Last November, I had the opportunity to take a tour of the Bad Goat lumber mill and learn about some of the important work Watershed Consultation does in the western Montana area. It was all part of a make-up field trip for Wilderness and Civ.
We began the day out at the water treatment facility on the west end of Missoula. What I had thought to be a grove of trees growing to be harvested turned out to be much more. The trees are a special breed of Poplar that takes in a lot of water and grows quickly. The importance of these trees is they are commonly used in water treatment. I had seen similar groves along the Colombia river gorge in Oregon that turned out to be the same hybrid species of tree. The facility is able to treat 15% of Missoula’s wastewater simply by watering the trees. Mark Vander Meer, the innovator behind bringing this facility to Missoula, also owns Bad Goat Forest Products, a lumber mill here in town. Once these trees reach maturity, around 15 years, they will be harvested and taken to the mill where they can be made into furniture or buildings that will inevitably end up in the surrounding area of Missoula. Toward the end of our day, I asked for an application for the intern position Mark had available. Rather than an application, Mark simply took down my name and from thereon, he referred to me as the intern. I wasn’t expecting to end up with an intern position that day, but I was excited that I had an opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of a local natural resource-based business.
On my first official day at the internship, Mark gave me a tour of the businesses. There’s a full wood shop that Mark rents to a master woodworker, a full wood mill on a small piece of land, and offices that house the watershed business. Mark also took me a couple blocks over to the forge that he has in his own back yard. He showed me how it worked. It uses wood scraps from the mill as the heat source, and I was even able to make a fire poker out of a scrap piece of rebar. I was hooked! I had never had any experience with metal work, but I knew almost immediately that I wanted to spend most of my time there.
Mark left for most of January to visit family back east, and he told me I could work at the forge whenever I wanted. I ended up going just about every other day to practice my techniques and try projects I had seen on YouTube. When Mark returned and I showed him what I had made, he was blown away. I guess my work exceeded Marks expectations, and I had been able to accomplish some things that he had never done. I was even able to help teach a blacksmithing workshop at Marks place. I helped teach a handful of attendees, from middle school aged to grandparents, work on their first metal pieces just over a month after I had my first experience. It was a rewarding experience, and it showed me that I was skilled enough at this craft to effectively teach it to other people.
Another exciting experience I was able to be a part of is a cabin-build at the mill. Lindy Lund, a local bush crafter, has been working on a small cabin that will be erected on a piece of land that Mark owns up in the Seeley area. The cabin design utilizes some very complex locking techniques that showcase the beauty of the lumber while also exposing the skilled craftsmanship being used. Once completed the cabin should last longer than a simple log cabin because of its ability to shed water.
Overall this internship has far exceeded my expectations. I would have never guessed I would do blacksmithing work let alone have any aptitude for it. I hope to retain all of the important skills I have learned and put them to use in the future as a simple hobby or even a side job.
~ Payton Adams
Wilderness & Civ 