Farewell from Claralynn

Claralynn Nunamaker

A new voice will answer when you next call the Helpline--after two and a half years, it is time for a changing of the guard. Like the forests we manage, we as individuals are dynamic, growing and changing over time. This last year has brought two significant changes that led to the decision to move on in both professional and personal life and to transplant myself from California to Colorado.

The first is the strong resurgence of a life-long interest--music. For nearly 20 years I have played and composed guitar and piano music. A year ago I had the great good fortune to meet and become good friends with world-class guitarist John Renbourn (you may remember John's old group, Pentangle) as well as Alex de Grassi. Over the course of the last year, each has provided a great deal of encouragement and support in the development of my first CD of original guitar music. John suggested the title, The Redwood Sidthe, as the pieces were written in or inspired by the redwoods. "Sidthe", the Gaelic word for the fairy folk who have power over Music and Nature, captures well the spirit of the album. (It is available for $16 at www.clarelynnrose.com, or from Heartwood Music, P.O. Box 12314, Aspen, CO81612.)

For the immediate future, I will be performing and promoting the CD, as well as finishing the new compositions that will be on a second album, to be released by year's end. At the same time, I will continue to do forestry work on a contract basis and have already begun taking the occasional job with SmartWood, a certifier of logs and lumber from ecologically well-managed forests. They are doing work in China, so the rather exciting possibility exists of using my Chinese language skills to do forestry work overseas.

The second impetus for this uprooting is that a wonderful man recently proposed marriage to me. In good form, he waited until we were in an old-growth redwood grove to officially pop the question. He is a Swedish man who lives near Aspen and makes his living as a woodworker, a craftsman of custom pieces.We are excited about building a life together and, after a few years, starting a family.

My time with the Forest Stewardship program has been most rewarding. May you as stewards of our state's wonderful forests continue to find creative solutions to the complexities that you face, to practice excellent management and to call the Helpline with your questions. Skål!