This month's spotlight focuses on an area that's home to a vibrant forest resource — the North Quabbin. It covers the Pioneer Valley towns of Orange, Warwick, Erving, Wendell and New Salem plus Athol, Petersham, Phillipston, and Royalston. Why groups these towns into one region? The "North Quabbin Woods" is a marketing designation to be sure, but one with a lofty and worthwhile goal. A project of the New England Forestry Foundation, North Quabbin Woods hopes to revitalize the North Quabbin economy based on the sustainable use of local forest resources.

Among its many activities, the North Quabbin Woods project educates landowners about sustainable forest management through workshops on topics ranging from forest thinning and timber taxes to chainsaw safety. It also spotlights locally made wood products — everything from lumber yards to fine furniture makers working in the nine towns. And some of these artisans are pretty incredible — like the custom cabinetry of Michael Humphries, the rustic wood furniture by Don McAulay, Jr., the tracker organs crafted by Stephan Maier, the timber framing of Royalston Oak and the marimbas produced by Kallisti Percussion.

The North Quabbin Woods project is also developing a forest guide training program, which will help local residents establish themselves as forest guides. And they're raising community awareness of the economic, social and environmental roles that forests play in the region.

For its natural environment alone, the North Quabbin Woods area is truly special. There are countless opportunities for hiking, fishing, biking, horseback riding and x-country skiing on state forest lands and on some privately maintained trails. Sure, it's the water supply for metropolitan Boston (and was created in a fairly controversial way) but the Quabbin Reservoir is a remote and lovely place — one that's well worth a visit. And organizers of the North Quabbin Woods project hope you'll do just that. Under their auspices, community members have joined forces to form the Ecotourism Task Force, a group whose goal is to develop strategies for ecotourism and environmental stewardship of the area.

You can find out more about the North Quabbin Woods this weekend at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, being held on Saturday (Sept 21st, 2003) at Forsters Farm on Chestnut Hill Road in Orange (see event listings for all the details). Many of the North Quabbin woodworkers will be there to display their wares and guided tours of the area will be offered. The festival also offers live music, crafts and, of course, garlic!!

For more on the festival, visit www.garlicandarts.org. And to explore the North Quabbin Woods, visit www.northquabbinwoods.org. Especially check out the Wood Products section for profiles and photos of the amazing work being done by local artisans.

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