Washington state's tree farmers of the year don't live anywhere near an actual tree farm.
Bob and Le Roy Burns, now in their 70s, grew up on the family farm along the Washougal River, but they're avowed city dwellers today. The two brothers, whose 200-acre Skamania County tree farm was recognized last month by the Washington Farm Forestry Association, both live in Vancouver.
"I tell people, 'If I moved up there, I wouldn't have anywhere to go,' " Le Roy explained.
The brothers consider themselves good tree farmers not because they live on the land, but because they don't.
By living in town, the Burns brothers have made a commitment to ensure the tree farm remains viable as a large block of timber. In that respect, they're making their own stand against a tide of land conversions.
Between 1982 and 1997, the last year in which county-level sampling was done, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service found that Clark County lost 38,600 acres of crops, pasture and timberland, mainly to urban forms of development. Imagine an area slightly larger than the size of the cities of Vancouver and Camas combined, and you have an idea of the amount of land converted during those 15 years into homes, yards and the roads needed to get there.
Rapid residential growth has continued since then.
Members of the Burns family haven't allowed themselves the luxury of building anything more than a si ngle small cabin on their property. Doing so could lead to a house for their children, and for their children's children. Gradually, it erodes the family's ability to effectively grow and harvest timber.
"No longer do we have a tree farm that's really sustainable," Bob said. "You eat it away to the point that you don't really have a place that's adequate to sustain an income every year."
By the same token, the landscape is transforming around them.
During a visit to the farm last week, Bob and Le Roy reminisced that it wasn't until 1956 that electricity finally reached the old family farmhouse. These days, when Bob and Le Roy drive Washougal River Road to the farm just inside the Skamania County line, they pass numerous signs advertising land for sale.
From a road skirting their property, the family has a clear view to Silver Star Mountain.
"Can't you see a Realtor come up here and say, 'Isn't that view beautiful? The trees on the other side will never be harvested,' " Le Roy said.
It's an increasingly common refrain among small woodland owners in Southwest Washington: The more neighbors who crowd up against working forests, the more difficult life becomes for tree farmers with the temerity to log a tree.
"We can handle fire, insects, disease, poor markets and government regulations. We can handle all those things and keep tree farms," Bob said. "The thing that will drive us out of tree farming is high-density development all around it, where everybody thinks it's their own playground."
Patience and planning
Unlike other crops, growing and harvesting timber requires patience and foresight that spans generations. The former farm and pasture land has been in the Burns family since 1919, making the brothers the third generation to manage it.
Bob Burns takes particular delight in showing off one corner of the family's acreage, a gentle slope covered by huge trees swaying gently in late-afternoon sunlight. Last week, a raptor swooped through the cathedral-like canopy of Douglas firs.
"As far as I know, this stand and I have the same birth date," Bob said.
The 15-acre stand has been thinned and nurtured for decades, ever since the family began the slow process of converting livestock pasture and traditional farm crops to timber.
Now, Bob figures there's 750,000 board feet worth of lumber standing here, roughly enough timber to build 75 homes. It might be worth $450,000 when the family decides to log it and start over with a new forest.
"We could cut it right now, no question," Bob said. "It's kind of like a bank account."
Le Roy, a retired high school teacher, jokes that his younger brother's will specifies that the stand may be harvested only after he dies. As a youth, Bob tended the trees as a member of the first 4-H forestry club in the area, if not the country.
He realizes it could have been logged 20 years ago.
"If we were to come in here and say, 'We're going to liquidate this,' there would be some sadness," Bob said. "No question about that."
The yin and the yang
Yet harvesting trees is the end result of growing them.
The brothers recognize tree growing and tree harvesting as the yin and yang of an honorable profession.
Neighbors aren't always so philosophical about the forest next door. About a decade ago, the family learned that neighbors were upset by a small clear-cut. The brothers made a point of inviting the critics to show how they manage the property over the long term.
"We'll bring anybody out here at any time," Bob said.The Columbian
