Writings by Andrea Watts

I am a freelance writer/editor who specializes in covering forestry and natural resources issues. What I bring to each project are undergraduate degrees in English and forestry, a master’s degree with coursework in silviculture and science communication, and on-the-ground experience managing the family tree farm.

  • Restoring Riparian Areas

    Acres U.S.A. November 2013 The number of farms in the United States that are located adjacent to riparian areas is unknown, but since floodplains are the most fertile lands for growing crops, changes are your farm has a riparian area. Whether the riparian area is a stream bank, wetland or floodplain, the benefits of restoring…

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  • Making Employees’ Safety and Satisfaction a Priority

    TimberWest September/October 2013 “Make sure you talk about the guys,” says George Bridgewater, owner of Bridgewater Logging. George may head up Bridgewater Logging, but he doesn’t want to be the center of attention; instead he would rather focus on his men, who he feels are responsible for the company’s success. But in this close-knit company,…

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  • Fed this Way Non-GMO Certified Feed Company Making Gains

    Acres U.S.A. September 2013 Being a connective is what defines Scratch and Peck Feeds. Farmers, consumers, retailers and employees are brought together by a shared vision: a sustainable non-GMO, non-soy feed product has a place in the market. Read more…

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  • The Challenges of Active Forest Management in an Ecological Reserve

    The Forestry Source September 2013 When your Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) requires an accelerated development of a second-growth forest into a late-successional forest, that’s a tall order to carry out especially when there isn’t an established silvilculture prescription to create such a forest structure. And when your prescriptions call for thinning in a landscape that…

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  • Purple Heart Rescue – and its Three R Mission

    Not every abandoned dog that is rescued is ready for adoption. Abuse, neglect, or malnutrition affects a dog’s emotional health, and in these cases, rehabilitation is needed to prepare the dog for a new home. As its mission implies –rescue, rehab, and rehome – Purple Heart Rescue provides this specialized care, “because there is such…

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  • The Lewis County Animal Shelter: Operating on Dedication and Donation

    Persevering with so little should be the motto of the Lewis County Animal Shelter. Open six days a week and staffed by only four women, two of who are part-time employees, this is the only shelter serving a geographic area larger than King County. Though the county provides funds for building operations and salaries, everything…

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  • The Many Faces of the University of Washington’s Pack Forest

    TimberWest May/June 2013 When you visit the Charles L. Pack Experimental Forest, you are not just taking a walk through a forest, you’re seeing sustainability in action. Through spacing trials, selection thinning, fertilizer treatments, and ecosystem-value services research, the Center of Sustainable Forestry demonstrates that sustainability and active forest management are not mutually exclusive. Read…

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  • 4-H Cultivates Next Generation of Foresters

    The Forestry Source July 2013 This month, Charles Rice, an extension coordinator for Hart County, Georgia, will once again wear the title of Coach when he travels with his state competition-winning 4-H team to the National 4-H Forestry Invitational in Weston, West Virginia, July 21-25. Read more…

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  • Is eelgrass on the move at Padilla Bay?

    From shore at low tide in Skagit County’s Padilla Bay, the limp piles of eelgrass might appear the same but there are two species of eelgrass growing in the mud, the native Zostera marina and the introduced dwarf Zostera japonica. Though you wouldn’t think that the eelgrass is on the move, they are and researchers…

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  • Where Else Will They Turn? Kitten Rescue of Mason County

    Pet Connection Magazine March/April 2013 “The only thing that keeps me going is there is no other resource.” Wearing a name tag identifying her as Granny Kat, Norma Webber is the reason that abandoned felines in Mason County have a second chance at finding a home. Since 1999, Kitten Rescue in Shelton is the place…

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