Merve with students

Wildwood

Wildwood provides a powerful inspiration for the development of a sustainable land use ethic, one which sees the human economy as a subset of the natural economy.

Wildwood is the oldest ecoforest on the west coast of North America.  Merve Wilkinson founded Wildwood in 1938, and began harvesting timber in 1945.  He intentionally harvested less than the rate of growth so that the volume of wood in the stand has not fluctuated greatly and so that the forest is in production at all times.  Merve’s practices of maintaining continuous forest cover, leaving snags for wildlife habitat, and leaving large woody debris to enrich the forest floor, illustrate the high value Merve places on ecosystem function.  His logging program, dictated by the productivity limits of the forest over the long term, maintains ecological and economic values for future generations.  Wildwood shows that one or two people, with patience and insight, can truly make a difference in the world by showing a way that others can follow.

Wildwood offers great opportunities for biodiversity protection, education, interpretation and community building and it has the potential to reach out to a diverse audience.  People come to visit Wildwood from every part of the world, to learn from it, to see it for themselves, and just to enjoy its beauty and tranquility.