Woods Family Tree Farms from Idaho
What Makes Them Outstanding?
What makes the Wood Family outstanding candidates for this award is their durability, sustainability, innovativeness in land based business ventures and their commitment to strong family, generational values regarding land management. Now encompassing five generations of family members and 13 family tree farms, the Wood family has grown from original homesteads carved out of logged over timber company lands in the early part of the last century to 2,083 acres of certified timberland on separate but in most cases contiguous family member tree farms as well as over 1,000 acres of farm and grassland for cattle operations. Their entire ownerships encompass the 4 principles of Tree Farm: Wood, Water, Wildlife and Recreation and they have been outstanding stewards of their property. As part of their ongoing concern to conserve the land they have placed 640 acres in the Forest Legacy Program. This land can be managed but never subdivided. They are a great testament to Tree Farm’s 75th anniversary and are living examples of the true concept of Forest Legacy.
Tree Farmer Story
The Wood family, timber owners and cattlemen, have roots in Bonner County, Idaho dating back to 1918. Virginia Hoffine Wood’s family immigrated to the Gold Creek area northwest of Sandpoint, Idaho between 1918 and 1926. Jim Wood’s Father Riley Wood purchased logged-over timberland from the Humbird Lumber Company on Gold Creek in the early 1940s. Jim and Virginia Wood, the current patriarchs of this family, married in 1948 and raised five children (Steve Wood, Leonard Wood, Brian Wood, Dan Wood, Janice Wood Schoonover), all who work and live on the family land in Bonner County. The original Riley Wood homestead, now known as the Gold Creek Ranch, has been added onto over the years to support a growing family and various land based businesses. The Wood family has restocked this ground and kept it under sustainable timber management since the 1950s. In 1971 Jim and Virginia leased and then purchased more land near Colburn, Idaho some 10 miles north of Sandpoint, Idaho to justify an ever growing cattle operation.
As Jim & Virginia’s children grew into adulthood, they too began to acquire cattle and timber land
as well as branch off into different land-based businesses. Steve & Louise Wood own and operate Wood’s Meat Processing, Inc., retail, wholesale and custom meat processing facility and manage cattle and timber on their Tree Farm. Leonard & Naomi Wood raise cattle and manage timber on their Tree Farm. Janice and Roley Schoonover own and operate Western Pleasure Guest Ranch for vacationers enjoying horseback riding, sleigh rides, cross country skiing, hiking and other outdoor recreational activities on their property and the Gold Creek Ranch as well as manage cattle and timber on their Tree Farm. Brian & Penny Wood own and operate Wood’s Crushing and Hauling, a road construction business, and have several gravel pits and manage the timber on their Tree Farms. Brian’s business employs over 50 people. Dan Wood owns and operates a custom haying and farming operation. Grandchildren Jody Wood Russell & her husband Todd with Isaac Schoonover also own timberland and raise cattle.
Jim Wood was one of the first cattlemen in northern Idaho to cross-breed when he purchased his first Angus bull in 1965. Jim was also named Idaho Grass Man of the year in 1968 and was heavily involved in the local 4-H horse program. Jim also helped organize 4-H trail rides and endurance rides for visitors throughout the Cabinet Mountains. Jim and Virginia’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue to be active in the local 4-H programs.In 2009/2010, the ranch placed 640 acres of the original Gold Creek Ranch into a conservation easement under the Forest Legacy Program. This property can never be developed and will be managed for grazing and as a sustainable working forest in perpetuity.
Wood
The original Gold Creek Ranch timberland purchased in the early 1940’s has been re-stocked and sustainably managed since 1950. The other Tree Farms purchased by the various family members since then are also managed for sustainable forestry. The family cuts 300 to 500 mbf annually from their combined Tree Farms. Steve and Louise Wood, Todd Russell & Leonard Wood incorporate their cattle operations within their respective Tree Farms and use silvopasture techniques when harvesting timber to also improve grazing opportunities for their livestock. All of Idaho’s native coniferous species can be found throughout the Wood Family Tree Farms including Douglas-fir, western larch, grand fir, western hemlock, lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, Idaho (western) white pine, western red cedar, ponderosa pine, and subalpine fir. Management is designed to promote this diversity of species through commercial thinning.
Water
Feeder streams, both perennial and intermittent, flow though many of the Tree Farms near Colburn, Idaho into Sand Creek, which is a main watershed for the greater Sandpoint, Idaho area. The Wood Family has fenced off and replanted trees along many 1,000’s of feet along these stream courses to protect them from cattle grazing damage. Idaho white pine has been hand-planted along these stream courses. On the higher elevation Tree Farms such as the Gold Creek Ranch, care is taken to follow the Idaho Forest Practices Act BMPs when harvesting timber along class 1 & 2 streams by leaving the proper Streamside Management Zones in place as required by law. Gold Creek, a Class 1 Idaho fish bearing stream, flows through or nearby several of the family’s Tree Farms and is also protected from timber management activity and cattle grazing.
Wildlife Including Threatened and Endangered Species
The combined Wood Family Tree Farms provide over 2,200 acres of woodland wildlife habitat for a host of native wildlife including but not limited to Elk, Woodpeckers, Mule deer, Moose, Cougar, Whitetail deer, Raccoon, Red-tailed hawk, Squirrel, Turkey, Black bear, Coyote, Owls and so on. Periodic snags are left standing to provide habitat for vertebrate species and cavity-nesting birds, particularly the Pileated woodpecker. Due to the cattle grazing operation throughout these Tree Farms, big game species such as Deer, Elk & Moose are thriving, in some cases to the point where an overabundance of big game are becoming detrimental to the family hay crops.
The family has applied for and been awarded depredation hunting tags to help control the big game populations of Elk and Deer on their Tree Farms. These special hunting tags are usually given to senior citizen hunters who cannot, by age or agility, hunt in rough terrain. Grey Wolf has been re-introduced into northern Idaho, and populations are being controlled through legal hunting. Grizzly Bear is also a threatened species in northern Idaho. These two species may traverse the Wood Family Tree Farm periodically. Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon and Whooping Crane as well as Lynx are listed as threatened or endangered species in Idaho. With the exception of the Bald Eagle, which can be seen regularly on or around the Wood Family ownerships, no T & E species have been known to habituate these Tree Farms. As previously described, the creeks are protected for fisheries and other aquatic and riparian habitat.
Recreation and Aesthetics Including Special Sites
The Wood family has placed 640 acres into a conservation easement through the Forest Legacy Program on the Gold Creek Ranch Tree Farm. Their Western Pleasure Guest Ranch utilizes this property for horseback riding, sleigh rides, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. Visitors and guests experience life on a working ranch and Tree Farm while staying at the guest ranch, and receive a wonderfully narrated lesson in sustainable forest management with each outing. Several areas on Gold Creek Ranch are considered special sites protected by the family: A viewpoint of the Selle Valley, a picnic area that has been developed and maintained for large family gatherings and a small shelter cabin built for periodic family use.
