I Pencil: A product of the mixed economy (updated) — Crooked Timber

http://crookedtimber.org/2011/04/16/i-pencil-a-product-of-the-mixed-economy/

Read's first person pencil starts the story like this

My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon.

That would probably be in a forest managed by the US Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, or maybe a similar state agency.

---SPSmith