Legacy - The Third Strand of The Braid

This is a repost of the second half of Braided Stewardship: Science, Responsibility, and Legacy. In hindsight, if I had broken up the article into two posts - it would have made for an easier read.
I am going to blame post-concussion syndrome...

So, if you found the last post a lot to get through - I hope this helps.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe!

Why $20/Month Matters

For less than the cost of a single take-out lunch, you help Evergreen remain independent, accurate, and trusted—serving as the nation’s most reliable bridge between forest science and the public that depends on healthy forests.

Your subscription directly funds:

Research and fact-checking that ensure scientific and historical accuracy
Interviews and field reporting that bring real-world context to complex issues
Free access for educators and rural readers who rely on Evergreen
Editorial independence—no corporate sponsors, no political pressure
Clear, vetted communication that replaces confusion with usable knowledge

Most monthly subscriptions entertain you.
A subscription to Evergreen continues the legacy. Through communication and action, we strengthen the forests, watersheds, communities, and forest industries for future generations.

My Father's Legacy - and Ours

At Evergreen, we see forestry as a braided practice - where science, responsibility, and legacy are inseparable - where Indigenous and Western knowledge systems both carry essential truths.

This belief is not abstract for me. I inherited it.

My father was a forestry economist and founder of Wesley Rickard Incorporated (WRI). He was recognized, in his era, as one of the best. I grew up listening to stories of the projects and cases he worked on - watching him work alongside Tribes, others in the forestry field, attorneys, and policymakers. His guiding intention was to ensure that the truth about forests must be measurable, defensible, and just.

For Wes, tribal forestry was never romanticized or dismissed.
It was respected - because it worked.

When federal mismanagement violated treaty promises, he revealed the harm—in verifiable economic terms that stood up in court and in Congress.

I very proud of my father's work, his principled way of going after the truth, and what he accomplished. He never spent a lot of time basking in his success - that wasn't his way. Once he had done what he had set out to do, he was on to the next challenge.

Evergreen’s work—our insistence on science, our advocacy for Indigenous stewardship, and our refusal to treat forestry as ideology—is rooted in the understanding that forests live within systems of law, economics, power, and culture, and that responsibility must match impact.

Our guiding question — “What do you want from your forest?” — began with my dad.

He believed that you can only get what you want from a forest if you are willing to work within the principles that sustain it: ecological health, economic viability, and social responsibility.

For him, stewardship was a discipline — a set of practiced commitments that make the outcomes you desire possible.

It was also a contract: if you want something from your forest, you owe it what it needs to stay alive.

Examples of Wesley Rickard's work with Tribal Nations:

The Economics of Accountability

Minnesota Chippewa Tribe - Nelson Act trust/mismanagement damages (dockets 19 & 188):

In federal hearing documentation, WRI is identified as the appraiser/analyst whose report was part of settlement documentation for Nelson Act timber losses. The record describes years of historical reconstruction work and references “over 300 boxes of research” supporting market-based appraisal methods. GovInfo+1

Those same records cite WRI’s concluded total fair market value for the commercial timber ceded/disposed of by the U.S. as $26,321,200, with uneven losses across bands. Natural Resources Committee

Related committee testimony also describes Wesley’s role as providing consulting, analysis, and expert witness support tied to historic mismanagement and damages, including fair market value work and band-by-band loss differences. Natural Resources Committee

A Senate-posted testimony document likewise references the Tribe commissioning Wesley Rickard, Inc. and includes the band damage percentages used in the narrative of distribution debates. Indian Affairs Committee

Additional hearing PDF that includes S. 1739 context: Congress.gov hearing PDF (Feb. 2, 2012) Congress.gov

Shee Atiká (Sitka Native Claims Corporation) — valuation with real-world consequences

Shee Atiká’s published corporate history describes hiring Wesley as an independent timber appraiser and contrasts the “Rickard appraisal” figure (noted as $176.7 million) with an IRS-commissioned appraisal (noted as $67 million). Sheeatika

Stewardship is more than a sentiment. Stewardship also has a spreadsheet-and-statute side, because real forests live inside real governance systems.

Menominee Tribal Forest — management practices were examined, documented, and could be repeated successfully

Academic work on Indigenous influence in forestry cites WRI-authored management review reports for the Menominee Tribal Forest (1986). UW Courses “Indigenous influence on forest management on the Menominee Indian Reservation” (Trosper 2007)

Indigenous stewardship can be measured without being diminished—made legible to outsiders while still rooted in relationship and responsibility.

Archival trail (named tribal headings / preserved records)

A BYU / Harold B. Lee Library finding aid includes a collection structure that references “Wesley Rickard – Reports and Materials” and contains tribal headings/strings such as Crow, Yakama, Yankton, and Goshute references. Harold B. Lee Library

Separate institutional records at the University of Washington include an entry for a “Wesley Rickard Report (Jan. 1972)” in College of Forest Resources records. Archives West

These records reflect the same approach Evergreen brings to stewardship, land use, and conservation: rigorous analysis, clear valuation of consequences, and accountability when forests and rights are mishandled. That is not abstract. It is the foundation of forest-to-community health.

Litigation / expert-witness work (non-Tribal examples in public sources)

Ecosystem Resources, L.C. v. Broadbent Land & Resources, LLC (WY Supreme Court, 2012) — Wesley Rickard is identified as an expert witness / forestry consultant in forest management policy and economics. Justia Law+1
Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. United States — decision text includes Wesley Rickard as an expert witness in an appraisal/severance damages context. CaseMine
Murray Pacific v. St. Regis (1970s): In a HistoryLink oral history interview, Tom (L.T.) Murray Jr. describes a “protracted battle” in the 1970s with St. Regis to reclaim the family’s tree farm—an example of how forest ownership, contracts, and power can collide, and why meticulous expert work (the kind my father did) mattered when the stakes were real and the paper trail was contested.
Link: https://www.historylink.org/File/23324

Forestry economics / markets / policy (U.S.–Canada trade ecosystem)

USITC publication (Wood Shakes and Shingles, Pub. 1826) references WRI work and lists Wesley Rickard / David Jendro among participants. USITC
Softwood lumber remand document references a paper co-authored by David J. Jendro of Wesley Rickard Inc. access.trade.gov
BC government archive release listing Wesley Rickard Inc. in a stumpage-related context. BC News Archive

Other mentions

USDA / National Agricultural Library: “Symposium on the Use of Herbicides in Forestry” participant listing includes “Wesley Rickard — Forest Consultant.” National Agricultural Library
Member - Forest History Society, Society of American Foresters

Evergreen

Evergreen: “Wesley Moss Rickard: Forestry Giant Gone” Evergreen Magazine
Evergreen: “What do you want from your forest?” Evergreen Magazine

Many people think of legacy and inheritance as wealth, property, or reputation. My father believed that you pass on is not what you possess, but the responsibility you are willing to carry. We inherit the forest and the work that keeps it alive and vibrant.

His career reflected that ethic. He didn’t see forests as resources to be optimized for just the present, but as systems with histories, obligations, and consequences. His work made damage visible, quantified loss, and insisted that those who benefited from the forest were accountable for what they did to it. Evidence wasn’t just data; it was a means of making responsibility real.

Evergreen’s work has always embraced this philosophy. We treat science as a tool for responsible relationships, not as a neutral exercise or ideological weapon.

Our commitment is simple and demanding: if you want something from your forest, you owe the land what it needs to remain healthy, productive, and resilient.

We do not inherit this work for ourselves; we inherit it so there is something for next generations to inherit.