One of the last items our team works on for every issue of Pellet Mill Magazine is the cover. Recognizing that the cover is the first content our readers will consume in each issue, we work hard to arrive at a combination of imagery and copy that both invite our readers in and inform them about what they’ll find inside. This month’s cover is an image I really like―I took it early last summer while on a forestry tour in Mississippi. The image of containerized yellow pines at one of Plum Creek’s larger nurseries is emblematic of the cyclical nature of modern forestry; it carries a message of new beginnings, continuation and regrowth. For me, however, an image we didn’t choose carries the real message of the issue and our reason for not using it highlight perfectly the challenge of educating the general public about our industry.

While on the same forestry tour, I visited and photographed forest tracts of varying ages, including a 16-year old tract that was in the midst of its first commercial thinning. While visiting this particular track, I took a photograph of a stump shot against a background of trees left standing. In so many ways, this image was perfect for our cover. Still, we just weren’t comfortable using it. Pictures certainly are worth a thousand words, but no one has really talked about the accuracy of those words. Over the past 18 months I’ve been paying close attention to how images are used to stoke a particular emotional reaction in the ongoing debate about woody biomass. Those most stridently opposed to the growth of this industry have arrived at the image of a stump as their go-to icon. Recognizing that, we chose a different image.

The bottom line, however, is that diverse and stable demand for wood fiber is vital to maintaining this country’s forest acreage. This month’s issue of Pellet Mill Magazine examines this story from two different perspectives, and I recommend reading them together.  Ron Kotrba’s page-12 feature, “This Land is My Land,” and my page-22 feature, “Answering the Question,” examine the ongoing effort to find a way to effectively tell the sustainable story of North American forestry to a public currently bombarded with misinformation, often fueled by imagery taken out of context.

Tim Portz
VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE EDITOR
tportz@bbiinternational.com