Navy forest steward: managing the navy's ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest

All Hands, Sept, 2006 by Todd Frantom

Far from the treacherous, rocky coast and deep within the pine-scented hollows of the Pacific Northwest, a man pauses for a moment to stare at rays of light piercing through the tops of 1,000-year-old Sitka spruce. Like a Sailor gazing over the horizon during a sunset, he smiles at the beauty of it all.

"This magnificent view is here because of the Navy," said Walter R. Briggs, forester for Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northwest Engineering Field Activity, in Poulsbo, Wash.

When the Navy is the topic of conversation, most Sailors automatically think of oceans; however, there is another ecosystem to be considered here--the forest.

The Navy owns more than 1 million acres of timbered land throughout the world, although it's how and why this other valuable resource is managed that has established the Navy as a leader in wilderness conservation in the Pacific Northwest.

These forests are an environment that Sailors use for training, recreation, and work. Although, an equally important reason to have the forest is as a lasting example of the Navy's role in preserving natural resources.

The change that has occurred within the Navy in the last 20 years regarding stewardship of the environment, and the emphasis now placed on accomplishing the Navy's mission while also protecting limited natural resources is encouraging according to RADM Len Hering, then-commander, Navy Region Northwest, who spoke at the dedication ceremony for the naming of the Walter Briggs Old-Growth Forest.

"Sailors are the guardians of the forest and the animals that inhabit land where naval activities take place," said Briggs, "It is our responsibility to be caretakers in this shared ecosystem."

What is the right thing to do with the trees on our Navy land? Navy officers sailing on the ocean or sitting at the Pentagon do not make that decision alone. This decision takes a specialist, someone who really understands the Northwest forest and Navy stewardship. Briggs is that man.

Since he was a young child, Briggs liked to walk in the woods. It is his love and passion for the natural wonders that keeps this Navy region in the limelight of environmental stewardship.

Briggs is responsible for natural resource management on hundreds of thousands of acres of Navy land, including more than 15,000 acres of commercial-grade timberland stretching from Arizona to Alaska.

Naval Magazine Indian Island, near Port Townsend, Wash., supports some of the Navy's most modern and sophisticated weapons. But it's also home to a remarkable forest and some even more remarkable forest practices.

"This is a gentler way of logging," said Briggs, describing Tom and Jerry--close to two tons of raw horse-power muscle doing what they were bred to do: pull stuff. And these Percheron horses pull whatever their driver Jerry Harpole tells them to.

"Horses are very powerful animals," said Harpole.

He is a logger who knew there was a better way than mechanized logging. He walked away from the giant machines that rule modern forestry over 20 years ago in favor of Tom and Jerry.

"Now there are no smoky exhausts, loud engines or nasty looking clear cuts," said Harpole.

All he hears are the working sounds of his team of horses and the rustling of the logs gliding through a nearly silent forest.

"You can do good work with machinery," said Harpole. "I have a lot of friends who are machine loggers and do an excellent job, much faster. But it's also hard to do a bad job with horses."

Horse logging is the preferred technique of Briggs, whose sole effort is doing things with an eye toward stewardship, especially when his precious trees are involved.

"These heavy horses seem more a part of the forest than a great big yellow machine," Briggs said. "Despite their size and power, these strong horses tread lightly on the soil and leave few scars on the forest floor."

One of the big concerns in the deep woods is the damage that can be done to the surrounding trees and the trails when machines drag out the big logs.

"The only thing left behind are the horses' tracks and a drag line that looks like someone pulled a large stick across the ground," said Briggs. "And we don't have tire tracks with a lot of weight compacting that soil--which then inhibits future growth."

Briggs' plan is to selectively thin the Navy's overgrown patches to create a more natural, diverse forest that could someday grow into what it was when the pioneers used horses to log it the first time.

"It's like guiding the Navy's future forests down a path through history," said Briggs.

There is such a place on Navy land where the trees have never been logged. A place where a Sailor can stand under the same trees that pioneers might have made a camp around more than a century ago.

This place exists because of Walter Briggs' tenacious efforts, and consequently, he became the first living person to have a Navy forest named after him. These enormous trees survive at Jim Creek Radio Station recreational area, located inland along the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, less than an hour drive from Naval Station Everett.