Green Diamond Systems was a small MA forest management company that operated as an experimental private forest consulting organization for almost 30 years. Recently the bureaucratic control set has become so costly and limiting that focus has changed to doing more to recover local production. The Common Good Forest Products and other Common Good endeavors are a response to this very damaging intrusion.
The financial dysfunction of the past several years has made it apparent that the proactive programs that were the keystone of Green Diamond Systems reason for existence were not viable in the current short term economy that is being promulgated globally. There are many reasons for this conclusion, but the paramount issue is that there is never any cash flow from a forest managed for long term stability when associated with these proactive environmentally sensitive techniques.
The current large forest owners justify their investments with a combination of cost limitation and eventual speculation. This model externalizes as much of the cost of ownership as possible and minimizes the expenditures! There is little room for proactive treatments and generally the production rates of such forests just barely cover the cost of land ownership (taxes, and periodic reviews of the property). The investment then must be covered by appreciation in land value and eventual sale of the land to another entity.
As a result Green Diamond Systems has developed a series of sites that probe the connections of forestry and our collective 'Common Good'.
These sites include:
Common Good Forestry.com - a website for cooperative discussion of papers; open to all with the link above.
A discussion site for timely importance to rural communities and forest related interests
Common Good Forestry's Blog - a blog devoted to timely discussion of a broad range of forestry topics