New growth Earl's family can recount the years they spent on the Idaho land in the growth rings of recently felled trees. (below right) Earl bucks and limbs a log, Eric loads and trucks the wood and (bottom) Earl fells trees on a contract logging job. He points to places he logged long ago, that now burst with timber on the eastern side of Andersen Mountain on the Harrison Flats in Idaho's Panhandle.

       They have built a network of roads, barely visible from the state highway which runs adjacent to their pasturelands.
       Caring for their forest has always been a concern.
       "You've got to make money in the woods," said Heather. "But, you've got to take care of your livelihood."
       Although she sees him now only on special occasions such as holidays and family reunions, her father's tutoring in forest management remains a motivation for her. She foresees moving to Oregon where her husband works. But, the longing to return to the homestead often resurfaces.
       "There is so much richness in it," she said. "The timber value, the family values I've learned in it.        The work ethics I've learned from it."
        Standing at the edge of gravel road that runs east from the highway to the Andersen's homestead, Mrs. Melville gazes across a field to her grandfather's collection of logging equipment as the steady tink of a hammer - Gramps at work on machinery - drifts on the wind.
     She and her husband have returned to the homestead, where many of her relatives still live, for the weekend opening of elk-hunting season.
     And to put some fire into her dream.
      "To manage all the family land and have a hey day," she said. "I don't know if it will ever materialize, but I think my dad kind of has the same dream."