Woodland Wisdom Part 2

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- Hi, Sanford Smith here with Penn State Cooperative Extension.

And I'm joined by- - Calvin Norman.

- He's also with Cooperative Extension and this is "Woodland Wisdom Part Two." Today, we're gonna talk about two new topics, the first one is about sources of assistance and help for private forest landowners.

And then Calvin's gonna be talking about plans, writing plans, the usefulness of plans.

So first, let's talk about the sources of assistance for woodland owners.

There are several, but I'm gonna emphasize two main ones today.

And these are free sources of assistance to all forest land owners in Pennsylvania, and many other states have similar kinds of assistance.

First, we have the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in Pennsylvania, it might be named by another name in other states.

And they provide service foresters that go out and help private individuals understand their property, to manage their property, to learn about the pests, and insects on their property, to give advice about planting trees or controlling problems or planting along stream sides, doing it's called buffer repair work and things like this.

They're also useful for all kinds of information about working with private foresters or selling timber.

So you can actually get a list from DCNR, which will tell you like the qualified foresters in the area, as well as other natural resource managers that can help you.

So there's lots of great free information from DCNR.

Secondly, there's another organization, that's ours, Penn State Cooperative Extension.

And we provide all kinds of information based on research from our land grant university, as well as other land grant universities that would be useful for our forest landowners.

And it can include all kinds of management information, property, legacy planning, things like that, property ownership issues, legal matters, as well as insects and diseases and all sorts of other things too.

And we do this through different types of programs and methods.

We do publications, we do videos, we do workshops, we have larger conferences for forest landowners, so we have a lot of different things, as well as newsletters, we have newsletters you can sign up for.

So those two main sources of information will really get you started and and help you go a long ways in managing your property.

Now Calvin's gonna talk about planning.

- Thank you, Sandy.

So I think forest management plans are an essential part of land management and owning a forest.

A forest management plan is a document that tells you what you have in your forest, what you would like to have in your forest.

and how you're gonna get there.

And not just how you're gonna get there, but you know.

kind of a schedule of management, that includes maybe timber management, and invasive species spraying, to deer management.

So these can be pretty detailed documents, but they don't always have to be the most detailed document.

You want to have a forest management plan because it helps you steer your forest.

Owning a forest is a lifelong commitment.

And so having a lifelong commitment means you need to have a document that helps you steer you towards your goals.

You know, there's no arrival at your destination without a destination in mind.

So that's where a forest management plan comes in.

Also, having your forest management plan means you can qualify for some assistance programs like those offered through the NRCS, DCNR, or your local version of the DCNR.

Now foresters typically write management plans, but a well-educated landowner could write a management plan or other land management professionals.

So if you're a forest owner, I would very much encourage you to get a forest management plan.

- All right, thank you, Calvin.

And thank you for joining us in another addition of "Woodland Wisdom."