Win Muffett had a dream back when he was raising his family on a dairy
farm and working in the woods as a timber faller and logger. He
wanted a place with enough timber "so I wouldn't have to log
and milk cows, too."
This year, Muffett's sons Dean
and John, took their dad's dream to the heights. They were named
tree farmers of the year in Oregon's Coos and Curry counties.
Win's
23-year-old Reedsport tree farm yields commercial timber from
thinning operations. At 550 acres, it is small stuff compared with
the timberlands Dean and John farm to the south in Coos County.
"They
are good boys," said the elder Muffett. "They had the
same dream I had. I'm glad I had the opportunity to start
it."
What Win Muffett did in 1975 after his own tree
farm was going well is make the down payment on a 1,000-acre
property on Shutters Creek, an arm of
Tenmile Lake. Two years
later he divided the cutover and brush-choked hillsides among his
children, keeping a small tract for himself.
Dean and John weren't
amateurs in the woods. They had....
...Today, beaver beside the
creek and elk munch leaves on the
plantation, they are just two critters John Muffett and his wife Rose
accommodate on tree farm tracts. The family owns several timber
tracts in Oregon's Coos County and Douglas County, all in the stages of restoration
to commercial timber stands.
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