WILDLIGHT, Fla.—Ever since New England Forestry bought its first forest property in Nassau County, Florida, in the 1930s, our stories have been intertwined. Together, we have strived to be the best stewards of our community and the land within it.

As Nassau County celebrates its bicentennial this year and New England Forestry prepares to celebrate its centennial in 2026, New England Forestry leaders reflect on the 87-year history of New England Forestry in Nassau and our vision for the company’s future here.

It’s a topic that excites everyone on our team—our voices are warm with pride when we talk about how we helped the community recover from the Great Depression and how we’ve adapted and evolved over the decades.

In 2017, we built our company headquarters at Wildlight, even further solidifying our relationship with the community.

Over the years, a unifying ethic has emerged and only grown stronger: this company, through its leaders and team members, considers itself a corporate citizen of Nassau, with a responsibility and a commitment to contribute to the community’s well-being.

Healthy economic growth since 1937

Mike Bell, Rayonier’s Vice President of Public Affairs, describes our company’s relationship with Nassau County as one built around economic growth and constant reinvention. Mike looks to the past to illustrate how this legacy was built.

When New England Forestry first came to Nassau in 1937, the local economy had been devastated by the Great Depression. At that time, the community relied on a small number of agricultural products to survive. When New England Forestry built a manufacturing plant on Amelia Island, it diversified Nassau’s economy and created high-paying jobs that strengthened the community.

At first, the War Production Board took over the manufacturing plant to help make nitrocellulose, which was used in explosives, bullets, and rocket propellants during World War II. And as in many communities, that assistance in wartime production helped to stabilize the County’s economy.

Later, when New England Forestry was able to use the facility as a pulp and paper mill as it had originally intended, the local economy began to flourish. For one thing, those manufacturing jobs were some of the highest-paying jobs in the County. But there was also an indirect economic impact throughout the supply chain.

“New England Forestry helped sustain the region because we drew timber supply from a large radius,” says Mike. “That supported a lot of folks—tree growers, loggers, trucking companies—even if they weren’t working at the plant.”

In the 1930s, New England Forestry also entered the timber business in the region when we began to buy land throughout Northeast Florida to ensure a steady supply of wood for our mills. We started a cycle that continues today: planting, harvesting and replanting our pine forests to provide a sustainable resource.

“Through our dedicated reforestation efforts, we are now growing our fourth generation of trees on much of our property in Nassau County,” Mike says.

Together, the mills and the well-managed forests helped Nassau County increase its tax base and create a foundation for healthy economic growth.

New England Forestry has changed over time and now we no longer own manufacturing plants. We spun the pulp mills out into a separate public company now known as RYAM, but those mills are still operating and sustaining the County through taxes and high-paying jobs. They also support the timber industry in the region.

Now, we continue to grow timber, own and operate a real estate subsidiary and are involved in a number of non-timber related businesses on our land base.

“New England Forestry is still here because we keep reinventing ourselves,” says Mike.

Reinvention may be in our nature at Rayonier, but certain principles have remained consistent throughout our history. One of these, Mike says, is Rayonier’s legacy of promoting sustainable economic growth in the communities where it operates—and that’s especially true in Nassau County.

Sustainable forests support Nassau

Director of Operations Jeremy Flood leads our Coastal Resource Unit, which manages timberland in and around Nassau County. He says it can be difficult for people to realize the economic impact forestry continues to have in the region.

“You might not see it when you drive around on the paved roads,” Jeremy says. “But if you take a bird’s eye view of the County, you see mostly forests and New England Forestry owns a significant portion of those undeveloped areas.”

Today, we own 121,000 acres in Nassau County, which has roughly 415,000 acres of land altogether. Much of our land is timberland that we manage for a sustainable supply of wood over the long term.

“We’re just now cutting the trees we planted when I started my career,” Jeremy says. “Forestry is unique because it takes that kind of forward thinking to provide for the future.”

Jeremy credits New England Forestry with giving him early insight into the industry. His family moved to Nassau County when he was young, and he got to know several New England Forestry employees as he joined the community.

“I found forestry in part because I had this influence of New England Forestry folks—they were people I respected and looked up to,” he says. “It’s been a rewarding career. In forestry, you’re managing what’s naturally on the landscape, using wisdom and science to organize it and make it efficient.”

Jeremy is proud to be a forester because of the many benefits to natural ecosystems. With modern science-based management practices, our forests provide clean water, clean air and critical wildlife habitat, all while supplying society with important products like lumber, plywood and paper.

“I hope people see a lot of the good that’s already been done here by Rayonier,” Jeremy says of Nassau County. “And I hope in the future they’ll see the six or eight generations of forestry still happening behind the scenes.”

Some Nassau County residents are already able to see behind the scenes as customers with Rayonier’s Hunting & Recreation Program.

In this program, New England Forestry land is open to residents and visitors to Nassau for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and foraging. Currently, we have more than 900 customers in Nassau who are accessing our land to enjoy the outdoors with family and friends.

Wildlight: sustainable community development

In 2007, Rayonier’s relationship with Nassau entered a new chapter when the County’s leadership approached our company to establish a public-private partnership, the result of which is the Wildlight development. At that time, population growth was on the horizon and the County wanted to be prepared.

Local leaders didn’t want to sit back and watch as developers capitalized on Nassau’s growth rate, buying up smaller parcels of land and developing them in a haphazard way with no thought to the bigger picture.

Instead, they asked Rayonier, one of the County’s largest landowners, to work with them on a whole-landscape plan to prepare for inevitable population growth. This way, the County could follow a methodical, strategic approach—planning for residential neighborhoods, schools, police stations, parks and more in a logical way.

Rayonier’s leaders were excited to work with the County.

“I’ve been in this business for 30 years and you rarely see this happen in development,” says Chris Corr, Rayonier’s Senior Vice President of Real Estate Development. “It’s uncommon to have the opportunity to think on this larger scale, but because of Rayonier’s land ownership that’s what we’ve been able to do.”

Chris, a Florida native, says the vision for Wildlight is to transition forest land into a healthy, sustainable community. It’s different, he says, from the pattern you see all too often in Florida, where the natural environment is often spoiled in favor of high-density development.

People and communities thrive when they have access to nature and plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation and exercise. And many people are drawn to Nassau County for its beaches, rivers and forests—so it’s important to preserve the best parts of the community even as it grows.

Chris and his team surveyed the 24,000 acres that would become Wildlight and identified 12,000 acres, including critical wildlife habitat and wetlands, to set aside in conservation easements. These lands will be undeveloped and protected forever, and the easements will be managed by the Conservation Habitat Network and the East Nassau Stewardship District.

Nassau residents and visitors will have access to much of this protected land, including a future park called the Green Ribbon, a 13-mile linear park alongside the St. Marys River.

New England Forestry is also building a trail network through the conserved areas and a new public boat ramp. There will be lots of opportunities for kayaking, hiking and biking in areas that were previously inaccessible to the public.

As New England Forestry continues to reinvent itself, this time as a partner to the County in sustainable community development, its core values remain the same.

“New England Forestry has been a steward of land for nearly 100 years with experience across states and countries managing land resources in a sustainable way,” Chris says. “So that ethic is in the heart—the blood stream—of Rayonier. We get to bring that to community development and it’s a real thing.” To see future plans for Wildlight’s growth in the county, view its Next Chapter website here.

Rural Nassau and stewardship

In planning for the future, Nassau County’s leaders and residents have said it’s also important to preserve the community’s rural roots. Western Nassau has always been more rural than the rest of the County, with ranchettes, farms and forest land. This culture, they say, is important to Nassau and they don’t want development pressure to override this rich heritage.

Rayonier’s rural land sales subsidiary, Raydient Rural, is committed to helping with this vision. We are turning forest land into small homesteads where land buyers can live rural lifestyles.

Jason Shearer, Raydient’s Senior Manager of Development and Sales, says that growing up rural helped him find his way to a career in forestry, where he was able to serve as a steward of the land.

“The people we’re providing homesteads for are growing up much like I did—on four or five acres, knowing where their food comes from and participating in 4-H and FFA,” Jason says. “We’re creating places where future stewards can be cultivated.”

Community service in Nassau

Mike Bell, our Vice President of Public Affairs, says that Rayonier’s philanthropic work in Nassau is a natural outgrowth of our company’s core values.

“Our stewardship ethic goes beyond environmental stewardship. It’s a common thread that permeates everything we’ve done,” Mike says. “We’ve always thought about what’s best for our community and what makes it stronger.”

As a practical matter, Mike says this is important for business reasons. The health of our company is tied to the well-being of the community. But it’s also something that New England Forestry team members are passionate about. Many give their time freely to local organizations, volunteering as well as sitting on boards and committees and sharing their professional expertise. Mike focuses his own efforts on education: he sits on the District Board of Trustees for the Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ), a community college with five campuses in the area.

Despite Nassau County’s A-rated K-12 school district, he says that about 35 percent of local students pursue no post-secondary education. Mike believes every student needs a plan for the future and FSCJ provides an attainable option.

“FSCJ is incredibly affordable and it’s good for students who don’t know what they want to do,” he says. “It’s important for the future prosperity of the County. It doesn’t bode well for the County if we can’t get those kids into a career with a living wage.”

In addition to serving on boards and committees, New England Forestry gives back to Nassau through our Community Fund, which donates annually to local organizations. In the past five years, New England Forestry has given, on average, $129,000 per year, concentrating the majority of funding in the following areas:

• Natural Resources & Environmental Education
• Education and Youth Development
• Health/Hospital, Civic and Community Growth

Kim Sartor, our Community Affairs Manager, lights up when she talks about her work with local organizations. One project she loves to talk about is the work New England Forestry has done with Family Support Services of Northeast Florida.

Family Support Services is a community based care agency focused on improving circumstances and outcomes for families. FSS provides safe homes for abused and neglected children and teens through foster care and finds forever families for children through adoption.

New England Forestry has teamed up with Family Support Services volunteers to renovate their “Bright Spaces” facility, which provides a safe, therapeutic, welcoming environment for supervised visitation with children in care in Nassau County.

Our employees also help with the annual Angel Tree Toy Drive for Family Support Services of Nassau, buying and wrapping gifts for the children to open during holiday visits with their families.

“If we want to be successful as a company, we have to take care of our community,” Kim says. “We’re funding programs that will grow our children and their children. In 10-15 years, I want to be retired and be assured our community is still thriving and growing.”

Legacy and vision

Since 1937, our company has grown alongside Nassau County and we couldn’t be more proud to call this community our home.

Of our 181 local employees, 95 live here in the County, and 86 commute from surrounding communities.

Our perspective is perfectly summed up in these thoughts from Wes Hinton, Vice President of Wildlight at Rayonier:

“Everyone on our team cares deeply about what happens here,” he says. “Our work is a point of pride and there is excitement around it. I grew up here and my daughter is now the sixth generation in my family to be raised in Nassau County. I took this job because I want to have a say in how this community develops over time. It’s our forever home.”

The post New England Forestry in Nassau: Our Home for 87 Years and Counting appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

YULEE, Fla.—It wasn’t bad for first-timers: a group of about 50 New England Forestry support employees came together to plant thousands of trees in a matter of hours just down the road from Rayonier’s corporate headquarters in Wildlight, Fla.

But the employees from fields such as human resources, IT, accounting and legal were shocked to find out that a single skilled professional planter can plant just as many trees—about 4,000— in a single day.

The team-building event, dubbed More Than Planting Day, was a great opportunity for field employees to educate coworkers about how our most important resource gets its start. New England Forestry plants more than 30 million trees annually to reforest our land.

“One of the most important activities we do in the forest’

“Of all the many activities we do in the forest, planting’s perhaps one of the most important,” said Coastal Resource Unit Leader Jeremy Flood, who leads a team of foresters in Northeast Florida. 

“When you see a log truck going down the road or you’re purchasing a piece of lumber at the store, that’s the result of a tree that was planted many decades ago. And the trees we’re planting today are going to be trees that we’re going to use, our children are going to use, and we’re just planting that resource for the future.”

It started with a lesson from the foresters

Foresters from Rayonier’s Coastal Resource Unit team kicked off the event by explaining to their coworkers the basics of planting: how to dig a small hole, carefully place the seedling deep into the ground, and then firmly press the soil back over the roots. Then they demonstrated how to walk the correct distance from the seedling before planting the next one to ensure even spacing.

“Your job today is to plant these 8 acres,” announced Senior Resource Land Manager Ed Carter. He held a seedling up for the group to see and added, “This is out of our nursery in Elberta. This is a typical loblolly seedling.”

Trees we can call our own

In fact, not only were some of the seedlings grown for 6 to 7 months in our nursery in Elberta, Alabama, but also the seeds were harvested from pine cones in our seed orchard. In other words, these were definitely baby trees we could call our own! To learn more about how we control-pollinate our pinecones and collect their seeds, watch our video, “Breeding and Collecting Pinecones By the Truckload for Future Forests.” And you can take a virtual tour of our pine tree nursery here to watch how we grow 30 million seedlings a year.

Once they received instructions, the “trainees” paired up and chose bedded rows to plant their seedlings in. (The bedded rows of soil were prepared in advance to ensure better survival and growth of the young seedlings. You can learn more about that planting method in our article, Site Prep Essential for Southeastern Forestry.)

Quality time with coworkers

There was a lot of laughing as well as a lot of sweating and hard work as the team began planting. 

“There was a lot more to it than I expected,” said Brean Thompson, Senior Marketing Coordinator for the Wildlight community (a part of Rayonier’s Taxable REIT subsidiary). “I didn’t realize that so much of our planting is done by hand rather than by machine.”

“It was hard work!” agreed Michael Noonan, Rayonier’s manager of Timberland Investments. “The seedlings were smaller than I expected. I was expecting to see a 2-gallon tree or something, but we were out there with little containerized seedlings.”

Despite the seedlings’ small size, just inches in height, they should be taller than the people who planted them within 2 years.

In the years to come, New England Forestry employees will be able to return to the forest, which is close to A1A, a main thoroughfare in Nassau County, to see the progress of the trees they planted.

The Concept Originated with Our New Zealand Team

The idea for the event originated with Rayonier’s New Zealand team, which invites guests by the 1000s to plant trees in some of the forests we manage there.

“We wanted to do it over here because they’ve had such success over there with team building and bringing everybody together through these events,” explained Senior Executive Assistant Alyssa Hightower, one of the event organizers. It lets [participants] see the forest from the beginning and become a little bit more invested in watching the company grow to its future success.”

A reminder of the role our industry plays in the world

Alyssa said the first annual U.S. event was a great success.

“I love building experiences for other people and that, in itself, is so integral to a successful culture, to a successful business because you need to know your people,” she said. “You need that face-to-face interaction and that’s what builds the community within Rayonier. It’s also so important to have that actual connection with the forest, the core of our business.”

She said it was a powerful reminder of the important role our industry plays in the world:

“The forestry industry is vital to the world because when we plant new trees, these baby trees, they provide habitat for wildlife, they provide us clean air, they provide clean water, it just keeps going.”

And when the trees reach maturity—about 20 years from now—they will also support many jobs in our local economy as they become products.

“I grew up here, but until I actually came to Rayonier, I never really understood how diverse forestry is, number one, but how many wood products in general are just in our everyday life. It’s important to see that we provide that resource sustainably and that we’re planting trees, we’re not just cutting them down.”

To learn more about the many products that come from trees—including lesser-known products that rely on our industry such as medicines, bath products, and even many health foods—check out our #ItStartsWithTrees series here.

Many More Planting Days to Come

With the successful event coming to a close, it was agreed more employee planting days would be arranged in the future. 

“New England Forestry has a great support staff,” Jeremy said. “When you talk to folks that work with us and support us in the field each day, they have a lot of energy around what we do. So, this was a great opportunity to get our team members in the field with us, to get their hands in the dirt and see what we do on a daily basis.”

While our support teams will have to wait a year for the next More than Planting Day, our professional planters will continue planting vigorously throughout the winter months in the U.S. and planting will resume in what the U.S. considers summertime months in New Zealand. (You can learn more about our professional planting operations across our ownership here).

New England Forestry has planted almost 1.5 billion trees since our inception, and we’ll continue adding to that number every year.

The post New England Forestry Support Employees Plant 4000 Trees at Planting Day appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Actively pursuing “Safety as a Way of Life” is one of our core values at Rayonier, not only for our own employees, but for the 100s of small, local-owned businesses we work with every day.

One way we recognize the great work our colleagues are doing to create a safer workplace is a monthly recognition called the Safety Star. This program recognizes contractors who are making contributions to improve the safety culture within their business.

Here are three recent honorees who were recognized by the New England Forestry team:

Dillon Stratton, 3D Trucking, Lake City, FL

Dillon was recognized for the innovative camera and driver alert system he uses on log trucks for his company.

“It costs more money to do the right thing, but we take care of our equipment because our employees are like family,” he says. “Some of them have been with me for more than 20 years. You can replace or fix a tractor that’s been in an accident. You can’t replace someone’s life.”

Each of Dillon’s rigs has a camera facing out through the windshield and one looking back down each side of the truck. This helps keep his truckers protected in case of an accident. In addition to taking video, the system records issues such as hard braking and speeding, which Dillon uses to coach his employees on safe driving techniques. He encourages his drivers to be active with Team Safe Trucking by awarding them a financial incentive for each class they complete. (Team Safe Trucking is an online driver training program designed for the logging industry.)

Dave Dilley, Dilley and Soloman, Forks, WA

Dave was nominated for his continued efforts to invest in new, safer logging technology for his company, Dilley & Soloman Logging Co., which began operations in 1987.

Prior to forming Dilley & Soloman, Dave ran his uncle’s small logging business for 10 years. Some of Dave’s employees have been with him since those early days, making them more like family than employees. Dave says, “A lot of our people have been with us for a long time. I want all of our employees to go home at night and be in one piece.”

About six years ago, he started investing in new logging technology. (Watch our video of him demonstrating winch-assisted logging here.) He was a little hesitant at first, but says that when he attended a steep slope logging conference, his eyes were opened and he bought in completely. Since then he has continued to add new technology and make other changes, such as hiring a safety officer, that enhance the safety of his business.

Kim Nettles, True2Shine, Wildlight, FL

As the Day Porter for Rayonier’s Wildlight office, Kim, who works for True2Shine, is always on hand to clean up a spill or remove boxes and trash to keep walkways hazard-free. Not only does she keep things clean, but she also maintains the janitorial safety data sheets (SDS), keeps the safety closet organized, and goes above and beyond. She is always ready to help team-lift heavy packages and assists in packing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shipments to send out to New England Forestry offices across the U.S.

Kim loves being in the office and is dedicated to doing whatever she can to keep folks safe. When the worksite at a prior job wasn’t being properly maintained, a coworker was injured and Kim saw firsthand how keeping things clean and organized is critical for helping everyone stay safe. She says, “My job is easier when I do it in a safe manner—and when everyone else does their job in a safe manner.”

Continuing to Improve Safety Across the Industry

We’re proud of each of our Safety Star recipients for their leadership and initiative. We also recognize New England Forestry employees each month for their safety efforts in an internal Safety Star program, which we highlight from time to time on social media.

And that’s just one aspect of the way New England Forestry is working toward a safer workplace, not only within our forests, but across our industry. We also have a safety app that allows users to look up industry safety guidelines for equipment and materials while working. They can also report near-miss incidents, which can be used as a teachable moment for their peers. In addition, in 2022 New England Forestry hosted safety training seminars across the U.S. for more than 650 contractors.

We thank all of our colleagues, including Dillon, Dave, Kim and many others, for their continuing effort to improve safety for all of us!

The post Safety Stars: Recognizing Our Contractors’ Commitment to Safety appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

While safety has always been a priority at Rayonier, we recently boosted our commitment by adopting safety as a core value. After all, priorities can shift, but our dedication to safety should be fundamental. Our hope is that this increased focus on safety will encourage employees, contractors and even competitors to take a hard look at their own safety practices and see how they too might evolve. 

Bill Monahan, Rayonier’s Director of Western Forest Resources, describes his own safety evolution as one that has shifted from passive to active: “Early in my career, I thought about safety almost like it was a condition or simply the environment I was in—is it safe or not safe? Now I think about safety in an active way, almost like a mindset or a commitment to a set of behaviors.”

Creating a Series of Logging Contractor Workforce Training Sessions

This April, in an effort to encourage our contractors to shift their own safety programs from passive to active, the New England Forestry Safety Department kicked off an ambitious series of coast-to-coast Contractor Workforce Safety Training events that brought safety experts together with New England Forestry contractors to focus on best practices and OSHA training standards.

A core team of 12 New England Forestry employees and safety consultants traveled from town to town, and—with the help of more than 100 New England Forestry volunteers from offices around the country—conducted 15 sessions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington. 

By the end of June, this effort brought more than 650 contractors and 100 New England Forestry employees up to speed on OSHA requirements and prepared them to implement their own active, written safety programs by 2023. 

Mark Hebert, Director of Eastern Forest Resources described the trainings as “a way to demonstrate our commitment so we can have credibility to go to our contractors and convince them that we need to do this together.”

Designed to help us learn from one another

The unique event format was designed to keep participants engaged throughout a full day of training. During each event, attendees were broken into small groups that moved from one 30-minute roundtable discussion to another. This allowed participants to hear from eight different safety professionals as they learned to develop, maintain and enhance their own safety programs. 

The discussions covered topics such as maintaining a safe working environment, determining which OSHA standards apply to their business, building an effective safety program, keeping records that satisfy OSHA requirements and navigating valuable safety tools to help manage and strengthen their program.

Some of the larger events hosted almost 100 attendees, but by breaking into small groups, participants were able to get comfortable with one another and engage in more thoughtful discussions.

While many contractors shared common challenges, like how to keep workers focused on safety while also meeting production goals, others brought up unique solutions to common problems, such as making new workers more visible by having them wear a different-colored hard hat as they learn to navigate a dangerous work environment.

The Contractor Workforce Safety Training events were the brainchild of Tracie Gibbs, Rayonier’s Director of Safety. Tracie is passionate about giving people the tools they need to stay safe both on the clock and off: “Safety is about people, and we can’t turn a blind eye or neglect the fact that this industry needs help. This is not about trees. This is not about real estate. This is about people. From road builders to loggers to beaver catchers to truckers to brush pickers, each individual is worth the incredible effort that New England Forestry has put into hosting these training sessions.”

Safety decisions can change our industry

Logging is consistently one of the top three most dangerous jobs in the United States, and it’s important to remember that the safety decisions each one of us makes affect more than just ourselves—they also affect our families, our coworkers and our coworkers’ families. 

During his presentations, Tom Hoffman of Site Safety Services LLC offered a compelling perspective to attendees. Early in his career, Tom was crushed by a rolling log and lost part of his right arm. Several months into his recovery, he decided that when he finally got out of the hospital, he was going to work in safety. He then spent the bulk of his career working for OSHA and investigating more than 300 fatalities in Oregon. 

When asked why he agreed to participate in the New England Forestry training events, Tom said, “You never get over when somebody gets hurt. You never forget what it looks like or what it feels like. Being part of this training has allowed me to talk about some of the things I’ve seen and done, and it’s helping me get through it.”

“Hoping” we’re safe is not enough

Presenter John Boren, owner of RÄV EHS Consulting LLC, said when he asks each employer what they’re doing to provide a safe workplace free from recognized hazards, they often respond that “they hope they’re doing enough, and they hope they never have a serious incident. It’s important to understand that hope isn’t really a health and safety strategy.” We want to be more deliberate when thinking about the safety of our teams. We want to use the specific tools that make our workplaces safer.

New England Forestry Safety Specialist Kathy Brooks explained why taking a step back to evaluate the effectiveness of a safety program is so essential: “There’s always room to improve, so it’s important to identify the things you’re doing well and find ways to improve the parts that aren’t working. Continuous improvement is the goal.” 

At Rayonier, safety is a way of life, and we believe it’s time for the timber industry to take a step back and rethink our approach to safety. Our safety programs shouldn’t be kept private; they should be shared—with contractors and with competitors—so that we effect rapid and dramatic progress that strengthens the safety culture of not just one company but also of the forest industry as a whole. Safe workers benefit us all. We’re proud of our safety team for taking a step in the right direction with these Contractor Workforce Training events.

Article written by Karie Kermath, New England Forestry Safety Specialist.

The post New England Forestry Safety Team Trains 100s of Loggers and Contractors appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

They say nothing can prepare you for the role of a parent…especially a parent during an unexpected pandemic lockdown with a teenager. That’s what Shane Bergman, his wife Kandis and their daughter Layla (along with millions of other parents) experienced last March.

“They shut down the schools and we were all at home. But then Layla finished all her schoolwork within a few weeks so she had nothing to do,” Shane says.

They could have panicked and signed their kids up for a million additional online courses, but that’s not what happened with the Bergmans.

Necessity is the mother of invention…especially during lockdown

Since his daughter completed the school year early, Shane had to quickly think of a project to keep her occupied that would also help bring some normalcy and fun into their lives. He kept in mind that Layla wants to be an engineer.

“My wife Kandis had always wanted a patio set, so I asked her if she wanted us to build one. So we all got in on it together. I got all the wood, Layla helped with the measurements, joining and puttying, and Kandis painted it. So we made a little assembly line.” 

They all enjoyed the work, and Shane felt good about using lumber produced in east Texas — especially since part of his job is to sell New England Forestry timber to lumber mills in that area. 

After they completed the set, Kandis posted a picture on Facebook. Little did she know that photo would launch their pandemic family woodworking business.

“She got so many likes from the photo that she asked if anyone would be interested in buying one…we got 4 order requests within the first 24 hours.”

Lack of Experience Didn’t Stop The Bergmans from Building and Selling Their Furniture

Shane and his family which, up until lockdown, had very little experience building, went into business head first.

“My Dad was a welder and then he went back to school to be an Elementary ed teacher, so he had a lot of blueprint skills and I’d help him on projects growing up,” Shane says. “But it’s different when you’re actually there measuring and making the cuts. The year before, Layla and I built a deer stand and put a tin roof on it and stained it. That was our first go and we haven’t looked back.”

YouTube videos, some refresher geometry tutorials and hands-on work provided the bulk of the Bergman family woodworking education. 

“My daughter wants to be an engineer so she’d do all the measurements with me and she kept a little cheat sheet up in the garage. The hardest things for me were the angles, because I want to know exactly how you calculate that, so I refreshed my geometry and everything to get that right.”

The orders poured in throughout lockdown, which made for many busy nights in the garage.

“We started in March and did that for literally a month straight after work Monday through Friday. It was to the point where my wrists and fingers were killing me! But it was fun and we’ve had a few people reach out ever since. If I would have known what I know now about the rush on wood, I would have bought a big flat of 2X4s in the beginning from our local sawmills. But I’d have to say it was fun just hanging out and listening to music with Kandis and Layla.”

How did he keep his daughter engaged with the hard work and long nights?

“I’ll be honest with you, she was always saying she needed to make money so I told her I’d pay her a commission and she went for it and learned some responsibility too.”

His Favorite Woodworking Piece To Date

Although patio sets were their most popular product, Shane’s favorite piece he’s built is this two-seater burnt bench pictured below.

Here’s how he achieved the finish using fire:

“When you use southern yellow pine, you’ve got naturally lighter and darker colors in the wood grain. So, you take a little blue propane torch, light it and keep it 3-4 inches away from the wood and it just accents it like a zebra print. Then we add a clear coat.” 

The technique takes patience, but it’s not hard to learn.

“Just don’t do what one of my buddies did. He used lighter fluid to speed up the process. It worked, but I wouldn’t recommend it! I spent about an hour and a half on just that bench to get it right, and once you see the end result it’s pretty cool. That board had really good characteristics.” 

He learned the technique on YouTube.

Shane’s Advice For Woodworker Newbies: Make The Time and Just Do It

Obviously Shane doesn’t shy away from learning something new on the fly. But his perspective serves as good advice for aspiring woodworkers who are on the fence about how and when to get started:

“I just do it. I’m one of those people who believes you can’t get time back, and some things you’ve got to say no to and some things you say yes to.

“Anything you want to do now, whether it’s mechanics, fishing or anything, you can find a way to kind of get your feet wet and learn. After you research it you’ll find it’s not that hard. I’d just type in ‘wooden patio sofa’ and see what videos came up. For woodworking though, Home Depot has a lot of stuff online and they’ll give you a whole list of exactly what you need, the lengths, etc. The cuts are the most intimidating, especially if you’re going to cut on an angle. Also, I wouldn’t jump in and buy the most expensive tools to start with. I’d go to Harbour Freight to start out with a cheaper tool, and that way you can find out if you like it before spending more.”

As we’ve all learned over the last year and half, life can throw us some unpredictable curve balls. And something like a pandemic lockdown can create serious challenges for families. Yet, the Bergmans’ story serves as a reminder that life is truly what we make of it. 

In their case, a lockdown brought them closer together as a family, taught Layla some basics about managing money and starting a business and provided the opportunity for them to forge a new hobby in woodworking. Not a bad way to spend a few months stuck at home.

Congrats to Shane and his family on their pandemic side-hustle and beautiful patio sets!

The post The Woodworkers of Rayonier: Shane Bergman appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Human beings have used hand tools to transform wood into homes, furniture and survival tools for centuries. However, the invention of electricity in the 1800s quickly propelled powertools to the frontlines of the industrial, professional and hobbyist trades of woodworking. Yes, most builders and artisans still use some hand tools, but few would be willing to give up the convenience and thrill associated with modern power tools.

Yet, as society has sped forward—adopting anything and everything to make life more convenient, efficient and streamlined—there have remained a minority dedicated to the “old school” way of hand-crafting wood. Today, in the fast-paced culture of 21st century North America, unplugged woodworking is experiencing a serious comeback.

One of the leaders in this movement is a former musician-turned-woodworking mentor and best-selling author: Tom Fidgen. He runs “The Unplugged Woodshop,” a 100% handtools-based woodworking school in the heart of downtown Toronto

Tom has written two books and teaches classes online and abroad (and has some big fans here at Rayonier!). We caught up with Tom to learn more about his journey to going unplugged and the growing trend of hand tool-based woodworking.

How Tom Went From Record Deals To Woodworking Unplugged

Most modern woodworkers use a combination of power and hand tools, with more emphasis on the power tools. This once was the case for Tom, who originally learned how to build from his father.

“I started woodworking with my dad at a very young age. He was a firefighter and did carpentry jobs in his spare time. After high school I became a professional musician, signed a record deal and did a lot of touring. Whenever I wasn’t playing music or on the road, I was always building or making something.”

Tom put his woodworking skills to work in set design, carpentry shops and building wooden boats.

As a guitarist and singer, he was always hyper-aware of the risks of using power tools for the sake of his hands and hearing. But it wasn’t until he moved from the Canadian East Coast to Toronto that he gave up power tools for good.

“Not knowing what kind of shop space I’d be able to afford in the city, I decided to leave all of my power tools behind and see if I could make a go at making furniture with only hand tools. That was around 2007 and I haven’t looked back since. Hand tools made sense and have been my norm for the past 14 years.”

Blogging Opened The Floodgates For The Unplugged Woodshop

Like many artists, Tom started a blog to document his process and display his hand-crafted furniture. Little did he know his blog would launch a new career path.

“Soon after I started the blog I was approached by Popular Woodworking to write a book on the subject, Made by Hand: Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop. Two years later, I signed another publishing deal with the Taunton Press. With the release of my second book, The Unplugged Woodshop: Handcrafted Projects for the Home and Workshop, I started to get invited to teach in woodworking schools all over the world.” 

Tom soon opened his own school, The Unplugged Woodshop in Toronto. There, he welcomes students from all over the world, in-person and online, to learn how to hand craft furniture and other works of art using hand tools exclusively.

The Unexpected Benefits of Going Unplugged

When asked what types of people his classes attract, Tom replied: “I get a lot of engineering students, architects and artists in my classes. But that said, I get men and women, young and old, amateur and professionals. I think we as humans enjoy the creative process and making things with our hands is critical in our behaviour.”

Students sign up for Tom’s classes to gain experience practicing his unique form of hands-on instruction. But for many, the classes and the process become about much more than just the woodworking:

“I think so many people sit in front of a screen day-in and day-out with nothing to physically show at the end of their days. Woodworking, especially using only hand tools, fills the gap.”

Slowing down and working with hand tools also gives students the added benefits of stress relief, increased focus, and a feeling of accomplishment.

“Learning how to slow down and make things by hand is extremely important and healthy in our fast-paced society.”

For Tom, what he loves most is the process and the people: “I love the challenge. Both in teaching as well as in my own making. I also love meeting people and watching them grow and get excited about learning a new skill. It never gets old.”

Tom’s Favorite Wood, Favorite New Project and Sources of Inspiration

When asked about his favorite wood to work with, he said, “Hmmmm…that’s a tough one….probably maple if I had to pick just one.” A fitting tribute to his home country.

His favorite new project blends his two passions for music and woodworking: building guitars.

“After playing since I was a kid, and being so involved in woodworking, I knew the two mediums would someday meet. Two winters ago I finally decided it was a good time to try building instruments and I absolutely love it. Mixing the two things I like most, music and wood.”

After talking with Tom and spending time on his website and blog, it’s hard to imagine he ever lacks inspiration. However, every artist needs his muse.

“As far as cabinetmaking, I love the work and philosophy of James Krenov,” Tom says. “But as far as inspiration, that oftentimes comes from other non-woodworking places. A painting, a fabric or texture, a photograph or a good design. Inspiration is everywhere, we just have to allow ourselves the time to find it.”

Tom’s Advice For Aspiring Unplugged Woodworkers Is To Literally Unplug

“Just start. Step away from the computer and go and make something. I have a membership site on my website where people can join for $20 a month and see what I do day-in and day-out. I just posted episode 890, so there’s literally years of content with lots and lots of wood working projects. In June I’ll be teaching in Sewanee, Tennessee, at Shakerag Workshops. And of course I’m always at my shop here in Toronto.” To learn more about Tom and the Unplugged Woodshop, including membership and upcoming events, check out The Unplugged Woodshop website and follow him on YouTube and Instagram @theunpluggedwoodshop.

The post Returning To Woodworking’s Roots: An Interview With The Unplugged Woodshop’s Tom Fidgen appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Emilee Anderson may have never even picked up a drill until she was in her 20s, but today she’s a force to be reckoned with in the DIY woodworking world.

She is a military wife, mother of two and the founder of mamaneedsaproject.com—a popular blog and tutorial site for women interested in DIY woodworking. Through her relatable articles and humorous social media posts, Emliee has created a safe space for new and aspiring woodworkers to gather, learn and get inspired to break out the power tools.

We caught up with Emilee to learn more about how she got started woodworking, DIYing, blogging and creating a community of fearless female craftswomen. In the video below, she demonstrates how to build one of her outdoor projects:

How Life On An Isolated Base Led Emilee to her Passion 

There are now studies confirming what most parents have known for centuries: boredom inspires creativity and innovation.

This was certainly true for Emilee and her husband:

“When we got married we were stationed in California at a very destitute location in the middle of the desert. We didn’t have a lot to do and we couldn’t afford very much furniture for our house. Thankfully, we found out the base had a wood hobby shop with all the tools you could need and people to teach you. Plus, it was only around $4 a day to use it.”

A curious yet slightly intimidated Emliee convinced her husband to go with her and check it out. 

“So we went and it was really amazing. I was the only woman there and that was kind of intimidating but the staff never made me feel out of place. I asked a lot of questions, and I didn’t even know how to use a drill! But they were so patient and it was not the kind of opportunity every woman has. What started as something to spend more time together as a couple turned into my passion and my hobby.”

Her Hobby Soon Turned Into An Online Business

Once Emilee mastered the basics in the desert hobby shop, the couple was relocated and started a family. Emilee planned to continue working her day job, but the stress of parenting, working and her husband’s deployment schedule necessitated a change.

“I left my job when my son was 18 months old to become a stay at home mom. It was really wonderful…but I needed something that was all mine and didn’t involve me doing things for everyone else. So I started the Mama Needs A Project blog.”

Starting a good blog isn’t without its challenges for the tech novice, but just like with woodworking, Emilee didn’t let her inexperience stop her.

“I didn’t have any experience building a website or marketing or anything like that, so there was definitely a big learning curve. I am still not a tech wizard but thankfully everything is Googleable and now I have it under control.”

As The Blog Evolved, It Became More Focused On DIY And Simplifying Woodworking For Women

“I found I really enjoyed writing about DIY building, but then I started learning how to make woodworking plans and share them with other people. Having people building my plans has become the best and most fulfilling thing about the website!”

Since starting Mama Needs A Project, Emilee noticed a trend:

“I’ve had so many women reach out to me and I’ve helped a lot of them build their first projects. But I’ve had so many more women reach out and say, ‘I really want to do this but it’s overwhelming, I’m scared, etc.’

“So, I feel like my mission has turned into simplifying DIY and encouraging more women to get started building. I truly did not learn how to turn on a drill until I was well into my 20s and I think depending on where you’re getting your information it can get really complex. But really all you need is just a saw to cut the wood, a drill to join the wood and—if you want it to look pretty—you probably need a sander.”

Emilee added that she started with all second-hand tools, and encourages newbies to start there and upgrade as their interest/skills evolve. She’s also big on helping women learn how to create functional and efficient workshops in small or temporary spaces.

“We’ve moved around quite a bit so we’ve had to pay attention to making things mobile, functional and safe while taking up the least amount of space.”

Emilee’s Favorite Wood, Worst Project Ever And Where She Goes For Inspiration

Emilee’s go-to wood for the majority of her projects is pine or white wood found at your typical big box store. 

“I feel like it’s really good for learning since it’s more accessible and less expensive. But I feel like maybe I might branch into some hardwoods some day.”

Part of the reason her blog has been successful is because she shares her project successes and all her mistakes. Here’s what she had to say about her worst woodworking blooper ever.

“The project that still haunts me is our dining room table. It was my first really big project and I built it in the garage and stained it and put on several layers of topcoat. Then, I moved it into the house and the house lighting made me realize it was a deep orange and it looked horrible! It didn’t match our floors or anything and I just hated it. So I tried to live with it for a few days, and then moved it back into the garage and just had to sand for hours and hours and re-stain it.

“So I learned to always look at a stain sample on the exact lumber you’ll use in the lighting you’ll display the project, because each piece of lumber can vary in how it takes stain.”

When asked where she went for inspiration as a newbie, Emliee’s go-tos were fellow female woodworkers Ana White at ana-white.com and sisters Whitney Gainer and Ashley Turner at Shanty-2-Chic.

Tips For Moms On Carving Out Time In The Shop

The belief that stay-at-home-moms have tons of free time to pursue hobbies is a complete myth…especially when you have small children at home. Emilee, who is now a mother of 2, has found a way around this:

“My son is 4 and he’s been helping me in the garage since he was 3. These days we work when my infant is napping. From the very beginning we focused a lot on safety. So he has his own ear and eye protection, and we taught him to stay away from all the saws and things like that. 

“Our setup has also made it easier in that I’m able to roll my tools, benches, etc. into the driveway. So, I’ll set up something for him to do like sidewalk chalk or build towers with the scrap wood. He’ll come over and he’ll help. He’s good with the drill and can even bring me drill bits. It’s fun to have him out there, and a lot of projects I’ve done are for him. He feels very proud.”

She stressed that every child is different in terms of their ability to listen, follow directions and stay out of trouble. Do what feels safe for you based on your child, setup and level of patience/confidence.

Emilee’s Best Advice On How To Get Started DIY Building

“I would say to start small and just pick one project you want to do. Then, if you don’t have the tools yet, buy the tools for that specific project.”

Once again, Emliee emphasized the importance of making and embracing mistakes: 

“Regardless of how much you prepare, you’re going to make mistakes. Even though that can be really frustrating, I think it’s one of the most rewarding parts of the hobby. Just knowing when you look at a finished piece that you also see all the things you had to learn and mistakes you had to fix makes it so meaningful.

“I used to get really hung up on the mistakes, but now I just call it character and that makes it even better.”

To learn more about Mama Needs Project, download plans and more, visit mamaneedsaproject.com.

And you can read more of our DIY stories featuring talented woodworkers here.

The post Mama Needs A Project’s Emilee Anderson Inspires Woodworking Women appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

New Zealand has been one of the most successful countries in keeping coronavirus at bay. But that doesn’t mean its citizens got to skip lockdowns. On the contrary, their lockdown periods were stricter and longer than here in the United States. That gave Northland Forest Manager Sam Middlemass some extra time—and extra challenges—in creating his DIY wood projects.

The Obsession Started In Primary School

It’s not every child who has the opportunity to take woodworking in school these days. However, in New Zealand it was offered as part of Sam’s primary school curriculum. And from that simple grade school instruction, a full-blown passion developed.

“After school, I worked as a fencing contractor like my father did for the bulk of my childhood, until I was employed by Rayonier,” says Sam, who’s based in Whangarei. “So my work has always involved wood in one way or another.”

Sam is humble in describing his approach to woodworking: “I focus on prominently timber and reasonably rough construction. Everything I’ve made is pretty much all for outdoor application and doesn’t require a great degree of craftsmanship. To give you an idea, one of my favorite tools is the chainsaw!”

The Special Challenge Of Procuring Wood On A Small Island During A Pandemic

People from around the world have different opinions about the United States in general. However, if there’s one thing they all agree on, it’s that we are spoiled in terms of the variety and availability of consumer products. And according to Sam, wood is no exception. 

“One thing I found very interesting with this DIY contest was seeing what types of pieces were made in the States. I’m always amazed at how many types of wood working tools and materials are available there. Here in New Zealand we typically have locally-grown pines, so to get black woods or eucalyptus, etc., you usually have to go to a specialty store.”

You can view some of the winning U.S.-based projects in our other Woodworkers of New England Forestry articles.

Sam added procuring any type of wood for projects during lockdowns was even more of a challenge due to an unprecedented run on supplies.

“Luckily, I have my wood pile under the house, so I had to be resourceful and made due with what I had on hand.”

Like many houses in New Zealand and other coastal areas, Sam’s is elevated, which provides the perfect spot to store wood.

The Cape Cod Chair That Became A Picnic Table Bench

One of Sam’s favorite projects was a beautiful picnic table bench combination which he made at the request of his wife.

“It came about because my wife mentioned that she wanted a version of a Cape Cod chair. I had no idea what that was, so I looked it up and thought it was rather ugly! So, I sort of figured out how to redesign it and that’s how we got the picnic table bench. I started it one afternoon and finished it the next morning. If I made another one now, I’d probably bang it out in an afternoon.

“I put the table together pretty quickly but it actually does work and I’m quite proud of that. And the satisfaction you can get knowing that it was done by just looking at a picture! I like to look at something and make it better and customized. I never make something exactly from someone else’s design.”

During New Zealand lockdowns, Sam and his wife took advantage of the time to do some more extensive woodworking projects, including changing out their back porch for a more functional design.

His Favorite Project And Favorite Woodworking Tools

Insofar as his favorite project ever, Sam says: “That would have to be when I extended the decking on our house and made it much more useful and less narrow. I expanded the width and did away with the kink in the decking. That’s probably the piece that was most useful.”

Like his craft, Sam keeps his woodshop simple. Set up in his garage, he keeps a skill saw, an angle grinder, a jigsaw and other basic tools. 

“My favorite DIY tool at the moment is an angle grinder with a sanding disc attachment. This is used to make joints fit neatly if they don’t, round edges and create shapes in softer wood types, such as finishing off chainsaw-carved bowls or platters. It removes wood much faster than an electric sander and I’d hate to have to do what it does by hand.”

Like our other contestants, he emphasized that you don’t need a lot of fancy expensive equipment or tools to create functional wooden pieces.

Sam’s advice for aspiring woodworkers: start simple and seek inspiration

Sam’s no-frills designs speak to his core beliefs about woodworking: it should be simple, fun and rustic. 

“Crikey, my only advice would be to just give it a go. It’s not hard. Particularly these days with screwing things together, we’ve got the power tools for it—so get into it. Start rustic first and work your way up to the higher-level skill stuff.

“I thought this competition was fantastic because of the fact you get to see so many quirky projects that other people have made. It inspires you to expand your horizons when you see somebody else’s creations.”

We can’t wait to see what Sam comes up with next!

The post The Woodworkers of Rayonier: New Zealand’s Sam Middlemass appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

When we launched our Wooden DIY Projects Contest for employees during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, we had no idea just how talented our New England Forestry employees were at woodworking.

From hand-carved tables to cider presses, wooden coolers, workout benches and everything in between, the task of choosing a winner from such a creative and resourceful bunch was a tall order.

However, one project stood out as the overall fan favorite: Traditional East Greenland Style Kayaks built by Resource Land Manager Neris Biciunas. 

We caught up with Neris, who’s based in Forks, Washington, to get the story behind what goes into crafting these buoyant beauties, and learn more about his journey to woodworking.

Building kayaks began as a family affair

Whilst admiring these kayaks, you’d never believe they were hand-constructed in a self-taught hobbyist’s garage over the course of a few weekends. But that’s exactly how they were made.

“When people look at the kayak I made, they think: That’s epic and must have taken you forever! But the truth is, most of the instructions came from a book. The rest came from the wisdom of the internet, and I simply took it one piece at a time,” Neris says.

He started woodworking as a hobby several years ago. As soon as he had a place to work and his daughters were ready to start playing in the water, he began building wooden kayaks.

“I could have followed the path of kayaking as an individual sport, but I made a deliberate choice to include my family. And it’s nearly impossible to buy a kayak for a small person no matter how much money you have. So that pointed me toward building something, because I can build a scaled-down kayak for a small person.”

Neris’s daughters, now 17 and 20, learned to kayak from a young age.

“Sea kayaking is pretty easy because you don’t need rapids or a three week expedition, and it gave them a chance to learn about doing it safely from an early age. When they outgrew their kayaks, we could pass them on to other growing families.”

The history of wooden kayaks and their traditional craftsmanship

The only thing more enchanting than looking at these kayaks is learning about their history…which Neris tells with enthusiasm.

“Kayaks originated as a very efficient hunting vehicle for people in arctic areas—and they had to be efficient or they’d go hungry. What’s really interesting is they had very few resources to build with…they didn’t even have trees up there! So the first question is: where do you get lumber? They’d use driftwood. They also didn’t have nails, bolts, glues, or high-tech materials so a large piece of driftwood was split into many smaller pieces for the structure, the occasional bit of bone material for a joint, animal sinew [tendons] for lashing parts together and seal hides for the outer coating. And that’s why many people call this style ‘skin on frame.’”

Applying traditional techniques to contemporary kayaks

For his modern kayaks, Neris blends traditional building techniques with contemporary materials. Either nylon or polyester fabric with a certain type of varnish or paint mimics the function of a seal skin.

“For my daughters, I used a canvas material for a skin because I can seal it with an exterior house paint. And I used nylon for the bigger kayaks. The joinery is a combination of things. Dowels or mortise and tenon make most connections. Many parts are lashed together. The ‘skin’ also contributes to strengthening the whole craft. ”

For sourcing the wood (Douglas-fir, Western Red Cedar, Port Orford Cedar, Pacific Yew, and Vine Maple), Neris has found certain pieces at the local saw mill, his woodpile and the hardware store. He sources specialty pieces, like curved wood, directly from the woods (including Raynioner slash piles).

The “why” behind the hobby

Everyone has different reasons for pursuing woodworking. For Neris, it’s mostly about the opportunity to learn something new.

“It is also very relaxing to whittle away at something. Part of that learning process is studying the idea and looking at alternatives and thinking about how I can accomplish this with what I have for materials and skills. I like to think of it as learning and understanding, and by practicing I increase my level of understanding.”

Some of his other favorite projects include a cider press, the bread kneading trough shown above, a wood-based workout station, and skim boards.

Neris gave an example of that deepened understanding and experimentation when sharing about his favorite piece he ever made, a kayak for his wife. In need of a 20 inch piece of wood to manipulate into a U-shape, something that’s typically done with a large steamer, Neris used a piece of vine maple which he heated in the microwave to achieve the same result.

“I took it out of the microwave and it bent like a wet noodle! You can’t build furniture with a microwave, but it worked great for a kayak. And that kind of goes back to looking at the process and thinking, ‘How else can I do this with what I have?’”

This spirit of working with what you have seemed to be universal among all the top New England Forestry Woodworkers. The bottom line: you don’t need expensive equipment or a lot of space to create amazing wooden art.

Neris’s advice for aspiring woodworkers: pick a target and do it

When asked what advice he would give aspiring woodworkers, he replied: 

“Pick a target and do it. Start appropriately for your skill level and build on your experiences. Woodworking is very friendly toward little increments, little steps at a time, little pieces at a time.”

He also recommends Instructables.com, which features plans for wooden kayaks, along with many other beginner, intermediate and advanced-level projects.

On behalf of the entire New England Forestry team, congratulations Neris! He won the overall fan favorite award and the large outdoor category.

You can read more of our DIY stories featuring talented woodworkers here.

The post The Woodworkers of Rayonier: Neris Biciunas appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Robert Hall’s favorite DIY wood projects combine dark woods like cherry with layers of navy, sea blue and white epoxy. It’s not only beautiful but could also serve as an artistic symbol of his woodworking roots.

The son of a minister who also was one of the first Habitat for Humanity employees, Robert has been honing his craft since his childhood days spent in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Now a resident of Florida, his projects seem to reflect the unique characteristics of the two regions, forest and sea.

It all began in Grandpa’s workshop

“My grandfather was the woodworker and he really enjoyed doing it. He worked for Oland in Brevard, North Carolina, in the pulp and paper industry, so that was neat to do the same when I came to Rayonier.”

Among his grandfather’s many woodworking projects included crafting all the gavels used by the town’s judges.

“That’s where I got my love of woodworking, from going down to my grandfather’s basement. It was good male bonding time if you will, with my grandfather and my father.”

As fate would have it, Robert wound up inheriting a 40+ year-old cut of cherry wood found in his grandfather’s attic after he died, which he used to create a wood/epoxy river desk (pictured below). 

Robert’s family history as Habitat for Humanity trailblazers

Robert’s building skills were enhanced by his family’s involvement in the early days of Habitat for Humanity. 

“I would say my dad was the glue that held Habitat together for a while. He was a Baptist minister who took a pay cut to work for the non-profit and acted as a calming force for the early leadership, reminding them that what they were doing was the Lord’s work and we needed to make this happen. So I did a lot of work in the photography lab but also working on the houses and that kind of stuff.”

The story behind Robert’s prize-winning charcuterie boards

Robert made charcuterie boards out of cherry wood procured from unwanted fallen trees. 

“My ex-wife’s father had a cherry tree fall on his property from a neighbor’s. It was a vacant lot and a bad storm had come through, so he called the neighbor up and offered to take care of it, and the neighbor agreed he could have the wood. So we cut it up and had it milled. I took the majority of it.”

Two layers of epoxy were used to create an ocean effect on the wood. Each board is unique, with the cracks and knots giving them character. They were finished with a food safe oil and a coat of wax.

How Hand Tools Give This Craftsman His Edge

One thing that intimidates many aspiring woodworkers is the thought of investing in expensive power tools. However, for Robert it’s the hand tools he’s come to enjoy most.

“I use machines, but I do mostly hand tool work now. And part of the reason is to slow me down and to really feel the wood and know what’s going on. You get more connected to the piece than if you were just running it through machines. 

“Even the act of sharpening the blade to prepare for the cutting of the wood is part of that whole process of sharpening my edge—not just the tool’s edge, my edge too. Really getting in there and making sure everything is just right. That ‘zing’ you feel when you run the tool over the wood…it’s so wonderful.”

Woodworking offers Robert relaxation, creative space, and the opportunity to share his love of the craft

When asked about the biggest benefits he gets from woodworking, his response was three-fold:

“The relaxation I get from it is obviously great. But I think for me, just being able to create something with my hands is just so rewarding. And I really love when other people take it, and I know they are using it in their life. I don’t keep a lot of pieces I make, I like to give them away.”

To illustrate the point, Robert described a piece he hand-made for a friend, which is one of his favorite projects to date. 

“Like the table with the crosses on it (pictured below). There was so much that went into building that piece and it was literally done all by hand with no power tools. Everything was cut with a hand tool: embedding the crosses, the dovetails on the drawers, the pull for the handle for the drawer, absolutely everything was done by hand. And it is still in a good friend’s home, and just to know it’s in her house and she gets joy from it is so rewarding to me.”

Robert’s Advice for Aspiring Woodworkers: Keep it Simple and Learn from Others

On tools: “I have accumulated a lot of tools over the years but I still come back to just a handful I use most of the time. For me, it would be a # 4 1/2 plane, a good saw, and most importantly a good bench and good vice, and that’s really all you need to get started.”

Robert also suggests using other people’s creative ideas for inspiration to create your own designs.

“To give an example, that kerfing plane (pictured below) came from Tom Fidgen, but I made it my own using my grandfather’s piece of wood, and I added some other things in terms of design.

“And don’t be afraid to fail! You have to waste wood to make something beautiful. There will be waste that comes off of that wood but you’re getting rid of what you don’t need to really show the beauty.”

Robert also heartily recommends the books and classes on woodworking with hand tools from Tom Fidgen’s The Unplugged Workshop. 

On behalf of the entire New England Forestry team, congratulations to Robert. He won the Small Indoor category in our employee DIY Contest!

You can read more of our DIY stories featuring talented woodworkers here.

The post The Woodworkers of Rayonier: Robert Hall appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

The story behind the design of Laura Peacock’s rustic DIY wooden cooler pays homage to the man who taught her not only about woodworking, but also about what it means to make the most of what you have and to be a blessing to others.

Like father like daughter, in more ways than one!

Laura learned the basics of woodworking from her father while growing up in small town Florida. His woodworking skills were born of necessity and honed for pleasure as a young man. He was a Vietnam veteran who did most of his woodworking outdoors or in his shop, which is what drew her to the craft.  “My brother and I gravitated towards whatever Dad was doing because it was outside and we were outside most of the time. So we were naturally drawn to it.”

“My dad was one of nine kids, so they didn’t pay people to do things they could do themselves. My dad picked up woodworking to help out around the house. He wasn’t great at it for a long time, but he crafted his skills and eventually got good at doing a lot of different things.”

“We mostly learned from watching him. Our family was really close and we did everything together. We wanted to work together, whether it was canning season, building a deck, adding a room, or building a birdhouse. Except there was a line drawn between my mom and dad, dad didn’t cross to mom’s quilting and she didn’t cross to his woodworking territory!”

Ironically, Laura’s father worked for New England Forestry in the Fernandina paper mill (New England Forestry owned the mill until 2014, when New England Forestry Advanced Materials spun off into its own company). “It’s funny to think that my Dad retired from Rayonier, now I work for New England Forestry and we both share that love of woodworking.” Like father, like daughter, in more ways than one.

Though Laura’s father passed away from lung cancer about 7 years ago, her family still continues their traditions of helping one another and others. Whether it’s helping each other with woodworking projects, volunteering at church, or helping a disabled neighbor mow his ditch, Laura’s father instilled a strong sense of generosity, dependability and community in his children.

The story behind the cooler: inspired by pallets, made from fencing panels

Laura’s cooler, a finalist in the New England Forestry employee DIY Contest, was inspired by her friends in Nashville. They asked her to help them build one out of pallets.

“I saw the picture and was like, heck yes!”

But Laura had other plans in terms of design and execution.

“My Dad was actually doing pallet crafts long before it was a thing. When I got married, he built me what seems like an 800 pound china cabinet out of pallet boards. So, I knew what a chore they can be to take apart.”

Keen on avoiding the chore of pallet dismantling during her next visit to Tennessee, and eager to surprise her friends with a premade gift, Laura figured out another way to build the cooler.

“I really like taking a design and figuring out how to put my own spin on it. I had just repaired my privacy fence and I had fence panels. So I said, forget about pallets, I’ll just use these. It worked out perfectly!”

For the cooler itself, Laura bought a basic red chest cooler and built a rolling rustic cabinet around it. She removed the top from the cooler and built a wooden lid to fit. Then she added a spout on the side for drainage using basic plumbing hardware (a pipe and a spigot).

“So, I had the whole thing made, but led them on to believe we’d go find some pallets and build it. They were so surprised! I’m like that. If you give me an idea I’m probably going to try it out.”

In addition to its good looks, the cooler is also super functional, as it can be rolled around to different parts of the yard, to block parties, etc. She even included a small chalkboard sign on the cooler that can be customized for special occasions.

“I’ve built about 5 of them now and have yet to finish my own! But that always seems to happen because I love giving my stuff away.”

Woodworking as a hobby and a side hustle

Laura not only builds and designs beautiful coolers and furniture, she’s also created a side-job making door hangers out of plywood (pictured below).

“So woodworking has also become a great way to make some extra money, but I mostly just enjoy doing it. Especially these days when people are starting to appreciate handmade items more. That’s another thing, I feel like my Dad and I started doing these things (like working with pallets, making custom door hangers, etc.) before they became trends.”

Thanks to the skills she learned from her father, Laura was also able to do most of the renovation work on what she lovingly refers to as her “new-old-home,” including installing crown molding and replacing sheetrock. A big sell-point of the home was the 3-car garage, which meant she now has more than enough room for a woodshop and storage.

As a hobby, Laura derives great pleasure from transforming raw materials into the finished product. But ironically, she does not consider herself a “creative person.”

“I never felt like I was a really creative person. But I don’t have to be creative, I just have to be a copycat! I have the tools and I have an ability to take something that’s not and turn it into something that is, and it makes me feel good.

“The ties to my family history, and just seeing people’s faces when they unwrap a camper door hanger to hang on their camper door…I just love to make other people happy.”

Bridging the gender gap in woodworking: advice for women who like power tools

For whatever reason, woodworking has been a predominantly male pastime. Yet women are perfectly capable of mastering the art and skill. Here’s Laura’s take on the gender gap and how women can get past it and join the party:

“I’m in my mid-40s, and for people like me and older, there’s a line that’s been drawn about what men do and what women do. As women in general, and it’s easier for us to limit ourselves based on those old stereotypes. But know that it’s okay to break the mold a little bit. Because the thing is, if you want to learn something these days you can learn how to do it. There are thousands of resources out of there.”

“As my mom would always say when I’d ask her if I could do this or that, ‘Why not?!’ Give it a shot. The worst that can happen is you’re out a bit of money for materials.”

“I used to teach, and I’d tell my students that if they could read they can do anything. You don’t even have to be able to read these days. Just ask Alexa, Siri, or tell your TV remote what you want to see. Knowledge is power, learn all you can and become all you can. There are no limits!”

You can read more of our DIY stories featuring talented woodworkers here.

The post The Woodworkers of Rayonier: Laura Peacock appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

FORKS, Washington—Walking through the forest several years ago, New England Forestry forester Blake McMichael stopped when he heard a strange sound under his cork boot.

Looking down, he immediately realized he was face-to-face with history: it was an ancient Native American spearhead. Within hours, the priceless relic was with the Quileute Tribe, our neighbors in La Push. After thousands of years, a piece of their past was returned to them.

The spearhead, made from obsidian rock that does not exist in this part of the United States, tells the story of a tribe that once roamed the entire west coast. They numbered in the tens of thousands, traveling all the way from the glaciers of what is now Washington state to the coastal rainforests. They lived on salmon and other fishes, large game, seals and whales.

Today, the tribe’s reservation covers one square mile off the coast of northern Washington. While their community is now much smaller, the Quileute are deeply dedicated to their heritage. They work with their neighbors in order to continue traditions that date so far back, there is no way to calculate just how old they are. In their own words “we’ve been here since time immemorial.”

Like many of Washington’s tribes, the Quileute often work with neighboring forestry companies to access the resources they need.

“New England Forestry is the largest private landowner in our treaty area,” says the tribe’s natural resources director, Frank Geyer. “They have been very good about listening to the tribe and understanding our needs, and we also try to understand theirs. It’s always been stressed by the Tribal Council that relationships are of utmost importance to us.”

Ensuring the Quileute Tribe has Access to the Resources it Needs

Longtime New England Forestry forest engineer Mike Leavitt, a lifetime resident of Forks, has spent his career working with the Quileute.

“I’m proud of the relationship we’ve garnered over the years with the tribe,” he says. “It’s a very warm and friendly partnership that we have.”

The tribe calls on Mike when there is a need for wood materials for a carving or a traditional salmon bake; when it’s time to forage for the plants used to make Labrador Tea; or to obtain cedar bark that will be used in traditional weaving.

We’ve worked together on projects to improve the forest ecosystem and to study the wildlife that lives within it.

Restoring miles of fish habitats together

And Mike has called on the tribe for support in our efforts to restore upland streams in New England Forestry forests. The projects, a part of Washington’s Forests & Fish program, help bring back salmon populations that haven’t been seen in the waters, sometimes, for more than a century.

In one particular case, the tribe secured grant funding to replace two perched culverts (undersized pipes) with a large bridge on a private New England Forestry road. That project successfully opened a critical 7 ½-mile area for salmon spawning and rearing.

“Fish really are the lifeblood of any tribe in the northwest,” Frank explains. “So the forests—and the streams within them—are of vital importance to the tribes.”

Cedar Bark Peeling for Traditional Weaving

During a special time each spring when the sap of the cedar trees makes them just right for peeling, the Quileute tribe travels to cedar forests to engage in their timeless bark peeling tradition. Mike helps the tribe find the best location to source the material for a year of weaving projects.

It’s a special celebration in which several generations take part, gathering together in the same forest. To collect the bark, they cut a flap near the bottom of the tree, then walk backward while holding on to it, peeling a long strip of bark off the tree. The outer bark then has to be removed, leaving the thin cambium layer. Cedar is stored for a year to dry properly prior to using for weaving. That material then has to be soaked in hot water and finally made into strips the tribe can use to weave traditional baskets, clothing and other items that are tied to Quileute ceremonies and traditions.

“This is my history. It’s what we’re doing to preserve what has been done in the hands of many different weavers for generations,” says Cathy Salazar, a weaver descended from master basket makers.

Each basket is unique, with intricate designs that speak to the Quileute tribe’s history, such as birds, canoes and seals.

Cathy says her first basket took a year to make. Now, 24 years later, she can make one in three hours. Cathy gives most of them away as gifts. She also shares her gift of weaving,  assisting beginning weavers.

The Red Lizard Petroglyph: A One of a Kind Discovery

The Quileute lost many of their most cherished artifacts in a tragic fire in the 1800s. So when something from their rich past is discovered, like the spearhead, it is true cause for celebration.

We all celebrated when a fisherman found the Red Lizard Rock on the bank of the muddy Calawah River. The priceless boulder, carved before Europeans arrived in America, illustrates one of the oldest stories of the Quileute history:

K’wati, a powerful Quileute patriarch, used his tongue to slay a monster-sized red lizard. The monster had blocked the shortest path between the Sol Duc and Calawah rivers. K’wati’s victory over it opened the passage for the tribe.

To protect, preserve and display the massive rock, the Quileute needed to move it to a safe indoor location in La Push. The tribe, archaeologists, the Department of Natural Resources and our team joined together for a special ceremony at the river celebrating the discovery. Then we helped move it out of the river, across our forests and onto the Quileute reservation.

“The best part of our history is the stories. Stories were always told by the old people in wintertime around the fire,” says Rio Jamie, a member of the tribal council. “It’s fitting that Red Lizard Rock is now here in our elder center.”

For the Generations To Come

We’ve been neighbors with the Quileute for nearly 100 years here in Forks. Our job is to protect and maintain sustainable forests for generations to come. That gives us a common goal that we share with our neighbors who look far into the past and the future.

“It’s my job to manage the resources of this tribe in the best manner that we can to ensure those resources are there for what we call the next 7 generations,” explains Frank, the Quileute Natural Resources Manager. “It’s not just about today. Knowing that motivates me to be there for the Quileute people.”

Perhaps 100 years from now, the tribe and New England Forestry will be sharing the stories of this generation and how it ensured the forests of western Washington would continue to provide for us all.

The post Quileute Tribe Uses the Forest For Ancient Traditions appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

When Lisa Rozier parked in front of a humble home in Nassau County, Florida, she expected the shouts of joy from the children—but the father’s tears caught her by surprise.

“I told him who I was and that I had gifts for the children. He started crying and he hugged me,” says Lisa, the Education and Community Specialist for Family Support Services of North Florida, Inc. (FSS) in Nassau.

“He said, ‘I need you to come in the house.’ So I walked over to the front door, and I could see. It was just a few days before Christmas, and he had nothing – he had no presents under the tree,” Lisa recalls. “He hugged me again, and it was all I could do not to cry.”

The big impact of a small gift

Something so simple as a Christmas present to unwrap can mean so much to a child going through the rollercoaster of emotions that come with being placed in foster care. However, the families who take them in are often overwhelmed already with meeting their basic needs. That’s where the Be An Angel program comes in.

FSS, the nonprofit that manages foster care in Nassau and Duval Counties, created Be An Angel to purchase gifts for the children with the help of community partners. Case workers, caregivers and the children, themselves, create a massive Christmas list featuring three wishes for each child, and then FSS seeks individuals and businesses to grant the wishes.

“A lot of kids come into care right before the holidays, which is the most emotional and stressful time,” explains Kristy Slattery, an FSS Family Support Counselor. She says receiving Christmas gifts is a way to give children some sense of normalcy and a sense that they are loved.

“I think that’s the most important thing. They do need things, they’re worthy of those gifts. They’re great kids.”

Care from infancy to adulthood

Children are placed under FSS care at any time from birth to age 23 if they’re found to be in an abusive home or experiencing some form of neglect. FSS’s goal is to help their biological parents get on the right track so the children can return to the home. If they cannot, they assist in moving the children from temporary foster care to permanent adoption. When they are first placed into care, the children may live with a grandma or an aunt, or they may live in a foster family home or group home. Often, they have only enough time to grab a trash bag full of their belongings, so they go into care with very little to call their own.

“Sometimes some of their wishes are something as simple as a new pair of shoes or a bike that they really want,” Kristy says. “They want to fit in and be like the children around them. So if we’re able to provide that gift to them, it means the world to them.”

A partner in granting 100s of Christmas wishes

Gathering hundreds of gifts for the children was no easy task for FSS in the early years of Be An Angel. That changed in Nassau County in 2015, when New England Forestry committed to grant every wish in the county. Our employees sign up to buy the gifts and bring them to the office wrapped with the children’s names on them. Then Jacksonville-based Read’s Moving Company picks up the hundreds of gifts and delivers them to FSS in giant boxes divided by case worker, taking some of the pressure off FSS to work their own small “Christmas miracle” for the children. FSS hopes to find similar partnerships in Duval County to ensure all children in its care receive gifts.

Bob Miller, President and CEO of FSS, says having a partner to fulfill wishes for Be An Angel has had a “mammoth impact” on FSS. 

“It’s one thing to have the support of corporate leaders, but to see all the employees getting involved in it, to see their faces as they load that gigantic mound of presents into the truck, that’s really what the Christmas spirit is all about,” he says.

“No child should grow up in foster care”

Miller, who grew up in foster care himself, took the helm at FSS as a way to give back and work for the best possible outcomes for some of Northeast Florida’s most vulnerable children.

“Family Support Services really believes that no child should grow up in foster care,” he says, “so our number one goal is to provide a loving home for children and real permanency.”

But while the children are in temporary foster care, it’s clear the FSS team cares deeply about helping to bring them some joy through simple things like Christmas gifts. 

Loading the truck

Each year, New England Forestry hosts a Load the Truck party, inviting FSS employees to celebrate that all wishes have been granted and to watch as hundreds of presents are taken out of the New England Forestry building and loaded into a large box truck. At this year’s party, one counselor was visibly moved when she spotted a large gift with one of her children’s names on it.

“That’s the guitar she wanted so badly,” she said, her eyes following the gift as it was loaded onto a cart. “That will be so good for her, both as a gift, and as something therapeutic she can do for herself.”

And Kristy says she was touched when a New England Forestry employee reached out in advance to find out the hair color of the girl who requested a baby doll for Christmas. The employee wanted to get a doll with matching hair.

“She is this really cute little 3-year-old with blond, curly hair. I know that, but the individual at New England Forestry who was buying her gifts did not know that,” Kristy says. “That was so heartfelt to me and so, just, personal. To know that they took the time and they care that much to reach out to me to make that gift special for that child was awesome.”

Bringing joy to counselors, too

Megan Pirrotta, FSS’s Family Support Counselor Supervisor, says the program has brought a lot of joy not only to the children, but to the counselors, themselves, and the caregivers. One of her favorite memories was when a family invited her and the children’s guardian ad litem to be there when the children opened their Be An Angel gifts.

“It was very personal and it felt nice to recognize that this is one cohesive team working toward the same goal, and we all got to experience the same magical holiday experience,” she says. 

She laughs when she recalls the children dancing around the room in excitement and sending wrapping paper in every direction as they tore into their gifts.

“Our workers devote their lives to helping these children,” she says. “Having someone else step in and be a part of making the Christmas experience for these kids is huge.”

You can learn more about FSS at fssjax.org.

The post Angel Tree Brings Joy to Children in Support Services appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

CALLAHAN, Florida—Most of the work in the forestry industry is done out of public view, deep in the forest, so it’s no wonder many school children don’t know a lot about forestry.

A group of more than two dozen forestry-related businesses here in Nassau County came together to change that, hosting Northeast Florida’s first-ever Forestry Career Day at the Northeast Florida Fairgrounds in September 2019.

Just under 200 high school juniors and seniors were immersed in forestry career experiences throughout the day, trying their hands at operating heavy equipment, researching genetics and even flying drones.

The theme of the day: there’s a forestry career for everyone and every level of education, whether you’re looking for something you can do with on-the-job training only, or with a Ph. D. 

“There are so many facets to working in forestry,” says Jody Davis, Rayonier’s Manager of Human Relations and Talent Acquisition. “There are jobs from operational equipment operators to foresters, who are the science behind the growth and the replanting of trees.”

A Rising Demand for Forestry Heavy Equipment Operators

Employers are experiencing a rising need for employees in the operational side of the industry, which includes work such as operating heavy equipment and driving log trucks. New England Forestry Senior Resource Land Manager Ed Carter, who came up with the idea to host the event, says these jobs are ideal for students who don’t want to attend a four-year college program.

“There are vital jobs out there,” he says. “We want to reach all those students and let them know, in the forestry industry, you can make a great living and a career even though you don’t get a four-year degree.”

Several local heavy equipment operator employers, including Tim-Prep, Bobcat of Jacksonville and Conner + Conner Logging, allowed students to sit in the driver’s seat of their equipment, operating a skid steer, a mini excavator and even moving logs with a loader.

Students also learned firsthand from foresters about their role in the forest, from grafting and genetics to maintaining water quality and protecting wildlife. Representatives from colleges including the University of Florida, University of Georgia and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College talked to students about their offerings for forestry degree programs.

There were also hands-on lessons about GIS mapping, a field the industry depends on to ensure data is accurate on each stand of trees.

Jim Tootle, a Senior Forester for the Florida Forest Service, says learning about forestry at this stage in their lives can help students get a good start in the industry.

“When I enrolled in the forestry program, I had no clue what I was getting into. I just knew I wanted to work outdoors,” he recalls, “so I didn’t really know how to focus my studies in a particular direction that I wanted to go. Something like this may give a student an idea of what direction they want to go in the forestry industry.” 

Forestry a Major Industry in Florida

In Florida, forestry is a critical industry. In fact, forest land accounts for almost half of Florida’s total land area. The forestry industry employs 124,000 people and contributes $25 billion to the state’s economy every year, according to the Florida Forestry Association. 

Representatives from the production side of forestry, including New England Forestry Advanced Materials and Westrock, taught students about the many items in their typical day that come from the forest and how they are made. More than 5,000 everyday forest products play a key role in our daily lives, including lumber, plywood and papers and cardboards, as well as items with a lesser-known wood component, such as LCD screens, rubber tires, bath products, even diapers. You can learn more about why trees are used in so many products by checking out our #ItStartsWithTrees articles.

To learn more about Forestry careers, visit Rayonier’s Forestry Careers Resources page, which explains what different forestry careers are and links to schools, vocational programs and other resources for future foresters, at https://www.rayonier.com/careers/career-resources/.

The post First Forestry Career Day in Northeast Florida a Success appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Ask Kim Sartor’s boss, and he’ll tell you she is the “glue” that connects New England Forestry to its communities.

Mike Bell says Kim, Rayonier’s Community Affairs Manager, epitomizes community giving. Her words and behaviors each day reflect how much she cares for her colleagues, New England Forestry and the communities where we live and work. In addition to supporting the Public Affairs department, she manages the New England Forestry Community Fund, juggling requests and energizing others to volunteer.

Mike, who is Rayonier’s Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, recognized Kim’s can-do attitude when he asked her to join his team. Her big heart and innate sense of compassion made her the ideal person for the position.

“If I could clone her, I would,” jokes her coworker Dan Roach, director of Public Affairs. “She always responds cheerfully and if she doesn’t know how to do something, she will figure it out and put in the time it takes to get the job done.”

Kim’s typical week consists of overseeing grant applications, working on sponsorship opportunities and managing the Community Fund. Kim forecasts, budgets, screens applications and fields calls about how to spend dollars set aside for community investment. Her talent also includes connecting New England Forestry employees’ time, talent and energy with volunteer opportunities that match their strengths. Even outside of the typical work week, Kim often spends her evenings and weekends at company-sponsored events.

Her work spans the United States, from the annual grant breakfast supporting the work of non-profit agencies in the Pacific Northwest to the weekend she spends each year volunteering at the Mail Carriers’ Food Drive in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

“Participation is contagious when Kim is involved,” says Mike. “There is a blood mobile that has been coming to our offices for years. Kim started that!”

Kim’s passion for the blood drive stems from her own experience: a blood transfusion that saved her life years ago. She says Rayonier’s bimonthly blood drives have the potential to save dozens of lives per-year. Kim doesn’t just enlist employees to support the blood drive, she also distributes flyers to neighbors, such as the FSCJ Nassau Campus, Nassau County Courthouse, Nassau County Sheriff’s office and Wildlight Elementary.

Because of Kim, New England Forestry volunteers read to elementary students during the school year through the Family Support Services reading program, Doggone Good Readers, which encourages public library usage and reading while improving literacy for children. Kim also attends monthly Board meetings for the Amelia Island Book Festival & Authors in Schools Literacy Program, where she assists with writing and reading workshops for older students.

Kim also oversees a tradition at New England Forestry to support the Angel Tree toy drive in which foster children in Nassau County, FL, receive gifts during the holidays when they haven’t traditionally received much.

“Our 150 employees immediately said ‘yes’ to step up and team up to grant wishes for these children during the holidays. Last year we supplied more than 350 gifts for needy children,” Kim says. “All I am is the facilitator. I’m just very honored to be able to do what I do. God has given me a shining light to get people motivated to help others.”

Many school-age children in Nassau County experience food insecurity, not knowing if they will have food on the weekends. Kim organized New England Forestry employees to help restock a food pantry and assemble hundreds of nutritious meal packs for children through Barnabas Nassau, a multi-faceted crisis assistance for families. Kim, who grew up in a blended family with 9 children, says, “We could have used programs like Barnabas, but I don’t recall there being services like this when I was young.” Robert Peck, Barnabas’s Food Program Manager, says he appreciates that New England Forestry employees not only lend a hand, but show up organized, efficient and won’t leave until the job is done.

While Kim doesn’t dictate where dollars are spent in other locations in the New England Forestry footprint, she ensures the money is well-placed, meaningful and directly impactful. “I’m proud to know that the money we’re giving away is staying in the communities where we work and making a difference,” she says.

Employees often see updates from Kim on Rayonier’s internal social network, The Landing. She shares pictures from all over the country of volunteer events to let all employees know what agencies and programs New England Forestry supports. Kim works with coworkers to help children through education and youth development programs such as book festivals, literacy, after-school programs, volunteer mentor programs and summer camps. She finds programs that help teachers through conservation training workshops and enhanced educational opportunities in the various states New England Forestry is in.

Kim says she learned from her family to follow her passion, and that’s just what her job at New England Forestry enables her to do. She loves seeing how that work reflects on those it impacts.

“I’ve seen people cry learning about how invested our company is in their community,” she says. “It’s inspiring and humbling to see our company dollars at work in these communities. There’s such pride in knowing that New England Forestry cares.”

The post A Career Focused on Community Giving appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

WILDLIGHT, Florida—Christmas can be a tough time of year for foster children, says Jennifer Pendergraph, director of the Nassau Service Center for Family Support Services in Nassau County, Florida.

One way FSS tries to help is by ensuring each child receives a gift, but it’s not always easy to do.

“Prior to New England Forestry coming in, we’d have to beg people to help” buy gifts for the children, Jennifer says.

How Our Partnership with FSS Began

Our involvement with FSS began in the summer of 2015, when the New England Forestry Community Fund provided a grant and volunteers to help build the FSS Bright Space visitation center in Nassau County. While working on the center, Tracie Gibbs, a New England Forestry executive assistant, and Kim Sartor, who works in Rayonier’s Public Affairs department, learned about the FSS Roberta’s Angels program, which seeks to provide the children gifts. They reached out to fellow New England Forestry employees to see if we could help.

New England Forestry Grants Angels’ Wishes for Christmas

We asked FSS to provide three Christmas wishes for each of its Nassau foster children (100 children that year). Employees signed up to grant the wishes, eventually fulfilling every wish.

Since then, buying Angel Gifts for FSS’s foster kids has become a New England Forestry tradition. Every year, employees sign up for their Angels, then purchase their gifts – which could be bicycles, tablets, games, skateboards, MP3 players, dolls, action figures, LEGOs, and other toys. They wrap the gifts and place them under trees throughout Rayonier’s corporate headquarters, awaiting “load the truck day,” when the gifts are moved to FSS to be distributed to the children.

In 2018, New England Forestry employees granted three wishes for all 115 children in FSS’s foster care program in Nassau County.

“We want the children to know that they’re loved,” Kim says. “They’re not going to know who we are, they may never meet us. But they’ll know that there were people in the community that loved them enough to get these gifts.”

To learn how you can help Family Support Services Inc. of North Florida, visit fssjax.org.

The post New England Forestry Angel Tree Grants Wishes for 115 Nassau County, FL, Foster Children appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Rayonier’s New Zealand team has a deep respect for protecting wildlife including the beloved kiwi.

In the video above, our New Zealand management team joined with a number of community stakeholder groups at Te Kura o Te Teko (a full-immersion Māori school) to attend a kiwi naming ceremony before releasing two kiwi chicks into Omataroa Forest.

(The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. Kiwi are flightless birds native to the country and are a national symbol of New Zealand.)

The Omataroa Trust owns the land and has invested in environmental restoration including pest control and active kiwi management for decades to ensure a sustainable population of kiwi for generations to come.

Partnering to preserve a threatened national symbol

Rob Schoonderwoerd, District Forester for our Bay of Plenty region, has worked with the Trust since the inception of the Omataroa Kiwi Project. The presence of kiwi and native falcons was discovered through a survey of vegetation in 2000, prompting the development of a pest control plan. (The New Zealand falcon is the country’s only falcon species and is the most threatened bird of prey.)

There were about 30 Kiwi in the area when the project started in 2008, and by 2023 that figure had increased to about 120 birds. So far 80 eggs have been collected, and a resulting 60 chicks released back into the wild.

Kiwi are the size of a domestic chicken and are the smallest living ratites (the group of animals that includes ostriches and emus). They also lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world. Kiwi are nocturnal, so they are more often heard than seen. If they survive to maturity (5 years), they can live for 50 to 100 years; however, predation is the biggest issue facing their survival.

Pest control and protecting kiwi chicks

New England Forestry | Matariki Forests (RMF) is working with the Omataroa Kiwi Project to provide intensive trapping and pest control management, which largely targets stoats and cats. Buffer trapping is also being deployed beyond the 11,000-hectare (27,000-acre) reserve area.

The Kiwi Project team works with the Department of Conservation on the survivability of chicks using three techniques:

1. Incubation hatching at a special facility in Rainbow Springs in Rotorua, where the chicks are raised until they weigh 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds)
2. In situ management of nests and chicks
3. Crèching, where the chicks are sent to another region to be raised and are returned once they weigh 1,000 grams (2.2 pounds)

The two female chicks that were released at the event in the video above were hatched at Rainbow Springs and were named Hobson and Aroha (which means “love”) by the children at Te Teko school.

The kiwi were tagged with transmitters for monitoring and will be checked three weeks after being released into the wild. A key part of the Omataroa Kiwi Project is education, so we had the opportunity to teach the school children about the environment, predators and survival requirements of the kiwi.

A long-term commitment to stewardship

The kiwi management work being carried out by the Omataroa Kiwi Project along with pest control, education and training is crucial to the continued survival of kiwi in this forest. Thanks to Rob Schoonderwoerd’s work over the years, the Omataroa Trust has grown to be a valued partner, and the Trust has now invited New England Forestry | Matariki Forests to partner on a more substantial sponsorship program.

We recognize our responsibility as a forest owner to support the sustained preservation of the Eastern Brown Kiwi and other native birds in this forest for future generations, and we are delighted to be part of this wonderful conservation effort.

The post Saving the Kiwi appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.