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Mark your calendars
July 15 Fall Woods Workshop Planning
Meeting, Park Row Cafe, Waterbury, 8-9am
July 19 BBQ, Demo Day and Annual Election Meeting,
Shelburne Farms Coach Barn, 10am-2pm, rain or shine
July 19 WoodNet Online Store goes Online
Sept 27 VT WoodNet Sustainable Woods Workshop at
Steven Taylor's, Lincoln, rain or shine. Focusing
on resources, marketing opportunities, and progress to date.
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Featured Member: Kelly Ault
Kelly Ault lives in Middlesex with her husband, Phil Beard. They built a
post and beam house last winter, using Forest-Stewardship Council-certified
wood and contracting with a number of WoodNet businesses. "The wood and
work was beautiful, of course," she notes. Phil works at Main Street Middle School
in Montpelier. Kelly has two younger sisters who live in Burlington, VT
and Meredith, NH. Kelly is the founder of Businesses for the Northern
Forest (BNF) and is a free lance writer for magazines. In her few minutes of free time,
she enjoys reading fiction, running with their two dogs, sailing on Lake
Champlain, and mountain and road biking. Kelly says, "I am a big gardener and Phil and
I plan to run a farm with fruit orchards and animals someday."
Kelly created BNF in 1995 as a program of the Appalachian Mountain Club
and the Northern Forest Alliance to strengthen partnerships between the
business and conservation community around issues in land conservation,
sustainable forestry and economic development. BNF has worked with over 1000
businesses in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York on research,
education, advocacy, joint projects and events.
BNF began working with the wood products businesses in 1997 by
organizing meetings in Rangeley, ME to address the needs of small-scale
manufacturers. The Western Mountains Wood Alliance was formed and in 1999, Christine
Krauss was hired to be the coordinator. Later re-named Maine WoodNet, the
group's mission seeks to provide a vehicle which facilitates the use of
cooperative manufacturing, innovative marketing, collaborative partnerships, and
efficient wood use by forest based businesses, while promoting networking and
educational opportunities focused on improved forest stewardship.
Kelly brought the Maine WoodNet model to Vermont in 2000 when she,
Bob Bouvier and Wayne Fawbush of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund formed
an Advisory group, coordinated a survey and organized a series of open
meetings. In 2001, a Steering Committee was formed, a work plan was constructed
and Vermont WoodNet was live!
Kelly offered organizing and technical assistance in both the Maine and
Vermont WoodNets including organizing meetings, events and mailings, writing
grants and newsletters, engaging funders and partner organizations,
managing organizational development with the Steering Committee and
facilitating information on Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood.
BNF's projects in Vermont involve more than just wood-related businesses.
Other projects include; a web site of guides, outfitters and lodging in the
Northeast Kingdom that promotes the area as an eco-tourism destination
(see www.nulhegan.com); HandMade in the Northern Forest project lists artisans
and crafters that make products by hand and have a studio or shop open to the
public in a guidebook to be published in 2004 (see
www.handmadenorthernforest.com); and the Northeast Kingdom Heritage Guide being published this summer
links 100 museums and galleries, featuring locally-produced goods and culture.
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