Bill and I felt honored to be among the gathering at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch last night as the Wood family officially celebrated their being chosen for the Forest Legacy program.
For four years, the family and representatives from several entities have worked together to provide a compelling application for the program, which guarantees and endless ending. That is---the land involved in the program, in this case several hundred acres of timberland in the family's Gold Creek holdings can never be subdivided.
Jim Wood expressed very eloquently last night the ranch beginnings back in the early 1940s when he and his family moved to Gold Creek from Colorado, with $650. Of that $500 paid for the stump ranch; the rest his dad used to carry them through the winter.
From that beginning, a family corporation of great magnitude and diversity has sprouted and thrived. Decades of vision, cooperation and admitted blood, sweat and tears have produced one of Bonner County's phenomenal agricultural and economic success stories.
Thanks to the Forest Legacy designation, Jim and Virginia have five children and oodles of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who will be able to enjoy that same land, as will more generations to come.
It was a joyful evening, filled with fun, wonderful visiting, heartfelt speeches, good food, music and a sense of how family and forest go have such profound meaning.
Congratulations to the Wood family as this year's Idaho selection for the highly competitive program.
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