CLE ELUM, Washington – Patrick Broderick is on a mission to help owners of forestland improve the health of their forests and protect them from wildfire.

Broderick, 27, is a consulting forester doing business as Eastside Forestry. He works from an office in his home in Cle Elum in east-central Washington, a little over 80 miles southeast of Seattle. He mainly serves landowners in Kittitas, Chelan, and Yakima counties.

Patrick Broderick

Most of his work falls into two categories: timber sales and developing forest management plans. For a timber sale, he prepares the contract and gets bids for the sale or recommends a particular logging company. The logger contracts directly with the landowner. When he oversees a sale, Broderick does everything from filing permits to cruising the timber, marking the timber to be harvested and the boundaries, and overseeing the harvest to ensure the logger complies with the contract.

Broderick mainly writes forest management plans for private landowners and does a couple timber sales per year. He was recently hired by Rainier Veneer to oversee a 700-acre timber sale they purchased from the U.S. Forest Service on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

“I specialize in small sales,” said Broderick, “sales that loggers wouldn’t normally do.” He did one timber sale earlier this year that was only 20 acres. “That took 150 hours. It’s a lot of time for these small landowners.”

Broderick works with about four logging contractors, choosing or recommending the company that is a good fit for a particular job: Dutchman Logging, Carey Creek Logging, Hanson Logging, and Cody Pratt Enterprises. They range from small businesses to relatively large contractors that can produce 10-15 loads of wood per day. He has vetted all of them – checked them out with people they’ve previously done work for, mills, landowners, other contractors.

Broderick did not take a direct career path into forestry and consulting. He grew up in upstate New York, helping to manage over 300 acres of private forestland. When he was in college, he was unsure of his career goal but was not planning to go into forestry. “Or I would have gotten a forestry degree.” Nevertheless, his education “absolutely” has helped him in his career path. His degree in conservation biology and ecology “kind of broadened my perspective and added strength.” Most of what he learned about forestry Broderick learned “on the job from mentors.”

As a student at Montana State University, Broderick spent summers working for the U.S. Forest Service as a forester and botanist throughout the East Cascades of Oregon and Northern California. For example, he worked on a team of several other foresters overseeing the planting of over 300,000 trees in areas decimated by wildfire. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree.

After graduating he went to work for the Washington Department of Natural Resources as lead forester for the 51,000-acre Teanaway Community Forest, permanently moving to Cle Elum with his wife, Sophie. As the Teanaway forester, he oversaw the completion of over 500 acres of young stand thinning and created multiple strategic fuel breaks off main roads. During his time at the DNR, he also worked throughout Kittitas and Yakima counties on timber sales prioritizing forest health.

Broderick has worked closely with professionals from a range of backgrounds, from habitat biologists and botanists, to fire bosses managing 30-person crews, to archaeologists and geographic information system specialists, to district and unit foresters.

For the Rainier Veneer timber sale, he is mainly administering the contract, which is a lengthy document, to ensure compliance by the logging company. The Forest Service does not pre-mark the timber, so that was on Broderick to do. He visits the logging job weekly to make sure they are processing the trees to the right diameter, using slash to make mats for the skid trails, avoiding sensitive areas with rare plants, and so on.

The job is being performed by a crew of 2-4 men that produces about eight loads per day. About 25 percent of the area is flat with the remainder rolling hills with slopes ranging mainly from 10-35 percent. The forest contains Douglas fir, western hemlock, western larch, ponderosa pine, grand or white fir, lodgepole pine, western red cedar, and white pine. The dominant species are Douglas fir and white fir. All of the timber is saw timber.

Unmanaged forest is overstocked, unhealthy

After thinning prescribed by Eastside Forestry

Broderick, who started his consulting business at the end of 2023, does about 10 forest management plans per year. “They’re usually for long-term forest management. They get a pretty significant tax deduction if they have a plan,” he noted. “It can save thousands of dollars.” Washington allows almost a 100 percent tax deduction of real estate taxes for forest land if the owner has a forest management plan.

Broderick did a forest management plan this year for a nonprofit land trust that owns 70 acres, updating a plan they had made 15 years ago after he cruised the site. “They probably will log it next year,” said Broderick, to thin.

The original plan did not recommend logging nor include thinning. However, the organization’s new leadership now “understands the need for thinning,” said Broderick. He made a “clear, concise, scientific argument” for thinning and also provided peer-reviewed research related to thinning.

“It needs thinning because it’s extremely overstocked,” said Broderick. “There’s a lot of competition mortality, a lot of dead wood on the ground. There are very few dominant trees. The stand is dying in front of their eyes.”

The nonprofit wants to manage the forest to benefit wildlife. Accordingly, Broderick recommended a mosaic thin or ICO-Individual Clumps and Openings. “It’ll introduce more spatial complexity. We’re trying to encourage uneven age management.”

The nonprofit leadership was pleased, he said. “They gave me a five star review and have recommended me all across the county.”

For developing a forest management plan, Broderick charges a lump sum fee based on the number of acres and the terrain. His fee for a timber sale, depending on the job, either is a lump sum that can be remitted in several payments, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the revenue from the delivered wood products.

Broderick gets word-of-mouth referrals from loggers, and loggers have sent him some work. He also gets referred by clients. He is on lists of recommended foresters kept by conservation districts and a county tax program.

Broderick will give a free in-person initial consultation for a landowner. “I’ll show up, walk the property, and tell them what I can do for them.”

Most of his clients have been within a 90-minute drive. He prefers not to drive more than five hours for a round trip although he’s gone further.

Wood markets have slumped lately, reflecting a national trend, observed Broderick. Demand for wood is “okay.” However, for small diameter logs, “if it’s not Doug fir, it’s tough to sell or make money from it.”

Broderick is a member of the Association of Consulting Foresters and is active in the Washington Farm Forestry Association.

Doosan (now DEVELON) 225 loader filling a truck with white fir logs that Rainier Veneer will process into peelers.

“I work hard to completely understand the client’s objectives and expectations,” said Broderick. “I am client-focused. I get the landowner excited about the work we’re doing: enhancing forest health, benefiting wildlife, and reducing wildfire risk, and how beneficial logging is to accomplish these goals.”

His forest management philosophy can be summed up: leave the land in better condition. He works with clients to identify their goals and objectives, then he is in a position to offer advice, prepare a plan, and propose treatments to implement the landowner’s goals.

“All recommendations are made with forest and ecosystem health in mind. I can accomplish your goals and work towards a healthier forest, one that will be more resilient to drought, wildfire, disease, and insects.”

Thinning is only recommended if there is an ecological need. “I recommend thinning for regeneration and healing to put the ecosystem on a much better path long-term.” This type of thinning – of non-merchantable, pre-commercial trees – typically qualifies for cost share funding to reduce costs.

In his spare time Broderick enjoys back country skiing, backpacking and camping with his wife.

He also is writing a book about the Revolutionary War, estimating he is about 20 percent done. Broderick said he is a “huge Revolutionary War buff” and has read “several dozen” books on the subject. Part of his interest was spawned by the fact that his hometown, Saratoga, New York, was the scene of a pivotal point in the war. It was there that the French decided to back the colonies and to join the war.

(For more information about Eastside Forestry, visit www.eastsideforestry.com.)