Forest Stewardship Council Certification: Taking care of our land. Taking care of our future. In April of 2003, White Earth Land Recovery Project met all requirements to make its Sugarbush property certified under the Forest Stewardship Councils standards for a well-managed forest!

The White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) collects maple sugar sap from trees on its 80-acre and 220-acre sugar bushes and from other sugar bushes leased from local residents and tribal members. WELRP processes the sap into maple syrup for sale through its direct marketing business, Native Harvest. WELRP promotes the cultural and spiritual practice of traditional Anishinaabeg way of life, and makes these practices a key part of its conservation values for the forest.

Harvest of maple sugar sap can enhance the overall forest ecosystem. Still, harvest of non-timber forest products can be destructive if poor technique or shoddy equipment is used, or there is disregard for and individual plant’s long-term survival such as by removal to obtain fruit or bark. Use of harvest techniques tailored to maple sugar trees can insure long-term sugar maple population viability. According to the Forest Stewardship Council, Sugarbush management results in simplification of natural forests. The overall impact and placement of the Sugarbush should be considered on wildlife, forest composition and structure, soil composition and fertility, endangered species, and understory and overstory diversity.

The WELRP Sugarbush is a diverse, northern hardwoods forest with aspen, birch, oak and basswood as well as sugar maple well represented. According to the August 1999 Woodland Stewardship Plan prepared by Northern Forestry, Inc. under the Minnesota Forest Stewardship Program, depending on soil, the understory has a light to heavy stocking of sugar maple seedlings and saplings with scattered pockets of ironwood reproduction, and a light to moderate density of hazel brush with some leatherwood. The groundcover is a diverse mixture of forbs indicating a fairly productive soil for growing hardwood trees. There is also a fairly well-developed component of large woody material on the forest floor due to windthrow mortality and insect and disease. In addition, the multi-layered canopy provides habitat for a diversity of wildlife and bird species.

Management activities have favored allowing natural succession to continue, and releasing young sugar maples when mature aspen and other species are harvested. By varying gap sizes, a variety of species are retained in the forest. In addition, the Woodland Stewardship Plan recommends managing less productive sugar maple stands, found on sandy, well-drained soils, for low intensity maple syrup production. Such stands will support less-intensive tapping over a longer time period.

To be in compliance with the Forest Stewardship Council Certification Guidelines, the WELRP forest management plan documents Sugarbush management objectives, harvest rates and harvest techniques. Harvest levels and methods are justified through published literature, site-specific information, and /or local knowledge. Forest worker training has been central to good planning and implementation of proper harvesting techniques in the field.

Keeping a Biodiverse Forest: Paul Stamets, Mycologist, Author, Inventor & Founder of Fungi Perfecti has written 6 books on mushrooms, their cultivation and use. His book, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help save the World, was released in October, 2005, published by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley. Paul has been active in using mycelium in breaking down toxic wastes, capturing pathogenic bacteria, and has developed strategies where mycelium kick-starts habitat restoration in ecologically devastated environments. He has filed, over 30 patents, with several approved or in process.

Paul advocates saving the old growth forest as a matter of national defense. Paul is a strong proponent of preserving biodiversity, the old growth forest, and for using environmentally rational strategies to displace dependencies on toxic chemicals. One of his patents on mycopesticides has been called and “Alexander Graham Bell” patent as it has the potential of replacing most chemical pesticides with an environmentally benign method. Receiver of several environmental awards, Paul gives credit to Nature, believing in the Natural Intelligence of the ecosystems that have given us life. A visionary thinker, yet practical, and down to Earth, Paul is dedicated to creating a heritage of knowledge that can be passed down to future generations.