The Wood family had the honor of receiving the award for the Idaho Tree Farm of the Year for 2016. The purpose of the Idaho Tree Farm Program, according to their website, is to “promote better forest management among non-industrial forest owners”. This non-profit organization works to, “promote the growing of renewable forest resources on private lands while protecting environmental benefits and increasing public understanding of all benefits of productive forestry”.
The Wood Family has a deeply rooted connection with Northern Idaho, going back nearly 100 years. The Idaho Forest Owners Association described this connection well:
“Jim and Virginia Wood, their five children, and an ever-growing extended family are long-established members of the northern Idaho area. Virginia’s family first homesteaded in the Gold Creek area northeast of Sandpoint just prior to 1920, with Jim’s folks making their way there around 1940. Much of the country was cut over and bleak in those days, but a lifetime of care and good stewardship has made it a beautiful place to work & live today. As the family grew, they have continually added to their land base in an effort to keep everyone together and engaged. Operations today include not only timberland, but also cattle ranching, agriculture, commercial meat processing, road construction, the Western Pleasure Guest Ranch, and a community elementary school. Wildlife is abundant throughout their ownership, and care is taken to protect the riparian areas. As a testament to their dedication to keeping the land intact for future generations, in 2009 they placed 640 acres of timberland in the Forest Legacy Program to be forever managed as a working forest. What a wonderful gift to those generations to come!”
On September 10, 2016, the Idaho Tree Farm Program hosted a tour of both the lower and upper (the property on which Western Pleasure Guest Ranch is located) ranches. Nearly 200 people took part in the tour which highlighted our family’s work toward managing the land for sustainable forestry, water, recreation, and wildlife management.
We would like to thank the Idaho Tree Farm Program for the honor of representing the program in 2016 and for their efforts to promote healthy forest lands in Idaho and beyond. For more information about this organization, visit www.idahotreefarm.org and www.idahoforestowners.org.
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Organizing bus drivers and tour guides.
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Tour stop number one
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Stop number one on the tour to view pasture and timber improvements.
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Touring one of Wood’s Rock Crushing and Hauling pits.
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Tree Farm Tour stop to view a recently logged area on the upper ranch.
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Inspecting a recently logged portion of the upper ranch.
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Janice Schoonover and her horse Dudley at the upper ranch.
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The fifth generation greeting one of Western Pleasure Guest Ranch’s horses.
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Happy faces on the tree farm tour.
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Jim Wood talked to the tour group about his move to Idaho as a boy in 1941.
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Isaac and Shawn resting during the tour.
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Roley and Janice Schoonover - Owner/Operators of Western Pleasure Guest Ranch
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The youngest of Jim and Virginia’s Great Grandchildren loved when the horses came for a visit.
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Virginia Wood talks about her family moving to Idaho in 1918.
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Steve Wood, spoke about weed control programs the Wood family has used.
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The Final stop at the upper ranch.
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The tour concluded with lunch at the Western Pleasure Guest Ranch Lodge.
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Lunch in the lodge at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch
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The Wood Family