Rustic Furniture...
September, 2010
Through our Sierra Green Working Circle Partnership and demonstration projects, Sierra Forest Legacy is demonstrating that small diameter wood products are a viable source of sustainable material for local and small scale furniture builders.
One such demonstration project is the Sierra Chair. We contracted with a cottage-scale roundwood furniture maker, Wildwood Baru, to develop a roundwood chair made from wood recovered from forest thinning projects that would otherwise have been chipped or pile burned. We’ve also conducted a forestry training program with the Calaveras Healthy Impacts Product Solutions (CHIPS) group to help them operate in a sustainable fashion and to be able to identify the types of small diameter material that is useful to roundwood furniture makers so that they can begin to develop additional value-added products from the forest thinning work. The Sierra Chair is our symbol of what it means to have a community-scaled industry. It demonstrates how community scale can compete with industrial scale by adding value to every piece of material that is processed.
Other demonstration products are highlighted each year at the Calaveras Home and Garden Show. Last October (2009), there were over 15 different products on display at our booth. SFL also works with the Central Sierra Environmental Building Association (CSEBA), a sustainable builders group.
Look for more information about Sierra Green, the Sierra Green warehouse, and other exciting projects in the future. We are currently developing a website portal that will provide information and networking for small scale sustainable wood products industries in the Sierra Nevada.
