fire Danger
It was only yesterday I wrote about the danger of North Idaho forest fires following a long period of sun, high temperatures and two ferocious wind storms. I had not even checked the weather report on my cell phone, or…
North Idaho: No Serious Forest Fires Yet
I don’t want to predict or even imagine that North Idaho will experience anything like what it did in 1967 when the Sundance Fire took off and ran across nearly 40 miles of timbered mountain from just east of Coolin,…
CLT: Can It Rebuild Idaho’s Timber Industry?
Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is not new. It’s been developed profitably in Germany for more than a decade. Now it’s here, in the US. Is it possible this remarkable structural technology could rebuild Idaho’s weakened timber industry? Some people think…
Breaking Technology on Forest Products
Shedding Light on Forest Products Actually the technology is not at all new. It’s been utilized profitably, quite profitably in Europe for some 25 years. What’s new is the understanding in America that this technology, known as CLT or Cross…
Will the Idaho Timber Industry Rebound?
Will the Idaho Timber Industry make a Comeback? New technological developments in the harvest and use of trees for lumber and building materials are showing signs of a real comeback for the timber industry. Companies like the Idaho Forest Group…
Priest Lake: A Good Dusting of Snow in the Mountains
Our Mountains have seen a Good Dusting of Snow It’s a good thing. It’s pretty up there too, isn’t it? For me, seeing such a powder-white snow on the mountain ridges brings vitality to my heart. It adds a bit…
Sentinels of a Mountain Blizzard, Remnants of Fire
With the very serious fire situation that plagued Washington state this year (2014), we in North Idaho not only empathize and care much about the damage done there, we pray and hope it doesn’t visit us again either. We had…
Sandpoint: Where is the Panhandle National Forest Office Located?
Where is the Panhandle National Forest Office in Sandpoint? The Panhandle National Forest office building is located just south of the Sandpoint High School half a block off Highway 2 on Ontario. Panhandle National Forest 1602 Ontario Street Sandpoint, ID…
North Idaho: Abundant Water Supply
The Grand Importance of North Idaho’s Abundant Water Supply In the scheme of things, we can readily see the great importance of North Idaho’s abundant water supply. Just last week, California Governor Jerry Brown declared his state’s worst drought a…