Driftless Farm Community Supported Forestry in Stoddard, WI

August 4th, 2009

July 2009

Driftless farm picked up some publicity in the Coop Shopper this month.  This publication, a joint venture of several area food coops featured the new Driftless farm CSF or community supported forest.

“It started with word play and an understanding that a sustainable forest is more than just its trees. Community Supported Forest (CSF) is a model of membership in a natural resource, much like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), where members reap the abundance of a sustainably managed forest.
“This year, Driftless Farm CSA planted this seed of an idea and is growing what it thinks is the first Community supported Forest on its 140 acres in Stoddard, WI. The project facilitates a sustainable relationship between members and a rural forest resource often overlooked.
“Wisconsin has 13 million acres of forest land. Most of this land is a tax burden to its owners and a liability to the state, which subsidizes its maintenance. Conventionally, forests are economically useless until old growth matures and is milled for lumber or its “weed trees” are sold as firewood or pulp wood. Forest owners have little economic incentive
to keep their forests, since more monetary value is promised by clearing and grazing the land or selling it for development. And yet, our global climate crisis begs us to find more value in our forests, to save them, replant them, honor them.”

For a link to the article click here.

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