Vander Meer's Wildland Conservation Services
Vander Meer's Wildland Conservation Services
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Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Finishing Touches
Champ, bottom left, watches on while Taz and Lucas put finishing touches on the sauna roof at the Vanwild headquarters.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sauna Grows A Roof
Today Taz is building a roof for the homemade sauna sitting at the Vanwild headquarters. The new Vanwild intern, Izaak, helped out but didn't make it into this photo.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Andy's Wood
A new project at the mill. Andy cuts beetle-killed trees from private forest lands and sell the firewood to folks in California. He is doing the land-owners a favor, as these are brood trees, full of beetle larva.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Pattee Creek
Busy week on the restoration of Pattee Creek, Missoula. Here we lay fabric to stabilize the bank. Tomorrow we plant native shrubs from our nursery.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Kitts & Boards
Kitts, our intern from the University of Montana, and his first batch of boards. Kitts is also a wood worker, and plans to use this wood in a project.
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Tricon Timber
Part of my work involves finding sustainable forestry operations and tracking the logs thru the mill to a specific job. In this series of photos, you see a forest restoration project on U. S. Forest Service land.
Sunday, March 6, 2005
Built a Shed
This weekend Marnie & I built a shed for our mill yard. Most folks go to the store to buy timbers, not us! This 22 foot 4x8 will span the project. Final touches - just add tin.
Friday, March 4, 2005
Saw Dust
Britta Loading; we sell our sawdust to folks with horses. Not much waste around here.
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Big Timbers
This big Douglas fir log maxes out the tractor and the mill. The log is 22 feet long and 21 inched top end diameter. Kurt lifts a 4 x 6 off the top.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Llama Poop
This weekend we loaded and hauled llama manure for MUD – the Missoula Urban Demonstration Project. They sell it in the spring (by the wheelbarrow or truck load) to raise funds for their work. In the past we did all the loading by hand.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Nasty Erosion
What to do here? This eroding slope is delivering a load of sediment to Mount Creek, near Kila, Montana. You can see a bit of the work we did last fall, (lower right corner).
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Kitts McCabe, Intern
This is Kitts McCabe, our new intern. He is a student in the Environmental Studies program at the University of Montana. Kitts will learn all about community forestry, from appropriate forestry practices to milling and value added techniques.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Bud Moore
This is Bud Moore, one of my mentors. He is a forester in the Swan Valley who logs and mills. His work is light on the land, and his wood products are the very best. I stacked boards for Bud for a few winters.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Blue-Stain Wainscot
This blue-stain wainscot looks great. We gathered the logs from a forest restoration project and milled them into boards. Kurt von Kleist added more value to the wood by manufacturing tongue & groove wainscot paneling.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Marnie's Hat Rack
Marnie made this hat rack from boards cut from our mill. Note the unique opposing saw-tooth pattern caused by milling the log with the blade in a horizontal position, and cutting from both sides of the log.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Conference Call
Boss on a conference call. I enjoy my part-time position as the Northern Rockies Regional Coordinator for the National Network of Forest Practitioners (NNFP).
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Jack's Firewood
Jack Kuehn heats his home with our scrap wood. Jack has an airplane in his garage.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Big Log Surprise!
Big surprise; the risk of working with municipal trees! This chunk of plate steel & bolts wrecked the teeth of our saw blade. It’s not particularly dangerous, but it sure makes me mad. We also cut through many bullets.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Logs to Lumber
Neil Simpson from Resource Specialties Inc. and logs bound for HomeWORD’s housing project on Grove Street. HomeWORD uses sustainably harvested & locally grown wood whenever possible.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Forest Restoration
John San Marco from Horizon Tree Service grapples a bunched load of paper pulp material. This outfit does some of the best forest restoration work in Western Montana.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Sustainably Harvested Logs
4. Tom Butcher, from Horizon Tree Service, carefully loads logs on my trailer. We procure logs from operations where trees are harvested in a sustainable manner. Rob Castellano, from Potomac, owns Horizon Tree Services.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Britta & Planks & Beams
Britta and a stickered stack of cottonwood planks, topped with 8x8 timbers. Freshly milled planks take about 6 to 8 months to dry; timbers take over a year. Britta works all aspects of our operation, from falling trees, to milling, to nursery work.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Posts & Slabs
True 4x4 inch posts cut from small logs. Note slabs in the trailer - great fence & rail material, ready for delivery.
Sunday, February 6, 2005
Full Circle
Last weekend we hauled these freshly cut boards to the site where we'll build a barn. It was a homecoming for the boards, which we milled from logs cut on the same property last year.
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Vander Meer’s Wildland Conservation Services
Physical Address: 1301 Scott St. - Missoula, MT 59802
Mailing Address: 902 Stoddard St. - Missoula, MT 59802
Phone (406) 541-2565