The past few weeks has seen continued infrastructure implementation on the property, as we work towards the official ground breaking next spring. Our property manager, Jim Albrecht, has been busy tying together electrical, phone, and well development / installation, as well as overseeing the completion of perimeter fencing along the burned property lines.
Logging efforts were thwarted this fall on our 50 acres of burned timber. Increased timber supply in the market, poor accessibility due to terrain, and little interest in burned timber overall, made contracting a logging outfit most difficult. We are still optimistic about implementing some future operation, but at present it looks like early next year before we see any activity. In an effort to work with the effected area, Jim Albrecht has been busy sawing small diameter logs to work as run-off / erosion control on the steep slopes. He was also working alongside Joe Richard of R&R Fencing (406-369-4155) to recycle the burned timber for use on re-fencing the effected property line. Joe Richard used a large amount of burned timber to reconstruct the 'Block and Log' portion of the fence line (about 1/4 mile in total).
Logging efforts were thwarted this fall on our 50 acres of burned timber. Increased timber supply in the market, poor accessibility due to terrain, and little interest in burned timber overall, made contracting a logging outfit most difficult. We are still optimistic about implementing some future operation, but at present it looks like early next year before we see any activity. In an effort to work with the effected area, Jim Albrecht has been busy sawing small diameter logs to work as run-off / erosion control on the steep slopes. He was also working alongside Joe Richard of R&R Fencing (406-369-4155) to recycle the burned timber for use on re-fencing the effected property line. Joe Richard used a large amount of burned timber to reconstruct the 'Block and Log' portion of the fence line (about 1/4 mile in total).
Our property has a beautiful spring which puts out about 1 gallon of water per minute. It is a wildlife attractant and we have no plans to disrupt this natural flow. As we need a water source for the home and are not able to hook up to the local municipality, we contracted the services of Jerome's Drilling (www.jeromesdrilling.com/index.htm). With the help of Randy, Brian and their crew, we were able to drill and install two wells for our use. A 6 gpm well which will be used for the home and immediate grounds, and a 2 gpm well on another part of the property for dedicated use for a future orchard.
This week we will see the conclusion of the utility install on the property. A combination of North Western Energy (www.northwesternenergy.com/) and Qwest Telephone (www.qwest.com/default.html) lines have been run underground along the road from the nearest neighbor to our home site. Both services will be in use once we have situated a construction office at the project site next year. We are excited to report that NW Energy has a Green Power program that will allow us to power the property completely with renewable energy and strip ourselves of the dependency of fossil fuels in this regard. North Western Energy's 'E+ Green' program (http://www.northwesternenergy.com/display.aspx?Page=Green_Power_Intro&Item=91) allows users to pay an additional $2 per month for an equivalent of 100kw hrs produced by a renewable energy source. For a few dollars each month, one can completely offset their power usage with clean burning renewable energy!!
Further infrastructure requirements center around the septic tank / field installation as well as the well-water lines design / installation; All of which will take part later in the year and into 2008.
On the topic of the home, we are busy working with Briggs Architecture to develop the design, register the project for LEED certification, and building our project team to lead us into the New Year. Stay tuned for this developments.
Wishing you Good Health and an Abundant Tomorrow.
Tim Southwell
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