Be a Woodlot Manager

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Woodlot management is a healthy outdoor occupation that can provide an individual or co-op with steady work, good wages, and a regular supply of firewood for personal use. But these considerations, though important, aren't the only reasons to consider a career as a "tree farmer" . . . because woodlot managers are downright ecologically necessary!

That fact is that there are thousands of acres of privately owned hardwood forests—all over the United States—that are badly in need of management. Though most folks don't know it, these woodlots suffer from "weeds" just as gardens or croplands do. But, in the case of forested areas, this unwanted growth consists of the undesirable, poor quality, or dead trees that crowd out more valuable species.

Now, most of the neglected stands still contain some usable saw timber and great quantities of firewood, but— if the present trends continue—these resources will soon be gone ... because our valuable hardwoods require regular and careful management if they're to continue to serve us and the generations of the future.

THE NEGLECTED WOODLOT

Private woodlots—once the pride and joy of the family farm—are now often ignored. The availability of inexpensive fossil fuels, of course, is one reason for this neglect ... few people are willing to cut, haul, and split firewood when a flick of the thermostat can accomplish the same result. But the problem goes deeper than that. New farm buildings, for instance, are now usually built of fir and pine boards purchased in town, instead of the once—common oak planks milled from the "back 40". And, many modern farmers—with huge herds of livestock or hundreds of acres of crops to tend—simply don't have the time or labor available to manage their woodlands carefully ... if they manage them at all.

Often, too, woodlots are held by absentee owners who are either unwilling or unable to put in the work necessary to maintain a healthy tree farm. These folks may faithfully tend and weed their gardens, but many of them assume—incorrectly—that any forest with trees is healthy, productive, and best left alone.

And then, people who do heat with wood tend to think that—by using this renewable energy source—they're protecting the environment. This isn't the case, however, unless some effort is made to help nature replenish the timber that is burned. Sadly enough, we often use up our trees faster than they can grow.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

In an effort to encourage good woodlot management, many state governments reward those citizens who do care about their personal forests. Here in Wisconsin, for example, the Department of Natural Resources has two programs that are designed to encourage tree farming: the Woodland Tax Law (for plots of up to 40

acres), and the Forest Crop Law (for woodlands of 40 acres or more). These two programs reward conscientious woodlot owners with property tax breaks (from 40c to $10 an acre per year) and a detailed 15-year management plan.

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