Partnerships Make it Happen or
Why the White Mountain Stewardship Contract Really Works

by Jean Livingston and Sarah Bickel

In August 2004, the USDA Forest Service awarded Future Forest, LLC the White Mountain Stewardship Contract on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona.

Authorized by the U.S. Congress, stewardship contracting is a creative way to help restore and maintain healthy forest ecosystems and at the same time develop sustainable rural communities, promote a partner relationship with local communities, and provide a continuing source of local income and employment.

Some features of stewardship contracting include allowing the Forest Service to apply the value of timber or other forest products removed as an offset against the cost of services received, select contracts on a "best value" basis, and award a contract up to 10 years, stimulating long-term investment in the local community. The White Mountain Stewardship project illustrates the positive ripple effect that this investment can generate for rural economies.

White Mountain Stewardship Contract

Before (top) and after: 500-acre wildland-urban forest restoration by W.B. Contracting.

The potential for wildland fire on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, which comprises a significant portion of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in North America, poses a large-scale threat to surrounding communities. At one time characterized by 20 to 60 trees per acre, this forest after years of fire suppression now averages more than 400 trees per acre, making it vulnerable to intense wildfire and insect damage.

The White Mountain project is the largest 10-year stewardship contract in the nation. The contract allows for the treatment of about 15,000 acres per year, up to 150,000 acres in 10 years. The treatment area is concentrated within the wildland-urban interface to alleviate fire risks. The project is also facilitating the development of a wood products industry better suited to market the excessive number of small-diameter trees and woody biomass that will be removed.

Partnerships

Finding profitable ways to utilize traditionally low-valued products from stewardship treatments can be a major challenge for these types of projects. However, partnerships with small businesses in the surrounding communities are helping the White Mountain Stewardship project overcome this barrier. The USDA Forest Service is aiding such enterprises throughout the country through its National Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program.

Primary Contractor—In order to pursue the White Mountain Stewardship opportunity, two local businesses—W.B. Contracting and Forest Energy Corporation—developed a formal partnership and created Future Forest, LLC. W.B. Contracting is owned and operated by brothers Ricky, Dale, and Dwayne Walker. The company is a well-established wood contracting business that has been operating in the Southwest for 18 years. Rob Davis is owner and President of Forest Energy Corporation in Show Low, Arizona, which manufactures wood pellets for fuel, in addition to animal bedding, absorbents, and a 5-lb compressed wood log for use in fireplaces and wood stoves.

As the designated White Mountain Stewardship contractor, Future Forest, LLC provides services to perform woody biomass management, which may include tree removal, treatment of existing slash and dead trees, erosion control, resource protection, and haul road maintenance. In addition, Future Forest, LLC is building vital partnerships within the community. As a manager of Future Forest, Dwayne Walker spends a great deal of his time seeking out partners that will bring in new markets for the harvested forest restoration material.

Other Forest Products Businesses—Since the White Mountain Stewardship Contract was awarded, new businesses, such as a post & pole operation and a small-diameter sawmill, have emerged to take advantage of the woody materials that Future Forest, LLC can provide. Start-up companies or other businesses looking to locate in this area include a custom log home business, a small-diameter sawmill, and a chemical wood hardening company.

Forest Energy Corporation manufactures wood pellets for fuel from wood residue.

By partnering together, and by taking advantage of federal grant opportunities, these businesses are successfully using the products from the stewardship treatments to produce value-added products and build a more solid foundation for the local economy.

Reidhead Brothers Lumber Mills Inc. in Nutrioso, Arizona, is a third-generation, family-owned operation. Terry Reidhead recently purchased the former Precision Pine sawmill near Eagar, Arizona, and leased the land from the city of Eagar. This sawmill will soon become a major processor of small-diameter logs from the White Mountain Stewardship contract. When in full operation, Terry expects to produce 12 million board feet of lumber per year and employ 15 people. Using a recently installed wood chipper, Reidhead Brothers also chips wood slaps and sells the chips to Forest Energy Corporation.

Another business that is part of the chain of partners in this stewardship project is American West Structures, LLC, located just outside Eagar, Arizona, and owned and operated by Steve Nicoll and his wife, Colleen. American West Structures is also a growing small-diameter business, specializing in manufacturing and pre-assembly of glued-laminated wood trusses, pedestrian and vehicular bridges, and laminated log home packages. The company has a unique horizontal finger jointing system, which provides added strength for larger structures.

Currently American West Structures brings in raw material from local lumber mills and from the Northwest and Southeast sections of the United States. Their goal is to use more local material. One barrier is the lack of a local supplier that can kiln dry a sufficient volume of lumber to the required 8% moisture content.

Mixed log supply from White Mountain Stewardship Contract

A small grant from the USDA Forest Service’s National Woody Biomass Utilization Program this past year is fostering a partnership between Terry Reidhead and American West Structures. In 2005, American West Structures received a grant to secure increased capacity to dry lumber to 8% moisture content. Rather than build their own dry kiln, American West Structures is helping to fund a dry kiln at Reidhead Brothers small-diameter sawmill.

By helping to fund the dry kiln, American West Structures can increase their small-diameter lumber supply from 20% to 35% and increase their payment to Reidhead Brothers Sawmill by $20 per thousand board feet. In turn, Reidhead will be able to pay $3 more per ton for the raw material from Future Forests LLC, the general contractor for the White Mountain Stewardship contract.

Arizona Log & Timberworks, located just outside of Eagar, Arizona, is another business that is vital to the White Mountain Stewardship contract. The company is owned and operated by Randy Nicoll and his brother Keith. They produce a family of small-diameter wood products such as vigas, posts, log railings, gazebos, utility poles, and log rail fencing.

According to Randy their biggest problem in the past has been getting the small-diameter material that they need to produce their products. However, since the White Mountain Stewardship project began, supply has not been a problem for Randy’s business.

To increase their product line and remain competitive, Randy also partnered with a successful wood pressure treatment company, Simmons Wood Products in Maricopa, AZ, and has made plans to install a pressure treatment plant at Arizona Log & Timberworks.

Shared Success

Profitable products such as gazebos, railings, and log rail fencing can be produced from small-diameter logs.

Future Forest, LLC has done a superb job of engaging partners in the White Mountain Stewardship contract. Both the primary contractor and the other forest product companies involved in this project are expanding their businesses and prospering economically. These partnerships are contributing to a more sustainable local economy while at the same time restoring the ecological health of the land.

These intertwining partnerships are a big part of why the White Mountain Stewardship contract is successful and are part of a solution that will help restore the nation’s forests and improve the economy of forestry-based rural communities.