One of the fine crafts made by the local Inupiaq for centuries is birch bark baskets. I ran across one of their resources on a walk yesterday, which clearly shows a stripped and scarred trunk. They know exactly how much they can strip off without permanently damaging the tree.
@mona65@overalvandaan@wendyfrost@milaniet Thank you all, very much! I'll post some basket photos - they are quite beautiful. I use mine for many different purposes, besides Art!