MEN Fair 2012 - Integrating Woodlot Management

Integrating Woodlot Management
Presented by Dave Scamardella of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

This workshop was, unfortunately, plagued by technical issues. The computer being used for the presentation froze early on, leaving the presenter without an outline of the topics he intended to cover. The issue was resolved towards the end of the workshop, but by then I suspect several topics had been missed without time to work them in.

One key point that was stressed is that a landowner must know what his/her goals are for the property before a plan can be developed. As simple as this sounds, I realize that this is something that Andrea and I have yet to do.

I came away with the workshop with many more questions than answers, but that is a good thing. I need to do some research, and now I have an idea of what it is I need to be researching. Some of the questions I need to get answered include, Does Kentucky have a forest stewardship program? Who is the local forest servicer, or equivalent? Do we have tree species on our property that are susceptible to any of the major diseases or pest infestations that are of concern to foresters? If so, are our trees infested? And of course, what is our goal for our woods, and what are we going to do to move towards that goal?

Last year, at the 2011 Mother Earth News Fair, I took another workshop, Creating Healthier Woods with more Wildlife: What a Landowner Can Do, by Ann Larkin Hansen, which I found to be more informative for my situation. I went ahead and picked up a copy of her book, A Landownder's Guide to Managing Your Woods: How to Maintain a Small Acreage for Long-Term Health, Biodiversity, and High-Quality Timber Production, this year, since the Integrating Woodlot Management workshop didn't provide as much information for my situation as I had hoped.