Sustainable Forestry Initiative I Logger Education I Visual Quality
A large percentage of Bennett's timberlands are located close to populated areas,
making the visual quality of our operations an important concern for our neighbors.
Although our efforts to protect forest health, water quality, and wildlife habitat often
improve visual quality, there is still the occasional need for extra protection in high
use areas.

Because Bennett Lumber is concerned about the visual quality of our grounds, we
have taken steps to identify visually sensitive areas (VSAs) and have written a
management policy concerning harvest practices in these areas.

VSAs are those areas that are close to populated areas, readily visible from populated areas or heavily used roads, and those areas of heavy recreation use. Most of the VSAs Bennett has identified are around Moscow Mountian. All VSAs are tracked in our Geographic Information System and our foresters make use of computer mapping tools to plan harvest unit shapes and locations.