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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUKE SHARRETT
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How does “Old Ironsides,” the legendary 225-year-old warship formally known as U.S.S. Constitution, get the fine white oak to replace its old timbers? There’s a Navy-managed forest in Indiana for that.
The sprawling Midwest installation, the only U.S. forest managed by the Navy to support its fleet, was set up in the 1930s to store weapons and ammo safe from enemy seaborne attack. The forestry wing is now a model of sustainable tree growth, and the sale of additional timber helps fund it. Some of that waterproof wood is sold to Kentucky distillers to make casks for bourbon.
“Forest management, when done properly, can provide you a resource forever,” Trent Osmon, the environmental manager at the naval installation, tells Nat Geo. “It’s renewable. But if you clear-cut an entire forest and build a Walmart parking lot, well, that’s it for that forest.”
Read the full story here.
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