Itasca County woodland property tax postcard

On November 20, 2009,  a postcard was mailed to owners of 20+ acres of woodland in Itasca County.  If you’ve just received a postcard and are looking for more information, you’ve come to the right place. Naturally, the first step is to develop a Woodland Stewardship Management Plan for your land.  A Woodland Stewardship Management Plan [...]

DNR Forest Stewardship Program policy changes

By Gary Michael, MN DNR – Division of Forestry The Department of Natural Resource Division of Forestry’s Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) is undertaking a major shift in how it operates. For decades the FSP has been delivering free forest management plans to non-industrial private forest landowners.  A recent change in funding will require the FSP to [...]

November monthly email update

This month’s update from MyMinnesotaWoods.org is now available. This month’s features: Response: Dauerwald, ecological forestry, and late-successional structure North Central Forest Management Guides: Bottomland hardwoods John Latimer’s Northern Minnesota phenology report Meet a Minnesota Logger: Tom Kruschek Protecting tree seedlings from deer Featured link: Tree ID resources from MNTCA.org And, as always, discussion board, upcoming events, news, poem of the month, and a [...]

Two videos: Natural disturbance-based silviculture and restoring late-successional structure

Back in June 2009, someone named Tom posted a great question about applying the Dauerwald concept in Minnesota.  In a nutshell, the Dauerwald approach involves intensive management designed to maintain a high diversity of tree species and ages.  This approach can be attractive to those interested in active management but less comfortable with more extensive [...]

Northern Minnesota phenology report: November 2009

By John Latimer, KAXE Radio, Grand Rapids The last of the meadowhawk dragonflies will put in an appearance in early November. These small, bright red, insects are among the last to fly about in the fall. A warm day or two in the early part of the month will send them out in a last and [...]

Conference: Growing the Bioeconomy

Some MyMinnesotaWoods readers may be interested in this early December, 2009 event: Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability Dec. 1-2, University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center, St. Paul campus Hosted by University of Minnesota Extension and the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment. Cost is $50 per day, $85 for both days. Program [...]

Poem of the month: The Wood-Pile

The Wood-Pile Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day, I paused and said, ‘I will turn back from here. No, I will go on farther – and we shall see.’ The hard snow held me, save where now and then One foot went through. The view was all in lines Straight up and down of tall slim trees Too much [...]

October 2009 email update

The October 2009 update from MyMinnesotaWoods.org is now available at http://www.myminnesotawoods.umn.edu/enews/09october.html This month’s features include the following: Video: EAB and your Woodland John Latimer’s Northern Minnesota phenology report Meet a Minnesota Logger AND an MFA member North Central Forest Management Guides: Aspen Minnesota moose population status: How you can help Discussion board Upcoming events News stories Poem of the month Quiz of the month To see this month’s [...]

October 2009 Woody Biomass Forage Harvester Demo

Update October 19: This event has been rescheduled from October 21 to October 28, 2009.  The text below reflects the change. The University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center (SROC) will be hosting a New Holland FR9000 Forage Harvester with an 130FB Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) Woody Crop Header on Wednesday, October 28, 2009, from [...]

Poem of the month: Woods

Woods I wish to grow dumber, to slip deep into woods that grow blinder with each step I take, until the fingers let go of their numbers and the hands are finally ignorant as paws. Unable to count the petals, I will not know who loves me, who loves me not. Nothing to remember, nothing to forgive, I will stumble into the juice of the berry, [...]