A few days ago we had the chance to visit Ogia, the first village to have access to the walkabout sawmill. They have, with the help of the foresters from the FPCD, selected the trees they want to fell – avoiding those marked 'H”, for habitat, and 'S', for seedling.

We looked on as, with the care and precision that one might not ordinarily attribute to the business of logging, they extracted planks of timber from the giant rosewood log resting on the forest floor.

As an ex-British-Columbian-tree-planter, I am more than familiar with the sight (and smell, and sound, and feel…) of a clearcut, and the undiscerning destruction they embody. This is something wholly different. This is a community event, framed by men and women and perpetually grinning pikkaninnies.

Usually hearing the sound of a chainsaw is not something that I would enjoy, nor seeing the mounds of orange sawdust churned from the bowels of a beautiful ancient tree. But here, in contrast with the sassy blue of a Ulysses butterfly and the luminous green sprigs of the forest floor, and encircled by the community upon whose sustained livelihood they depend, they are welcome sights and sounds. This is sustainable community development at work, and as soon as Ogia has cut enough eco-timber to pay for the price of a second mill, the next village can begin. And so on.

So with this message, we zoom around the lake. The foresters have all been away from their own families and villages for three months now, and it is time for them to have a rest. But in a month or so they will be back, and before that time, the landowners have a job to do.

They need to mark out their forest boundary, discussing with their neighbours to make sure there are no disputes over its placement. They need to make sure they have a camp set up from which the foresters can work. And when they are ready, they need to let Sep, the remarkable Kuni community leader, who has initiated the entire eco-forestry project, know. Then the foresters will return, the official demarcation process can begin, and the community can get started in the business of sustainable eco-forestry.