Grayson LandCare is pleased to announce Britt Boucher as the featured speaker for March. Join us at 7pm March 16 at the Grayson LandCare office at 104 Courthouse Street. After a brief update of GLC activities, Mr Boucher , a forester, will speak on best forest management practices he has developed: a Forest Future Vision. It addresses (1) our Planet’s essential need to store carbon, (2) the land stewards need for cash, (3) the Forest’ needed silvicultural objectives and (4) the constraints of mechanized harvesting equipment, and the challenges of the loggers. The goal: Forests that build long-term asset and ecological values. Mr Boucher has a master’s degree in forest economics and a life long passion for forests.
With the exception of his Military days, time farming, and teaching a class every now and then, he has spent most of his life working in and on the Forest. A big part of a Forester’s job is carefully observing and counting things. So, in the 30+ years of woods work, he has collected thousands of intimate data-points from the soil through each living-layer to the top of the canopy, each layer telling a story.
Growing up outside Pittsburgh in the industrial landscapes of coal mining; gas, oil and timber extraction started the burning question of “Why are the woods were treated so badly?” Britt went on to search for those answer. A Masters in Forest Economics from Virginia Tech gave him the tools he needed to work on the question… but no answers.
Why are Forests treated so badly? Mr. Boucher is a scientist and a farmer. He sees the forest and its gifts as a massive biological equation. ” The Sun gives us energy to convert air and water into stuff! We get the blessing of sunlight and available-soil-moisture to grow things. All kinds of things! ” Mr Boucher continues ” I’m good with forests – I understand them and I know how to care for them, how to fix them, how to help them grow so much better. I help landscapes become Forests again. But there are so many that need help! So all my life I kept asking the question my Mom asked me. Why then are they treated so badly? But, I’ve grown up now and don’t waste my time anymore asking that question. Now I just fix them and I’m happy to share how.”