The development and marketing of special forest products (non-timber commodities and services available from the forest) represent a major new direction for timber-dependent rural communities, rural areas with access to public or private forest resources. The U.S. Forest Service and rural communities are one of the single most important new economic avenues for rural communities.==A forest farming program is proposed, based on cultivating and enhancing native stands of salal. A value-added cottage industry is included, to dye and preserve salal and several other evergreens and related forest crops now sold to the floral trade. The actual preservation of salal is done in the field to minimize losses and ensure the very best quality of final product. This increases the value of fresh salal from $0.38/lb. to more than $4.75/lb.., representing an increased value of more than 1,000 percent.
Anticipated Results:Salal is considered a "must have" commodity to most large wholesalers and manufactures. Having a unique (preserved/dyed) product of salal will allow entry into broader markets with other crops. Preserved/dyed salal is so superior to fresh that there may even be a market trend toward preferring this form over traditional fresh greens. The value-added aspect at location leaves more cash flow to the community, allowing further development in related cottage industries.
