Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I have a forest management plan?
It’s important to know what condition your forest is in. Are there invasive species, erosion, or other forest health issues that need to be addressed, before they get worse? Are there opportunities to improve your forest and help you meet other goals for recreation, wildlife, or carbon storage and make your forest more resilient to future forest health challenges like climate change? Proper management of any resource requires planning and a forest management plan will help you organize your goals and objectives.
Read more about Forest Planning
How can cutting trees be beneficial for my forest?
Oak is a good example, it needs disturbance (e.g. timber harvesting in absence of natural disturbances which are not happening at historic rates in our middle aged forests) to allow in more sun to regenerate in most current forests. But also for many old fields that were planted into white pine, which needs to be thinned and “managed”, or came up all yellow poplar, these are far less diverse, and, therefore, healthy than they could be. So by harvesting some of these very common trees we can help create more diverse forests both in species composition and structure (by creating more underrepresented young forest through harvesting).
Read more about Ecological Timber Management
Aren’t non-native invasive species impossible to eradicate?
Non-native invasive species are tough to eradicate and instead, the strategy is often to control them. Without any action to control them, invasives will get worse and do even greater damage to forests. In the case of oriental bittersweet or kudzu, when it gets bad enough it will literally kill mature trees and destroy native forests. Other plants (e.g. multiflora rose, privet) can completely take over the growing space in the understory greatly reducing native tree regeneration; and the non-native, highly invasive tree-of-heaven can completely take over and dominate even the overstory.
Read more about Controlling Invasive Species
What is a conservation easement?
Conservation easements allow landowners to protect land that they love. A conservation easement is a voluntary, legal agreement that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. Have land that you want to stay beautiful for future generations? Enter it into easement! Other benefits of conservation easements include valuable tax benefits to landowners, keeping land in private ownership, and allows the land to continue to provide scenic views, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, education, and historic preservation.
Read more about Conservation Easements