Tree Ring Co. founder, Dave Wager, with Governor Steve Bullock after he was awarded a Tree Ring custom wood watch. Photo by David Swift.
Montana Governor Steve Bullock, chair of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), selected Tree Ring Co. to make gifts for the governors attending the 2017 Annual Meeting in Whitefish, Montana, June 26-28. Custom wood pens were engraved with the year of statehood for each governor. Governors attending included:
Gov. Bill Walker, Alaska (1959)
Gov. John Hickenlooper, Colorado (1876)
Gov. David Ige, Hawaii (1959)
Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho (1890)
Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada (1865)
Gov. Doug Burgum, North Dakota (1889)
Gov. Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres, Northern Mariana Islands (1975)
Gov. Dennis Daugaard, South Dakota (1889)
Gov. Gary Herbert, Utah (1896)
Gov. Matt Mead, Wyoming (1890)
Since Bullock already had a Tree Ring pen, which was awarded to him by the Montana Wood Products Association, WGA selected a Tree Ring custom wood watch as a thank you gift for completing his term as chair. The watch highlights Montana’s premier rivers, which Tree Ring Co. engraved into the wood of a 51-year-old Douglas-fir tree and filled with a crushed lapis lazuli inlay. Governor Dennis Daugaard, incoming WGA Chair, presented the watch to Bullock at the close of the meeting. Bullock was thrilled with how the pens turned out and sported a big smile upon receiving the watch.
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The tree used to craft the watch was a tiny seedling in 1865. In 1910 the tree stood witness (with a fire scar to prove it) to the largest forest fire in history, burning 3 million acres of forests in Montana and Idaho. An award-winning book, The Big Burn, by Mr. Egan eloquently tells the story of the 1910 fire. On so many occasions, Egan’s captivating writing has taken me back in time to experience the history of the American West. I would love it if his new watch returns that favor. Regardless, it was a tremendous honor to share my craft with a favorite author.
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World Wildlife Fund Myanmar selected a Tree Ring Pen as a gift for Aung San Su Kyi because it is a good example of how to add value to forest products, as opposed to just exporting logs. Adding value to forest products can facilitate forest conservation and improve socio-economic conditions.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar received Mr. Matthew Carey Harris (WWF- US Board Member) accompanied by Dr. Amirtharaj Christy Williams, Country Director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) yesterday morning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nay Pyi Taw.
During the meeting, they exchanged views on matters relating to possible cooperation between Myanmar and the WWF in Myanmar’s environmental conservation measures including conservation of endangered species of animals and flowers, production of renewable energy, reforestation, recruiting human resources in the fields of environment and forestry, and promoting awareness of the people on environmental conservation.
]]>Layer upon layer, we floated on, paying attention only to the course of the sun and the rapids ahead. House Rock was the first large rapid below Glen Canyon Dam. We pulled aside to scout, looking for the route that would lead us around the massive holes at the bottom of the rapid. After pushing off I started to regret my initial calm strokes as the 2,000 pound boat glided into one of the holes and flipped, tossing us into the frigid water. Instinctively, I scrambled to get on top of the overturned boat, hoping it would catch the eddy below. Once in calm water we collected ourselves and counted our losses – only two beers and a broken fishing reel. After the boat was upright I checked my Tree Ring Watch to see how it survived the rapids and to see how much time we had before dark. The watch was working perfectly, but there was not much time until darkness. November days are short. The watch was crafted from an 80 year old slow growing tree. The tree was born the same year (1937) that Buzz Holmstrom navigated these rapids alone, in a homemade boat.
I stood still in this brief moment and surrendered to wonder. In this ancient landscape, I pictured John W. Powell and crew exploring uncharted waters without any of the comforts that shielded me from the elements. I thought of the concentric rings of the watch and the layers of sediment that made up the canyon walls, each pattern telling hundreds or thousands of stories of drought, fire, and flood. Everyone and everything has a story to tell. We collect and remember particular moments, but in our busy lives don’t always have time to add the ingredient that every story should have – wide-eyed wonder. With some luck, my friends and I can tell their story of that “moment” on the Colorado River in the wild Grand Canyon.
As the days went by a rhythm started to form. A feeling to never stop seeking what is downstream, either on the river or off. The last day on the river came hesitantly, as expected. The journey is now over but continues to soak into the skin through all the dirt and sand in every crevice, inspiring courage to start all over again.
]]>Of course I did have a phone in my pocket so I was able to text my wife that I would be late.
]]>STORIES OF THE FOREST
A RACE TO THE TOP
A BUDDING IDEA
FINISHING TOUCHES
Q: What are “Tree Ring Pens” and where does the wood supply come from?
A: Tree Ring Pens are fine writing instruments crafted from dated tree ring cores. Each pen includes the full chronology (first through last annual ring) of a tree’s life. Through these annual growth rings, each pen shows 100+ years of natural history. As children we learned we could figure out how old a tree was by counting its rings. To foresters and scientists tree rings serve as an encyclopedia of past forest and climate conditions, providing information on tree growth rates, climate patterns, forest fire history, and many other ecological topics. The Tree Ring Pen was created to share this unique resource through a commonly-used object. The wood for Tree Ring Pens comes from forest restoration projects in western Montana—specifically projects that aim to restore old growth forests.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the Tree Ring Pen and how does it relate to forest restoration?
A: My idea for the Tree Ring Pen was born more than a decade ago while conducting dendrochronology (tree ring) research as part of my master’s degree. People seemed fascinated by the information and history imbedded in tree ring cores, and I had been thinking of ways to share tree rings in a wood product. One evening, while working in a dendrochronology lab, it dawned on me that tree rings could be displayed in a wooden pen. The idea for Tree Ring Pens sat on a back burner until I discovered an opportunity to wed it with the need to thin overstocked forests in the western U.S. As a result of nearly 100 years of fire suppression, some forests, including rare old growth stands, are unnaturally dense, and are more susceptible to fires and insect/disease mortality. Without restoration treatments, old-growth forests in dry regions of the West are at considerable risk. Removing the encroaching conifers through forest thinning is needed to restore and help protect remaining old growth forests.
Q: Does the purchase of a Tree Ring Pen contribute to future forest restoration projects?
A: Tree Ring Pens are crafted out of small understory trees that are adding unnatural stress to old growth trees. Thinning out the small diameter trees improves the resiliency of the old growth stands. The aim is to direct Tree Ring Pen restoration efforts at small patches of old growth that are being ignored because they lack the economies of scale that make restoration thinning economically viable. A significant portion of the remnant old growth forests are in remote locations, steep terrain, and/or small isolated patches. Remnant old growth stands exist today, in part, because they were too inaccessible or too steep to be logged economically when widespread logging of old growth forests occurred. Ironically, the same cost challenges that explain their existence also serve as an impediment to their conservation. By crafting a fine product that displays tree ring history, the low value of the small diameter trees can be greatly enhanced to provide the necessary economic incentive to accomplish restoration. Additionally, Tree Ring Pens LLC is donating 5 percent of the purchase price of the sale of each pen to organizations working on forest conservation and restoration.
Q: How do Tree Ring Pens connect their users with the history of the forest and the land?
A: The annual growth rings featured in each pen illustrate the events that shaped an individual tree, a forest, and the American West. For example, narrow rings formed during a 1930s drought illustrate the Dust Bowl. Each pen comes with a card displaying natural history events that impacted the growth of the tree and can be seen in its rings. Part of the allure of the pen is holding 100+ years of history in your hand and feeling a connection to a tree that lived through the last century.
Q: Looking ahead, what are your plans for the future of your business and enviropreneurship?
A: The global market for fine pens is estimated at $1 billion per year. Tree Ring Pens aims to capture enough market share to be able to facilitate meaningful restoration. I’m also expanding the tree ring concept to other products such as clocks, jewelry, and knives. My goal is to garner brand recognition for Tree Ring products that reflects the precious stories of history and restoration of majestic forests imbedded in each pen. In the spirit of dreaming big, I would like Tree Ring products to compete in the luxury good market with other goods made of preciously valued metals and gems.
Q: What did you take away from PERC’s Enviropreneur Institute that will help you develop your business and how will you incorporate market principles to enhance the environment?
A: I learned a number of practical lessons including business planning approaches, pricing models for licensing arrangements, and marketing techniques and strategies. Most importantly, I left the Enviropreneur Institute with a renewed “can do” spirit that permeates PERC’s staff, fellows, and alumni. This network from PERC is an invaluable resource that I’m truly grateful to have access to.
Approximately 5% of the retail prices of each pen will be donated to groups working to restore North America’s old growth forests.
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Load: Three 4-ft long logs ( total weight ~150 lbs)
Location: Deer Creek Canyon just east of Missoula, Montana.
Distance: Approximately 1 mile with 200 ft of descent.
Equipment: Burley trailer (appropriately named for the task)
The bike and trailer performed well. I think I could have had at least another 50 lbs on the trailer.Having disk brakes on the mountain bike was a plus. Perhaps this has potential as a new Olympic sport or at least a new event for Logging/Lumberjack competitions.
Click here to see some examples of what will become of the small diameter logs that were harvested. Click here to learn about the forest restoration work of Tree Ring Pens.