New website touts locally-produced wood products

The Shenandoah Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council’s Forestry Committee announces a new “Local Woods” web-based directory that features locally-produced wood products, public parks and forests in the Shenandoah Valley, and sources of local forestry assistance for private woodland owners.

It is being launched in an effort to promote awareness of and support for Valley-based forests, wood products and services. It may be found on the Shenandoah RC&D Council’s website at: www.shenandoahrcd.org/CommForestryLocalWoodProducts.htm.

The Shenandoah Valley includes more than a million acres of public and privately-owned forests and woodlands. Trees are a renewable resource that help protect water and air quality, mediate temperature, provide wildlife habitat, recreation, natural beauty, and a wide variety of products used in our daily lives. The Valley’s forests and forest products are important contributors to our local economies, as well. There are many untapped opportunities to increase “value-added’’ local wood products that could help ensure the continuation of privately-owned woodlands.

The new website was developed in partnership with local representatives from the Virginia Department of Forestry and Cooperative Extension Service and other volunteers who serve on the Shenandoah RC&D Council’s Forestry Committee. The website features links to a wide variety of sources for wood-related categories, ranging from technical assistance in woodlot management, furniture makers and flooring vendors to state and national parks and forests and wood art vendors. It is intended to provide a readily accessible directory for Valley residents. The website will be updated at least annually.

Shenandoah Valley-based wood product vendors and service providers who would like to be included should contact: Lorraine Cormier, Shenandoah RC&D Council, P. O. Box 60, Verona, Va. 24482, Phone: 540.248.3321, 540.248.5502; e-mail: [email protected].

The Shenandoah RC&D Council is a non-profit organization that sponsors and promotes projects and programs that improve the quality of life and sustainable use of natural resources in the Shenandoah Valley through volunteer leadership, technical resources, and financial assistance.