Ecologging

INNOVATOR: Chris Kelly manages the Conservation Fund’s forestland in California. “People will say, ‘A conservation group doing logging?’ This is all new to me. I am learning as I go.”  (Robert Durell / LAT)

THEY CAME, THEY SAW: Lumberjacks trim fallen trees in the area being purchased.  (Robert Durell / LAT)

NURTURING RAYS: A fern is dwarfed by redwoods along the Big River in Mendocino County. The nonprofit Conservation Fund is buying 11,600 acres along that river and 4,345 acres along a nearby creek.  (Robert Durell / LAT)

Craig Blencowe, a professional forester, takes a core sample from a stand of redwoods near the Garcia River near Mendocino, California.  (Robert Durell / LAT)