Views From A Woodlot

Screening Friday, Sept. 26 @ 7:00pm
at Franklin Land Trust, Shelburne Falls/Heath, MA

The Film

A meditative profile of a New England forester & his low-impact forestry philosophy
that prioritizes the forest and the future.

‘Views From A Woodlot’ is an 18-minute documentary that profiles retired forester Bruce Spencer and his common-sense forestry philosophy. Spencer, who managed Massachusett’s 100,000 acre Quabbin Reservation for 40 years, now regularly visits his own 150-acre woodlot, guided by the same low-impact forestry philosophy that he used on the job. Much of what he practices and preaches isn’t taught in forestry school.

The Issue

How should we use the planet’s forests? As furniture and houses, pulp and paper, or pellets to be burned for electricity? For recreation, conservation, or preservation? As a haven for biodiversity or for carbon sequestration to curb the climate crisis? As a species and a culture, it seems likely we will always have a need for wood. How we best harvest that wood and value our forests is a critical question whose time has long past come.

The Story

“Your woodlot is, in fact, an historical document, which faithfully records your personal philosophy.”
Aldo Leopold Radio Talk, 1933

Spencer is plain spoken and opinionated about how best to manage a forest for the long term. During a four-decade career, he was Chief Forester of the Quabbin where he used low-impact forestry practices that he uses on his own woodlot today. Spencer’s woodlot serves as a microcosm of forests in general, and his actions and perspective serve as a model for how to think about and treat the forests of the U.S. and, for that matter, the world.

For Spencer, a guiding principles are to “Take what the forest gives you”, and “Leave the forest better than when you started.” This short film provides a glimpse of a man who has worked in the woods all of his life and who thinks with the forest and future in mind.

Audience

The film will be offered to forest and forest conservation groups, land trusts, and environmental organizations for educational use with their initiatives and campaigns dedicated to sustainable forestry, forest conservation and forest protection, and directed at members, stakeholders, activists, and the general public.

Testimonials

• ‘[The film does] a superb job of capturing [Bruce], his woodlot, and his important approach and philosophy towards managing forests.’
  David Foster - Massachusetts’ Author & Former Director Harvard Forest

• “Through visuals and the philosophy of a forester built over a career and life in the woods, this film shows how forestry can be approached with humility and even reverence.”
  Jamie Sayen - New Hampshire Forest Activist & Author of ‘Children of the Northern Forest’ 

• “This film opens your eyes to different practices and ways to do forestry. It’s a great tool for small woodlot owners and family foresters. Inspiring!”
  David Brynn - Vermont Forester & Executive Director, Vermont Family Forests

• “I would hope that viewers would leave the theater asking the question: Why isn't something that seems so sensible more widespread?”
  Mitch Lansky - Maine Author of ‘Low-Impact Forestry: Forestry as if the Future Mattered’

Screenings

• Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA - Premiere May 8, 2025

Filmmaker

Chris Hardee was one of three filmmakers involved in the making of Marlboro Production’s feature-length documentary exposé BURNED: Are Trees the New Coal? about the biomass industry’s little-known and controversial practice of burning trees to generate electricity as a solution for climate change. The 2017 film was accepted at 14 festivals, won the Audience Award at the American Conservation Film Festival, has been screened in 17 US states and 7 countries, broadcast and streamed nationwide, and continues to be actively screened by forest conservation groups and activists around the world.

As founder of High Cairn Films, Hardee is focused on documentaries about the environment, sustainability, and education. Prior, Hardee co-founded and co-directed, Monadnock Media, a non-profit media organization that served conservation organizations, museums, parks, and historic sites nationwide.

The idea for Views from a Woodlot evolved from a five-year immersion in the timber/logging industries, forestry, and forest ecology during the making and screening of BURNED.

To Support The Film

Please consider making a donation to support screenings and wide distribution of
‘Views From A Woodlot’: GoFundMe page here, or at the DONATE button below.