About Us

Coastal Forestry manages timberland and forest resources on private and public lands through the Santa Cruz Mountains redwood belt. Generating income for owners through timber harvesting, growing trees, restoring forests and property planning.  Protecting property resources through road maintenance, fire clearance and fuel level reduction.

Joe Culver, Principal

Joe grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains on 65 acres of redwood forest north of Scotts Valley. After receiving a Geology degree from UC Davis, he returned to Santa Cruz and began working as a forester in 1994.  He obtained his professional license in 2000 and worked for private foresters (including Big Creek Lumber Company) the first 12 years of his career. Joe began working as a private consultant in 2007.

Joe’s work has occurred primarily in the Santa Cruz Mountains (Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties) working with private timberland owners on managing their property. The timber harvest process stresses sustainable production of timber while maintaining and enhancing other forest values such as water quality, wildlife habitat, soil resources, and visual aesthetics. He has also had the opportunity to work on several restoration forestry projects in which the objective has been creating old growth forest conditions. Previous and current clients include Big Creek Lumber Company, Cal Poly University, City of Watsonville, ESA of San Francisco, Salvation Army Camp Redwood Glen, Boy Scouts of America, and numerous private landowners.

Joe’s knowledge base and experience provides clients an understanding of the processes (both natural and administrative) required to manage the redwood forest in today’s world. This includes knowing the best conditions for growing redwood trees, how to design logging infrastructure to minimize impacts to the forest, how to weave an application through the permitting morass, which logging companies to use to complete the job, and which mills to market and sell the logs.

Private and Public Interface

The goal on any project is to meet the client’s objectives while allaying concerns raised by public and private parties participating in the public review process.  Coastal Forestry has developed strong working relationships with the following agencies and organizations, helping reach this goal.  

• Cal Fire Resource Management
• Cal Fire Archaeology
• California Geological Survey
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Regional Water Quality
• County of Santa Cruz
• California Coastal Commission
• Neighborhood groups
• City of Santa Cruz Water Department
• Native American Tribal Contacts
• Peninsula Open Space Trust (Post)
• Save the Redwoods League
• Sempervirens Fund
• Big Creek Lumber Company
• Redwood Empire Sawmills
• Santa Cruz Timber Company
• Lonestar Timber Harvesting