By using local resources, we are able to walk a forest with a building design in mind and select individual trees to harvest. Each tree is chosen both for its structural and design integrity AND for the effect that its removal will have on the forest left standing around it. Often the selection will be based as much on thinning an overcrowded stand or managing an invasive species as it will on that tree being the nearest with a 10 inch diameter trunk.

So, instead of clear-cutting we pick and choose. When the tree has been chosen we peel the bark from it while it stands in the forest (allowing the waste products to go back to the forest floor. Then we leave the tree to cure standing for several months, during which time it will loose up to 50 percent of its weight in water, making it easier and safer for us to move it out of the forest when we are ready.