Treehugger
By Michael Koppa
Viroqua, Wisconsin: 2006. Edition of 10.

48 page spiral bound book. Includes five perforated postcards with four-color digitally printed, computer-assisted, original collages on the front, and personal notations and observations by the artist on the reverse side. Afterword by Koppa's neighbor Jack Rath. Includes log documenting the evolution of the book.

Heavy Duty Press: "A book about trees - from hugging them to identifying them, to cutting them down and burning them up."

Michael Koppa: "In August 2001, we purchased four acres of hillside land in Southwest Wisconsin. An enormous red elm stood as the centerpiece, shading a well-groomed hillside. The tree dropped all of its leaves the following July, and they never came back. It remained incredible as it slowly shed its bark and dropped a few dangerous limbs. Eventually, the thrill of marveling at it turned to fear. We brought in a sawyer to top it in January 2004. What a mess. A heavy duty mess. So we organized it. A tornado tore through the hollow in August 2005, snapping two and a half stately shagbark hickories. With the help of family and friends we gathered the wood to a central location and split it. The three trees will be heating our house well into 2008. I love those trees. They were great. This book serves both as a memorial to those trees and as a personal journal."

Filbert Roth: "The man who has a piece of woodland where during the winter months he cuts firewood and fencing, and a few logs for the repair and building of improvements, and during certain years when prices are high cut some logs for the neighboring sawmill, but at the same time looks after the piece of woods, clears it of dead timber and other rubbish, thus keeping out fire and insects, and otherwise makes an effort to keep his land covered with forest - such a man practices forestry. His forest may be small or large, his way of doing things may be simple and imperfect, the trees may not be of the best kind for the particular locality or soil, they may not be as thrifty as they should and could be: but nevertheless here is a man who does not merely destroy the woods nor content himself with cutting down whatever he can sell, but one who cares for the woods as well as sees them, one who sows as well as harvests. He is a forester, and his work in the woods is forestry."
(SOLD/Out of print)