Log homes tend to get looked down on by environmentalists, because they think you have to wreak havoc on the environment to get your logs.  That is not the case.  It is possible to obtain the logs for your log homes while being environmentally friendly.

For example, many of our members want to incorporate some form of sustainable forestry practices into their log home building experience.  There are several methods one can use to get logs from eco-friendly sources, and here are some real life examples:

Our members Rod and Peggy built a beautiful log home in Michigan.  When Rod and Peggy were high school sweethearts they spent a summer planting hundreds of trees on their parents farm.  25 years later they harvested some of those trees to build their log home, while planting replacement trees on the farm.  Now that's some long term planning!

Our member Mike Vowels built a great 3 story.  He used trees from his own property to build his home.  He then planted replacement trees, and did extensive habitat restoration to the property -- restoring native habitat that had been damaged long before he purchased the property.  He has even enrolled his property in the King County Forest Stewardship Program. 

Our member Paul Kahle built a very nice 2 story log home.  He used fire killed trees to build his home.  The are trees that were killed during a forest fire, and would normally just rot away.  Often times the USFS requires that fire killed trees be removed from the forest, to minimize future fire hazard. 

Our members Chris and Tony built an awesome 2 story log home.  They too used fire damaged logs to build their log home.  Using fire damaged logs to build log homes is a very popular way to make the home more environmentally friendly.

Another 'green building' option is to use beetle killed trees to build log homes.  We currently have several members using this environmentally friendly method to obtain their houselogs, and one of them was even paid by the USFS to remove standing dead trees -- which means he got paid to get his houselogs!

Our member Dave is just finishing his rock solid 2 story log home.  He purchased logs from an actual  tree farm.  Tree farms are typically privately owned and operate on sound sustainable farming principles.  They are always replanting trees and take a long term approach to their business, which shows up in their day to day practices. 

As you can see, there are many ways to start your log home project off in a very environmentally friendly manner.  Green building and log homes can go in hand.  At our 2-day log home class we fully explain how to find and utilize houselogs from environmentally friendly sources.  We also explain many other ways to make your log home project as green as possible.