A Landowner's Guide to Managing Your Woods: How to Maintain a Small Acreage for Long-Term Health, Biodiversity, and High-Quality Timber Production

Make the Most of Your Woodlands

Whether you own a few acres of woodland or many, A Landowner's Guide to Managing Your Woods will help you become an active and effective steward of your forest. Beginning with an explanation of the natural processes governing forest development, the authors present active steps you can take to guide your woodland toward a state of health and beauty and sustainably produce one of the world's greatest renewable resources — wood.

The steps of stewardship include:
*Assessing your forest type, soils, terrain, and climate
*Determining what trees and wildlife will do best on your land
*Working with a forester and a logger to create and implement a sustainable, long-term plan
*Developing wildlife habitat and trail systems
*Pruning and thinning trees to improve health and growth rate.

The authors — a landowner, a logger, and a forester — all manage their own woodlands using sustainable practices. Their advice and insights will help your forest provide income while remaining healthy, productive, and beautiful for future generations to enjoy.

This introductory resource explains how to sustainably manage a wooded property, whether it’s a few acres in the suburbs or a small commercial forest.  Readers will learn how to identify the type, health, and quality of their trees and woodland; how to plant, prune, and thin trees; how to improve their ecosystem by creating trails, adding water, and diversifying; how to improve wildlife habitat; and how to enjoy and use the land by harvesting timber, cutting firewood, building wildlife blinds, making maple sugar, growing Christmas trees, hunting, and more.

Ann Larkin Hansen runs a farm in Wisconsin and has published several books, including The Organic Farming Manual and Beef Cattle: Keeping a Small-Scale Herd for Pleasure and Profit. She has contributed to many publications, including Beef, Mother Earth News, Wisconsin West, Minnesota Business Journal, and The Organic Broadcaster. She is a past president of the Wisconsin Women's Sustainable Farming Network.

Mike Severson is a Certified Master Logger, licensed arborist, and tree surgeon. He is dedicated to sustainable forestry and education for good forest management.

Dennis L. Waterman is a professional consulting forester who serves private landowners with small acreages. His services include forest stewardship management plans; timber harvest; and forest inventory, mapping, and appraisals.

Introduction

1. Why Manage Your Woods?
A Quick Look Back * Where We Are Now * Where We Go from Here

2. How Forests Grow
Tree Strategy * Tree Anatomy * Forest Succession: Sprinters vs. Marathoners * Tree Ranges * Local Forest Conditions * Forest Health

3. Taking a Woodland Inventory
Figuring Out What You Have * Identifying Forest Flora * Identifying Soil Type * Identifying Wildlife * Identifying Terrain and Special Features * Finding Property Lines * Pulling All the Information Together * When to Hire a Forester

4. Establishing Goals
Determining Woodland Goals * Management Options * Timber-Stand Improvement Projects * Timber-Harvest Methods * Guarding against Disaster * Keeping the Most Important Goal in Mind

5. Working with a Forester
What Is a Forester? * Writing the Management Plan

6. Working in the Woods: Landowner Projects
Safety First * Equipment * Making and Maintaining Trails * Controlling Invasive Species * Encouraging Wildlife * Other Woodland Harvests * Planting Trees * Woodlands and Kids

7. The Logging Industry
How a Logger Makes a Living * Classes and Values of Timber * Logging Equipment * Sorting and Milling * Types of Loggers * Market Pressures in the Timber Industry

8. Harvesting Timber
Planning for a Cut * Setting Up a Timber Sale * The Walk-Through * Monitoring the Cut * After the Cut

9. Finances and Legacies
Evaluating a Forest Purchase * Taxes * Insurance * Federal and State Grant Programs * Carbon Sequestration * Legacies

Glossary
Resources
Index