Wood For Life Workshop #3 in Flagstaff, AZ

Group photo from Day 1 of the workshop

Wood For Life held their third workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona, from the 28th to the 29th of April. The workshop was a joint effort between the Northern Arizona University’s Ecological Restoration Institute, National Forest Foundation (NFF) and Wood For Life Program (WFL), the United States Forest Service (USFS), particularly the staff of the Coconino National Forest, and Coalitions and Collaboratives (COCO). The invite went out to Navajo Nation and Hopi Chapter Houses, non-profit organizations, and tribal members. Alliance for Green Heat was excited to attend the workshop for a second time (read more about the second workshop held in 2025 here). 

Day one of the workshop had three goals:

1. Navigate set-up and running of small businesses and non-profits

2. Build and refine support systems for Wood for Life businesses

3. Learn about WFL Metrics and Tracking on the landscape.

   
   

Important for the greater firewood bank movement, WFL shared their new Wood For Life Hub Site. This is a fantastic resource to learn more about WFL and dig deeper into the program’s impact on the ground. The GIS work in building the interactive map has been two years in the making and will be updated by the wood hubs periodically. Not only does the Hub Site help inform interested stakeholders beyond WFL program boundaries, it serves as a one-stop data space that will help participating and potential wood banks form reports and prepare grant applications. 

Screenshot from the Wood For Life Hub Site

Day two of the workshop had participants out in the field at three different locations with the following goals:

1. Understand the overview of USFS Treatments

2. Discuss economic and environmental complexities of restoration treatments

3. See WFL in action - visit a wood bank and understand what makes it successful.

The day began in the Coconino National Forest, where USFS Forester, Austin Cash, described the importance of restoration work in the forest at a site that is currently being treated by the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps (an organization previously funded by the Firewood Bank Assistance Program).

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/20ee8b_78323c441ff04e21996d0423fa2a0614/480p/mp4/file.mp4

Forester Austin Cash speaks on restoration efforts in the Coconino. The video begins with a view of a forest site that has undergone restoration efforts and pans to the left where a part of the forest is currently being restored.

The group then traveled to the ominously nicknamed drop-off and processing site, “The Pit,” north of Flagstaff. There, near stacks of logs totaling roughly 25,000 cords, Coconino National Forest District timber staffer Jake Dahlin expanded on the collaborative work that WFL is striving to achieve. He concluded by emphasizing a lasting sentiment: that the goal and hope is for this kind of operation to one day be entirely in Indigenous hands.

Then came the last stop of the workshop: Diné Bá'ádeit'į́ – For the People, near Cameron. At their wood lot, Ames and Brittany Meyers walked through the equipment, logistics, and partnerships that make their wood bank run. Diné Bá'ádeit'į́ has been a grantee of the Firewood Bank Assistance Program through several cycles, so AGH is keenly aware of the importance of their operation in the area. As Ames often says, their wood bank is more than just delivering fuel to a home; it’s about modeling traditional ways of caring for the community to their youth.

Ames and Brittany Meyers present to the group in front of their Timber Wolf wood processor. Ames’ father looks on (in orange).