Pennsylvania's Forest Stewards Volunteers

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- The Pennsylvania Forest Stewards Volunteer Program is a peer volunteer network of landowners and others interested in forest stewardship.

People who wanna learn how to take care of their woods and who are willing to share what they've learned with others.

The Forest Stewardship Program is administered by the James C. Finley Center for Private Forests at Penn State as part of the Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program.

Important partners are Penn State Extension, the Forestry and Wildlife Team, and the DCNR Bureau of Forestry, as well as many other non-profits and non-government organizations.

The program started in 1991, and since then, we've trained over 800 volunteers, landowners, and others who don't own land, but are really interested in the care and wellbeing of Pennsylvania's private forests.

- Every September, we offer a basic training for new forest stewards.

At that training, we cover tree identification, forest measurements, and many other forest stewardship topics.

We also cover volunteer techniques.

After the training, the volunteers go out and do things such as engage in one-on-one conversations with fellow forest land owners.

They also present at Woodland Owner Association meetings.

They may also write forest stewardship news articles.

Forest stewards do this work whenever they have the opportunity in everyday activities.

PA forest stewards often build relationships within their communities and will offer peer advice on site at their neighbors' or friends' properties.

- The Forest Stewards Program has had a lot of impact on forest stewardship in the state of Pennsylvania and even beyond.

Every two years, we do a survey of what our volunteers have accomplished in the previous year, and those surveys show that our volunteers are reaching hundreds of thousands of other landowners, youth, members of the public, to convey a message of good forest stewardship.

In terms of time spent, they're the equivalent of eight full-time employees in outreach time, spreading this message of good forest stewardship and how to care well for the woods.

This is an important message and an important vehicle for many woodland owners out there.

We know that a lot of woodland owners wanna do well by their land, but they may not know where help is available, or even that help is available.

And to have someone like them, a fellow woodland owner, a fellow volunteer who cares for the woods, that's the entry point, that's the way in to finding access to those resources, someone they can trust, someone like them.

- If you would like to get in touch with a peer volunteer, you can contact privateforests@psu.edu.

Let us know your contact information and your concern or interest, and we can try to hook you up with a volunteer in your area.

- If you're interested in becoming a Pennsylvania Forest Steward volunteer yourself, reach out to us at the same email address or talk to your service forester or an extension educator in your area.

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