11/16/2005 -- When you have timber or a woods habitat, it is sometimes hard to see
 the changes that occur as tree growth and age tends to be such a long term
 thing. Nonetheless, change is occurring and it comes a time when you have
 to make some decisions.

 Let’s take a look at Oak forest for example. Oak trees are certainly
 good species of trees, they produce a food crop used by a host of animals
 and the lumber is reasonably useful and valuable. However, Oak forest is
 not something that will perpetuate itself in the long term. Oak seedlings
 are shade intolerant which means that in any timber with mature trees, no
 little oak trees will be able to grow. Thus as the mature Oak trees age and
 die, other species of trees that can start to grow in the shade will
 eventually take over the woods.

 So thus you have the great question as a land manager. Do you take an
 active role in managing your woods, or do you let nature take its course and
 in doing so, potentially degrade the value of your woods to wildlife and
 future timber value.

 We made the decision at Ochee Yahola that we will pursue active management
 of the timber. Thus we are going to do a number of things in the woods
 including timber harvest.

 Ochee has the additional problem of a small shrubby tree called buckthorn.
 This is not a native species to the United States but it does very well in
 our woods. So well, that it will completely cover the under story and make
 it very hard if not impossible for any good trees to grow. It also is not very
 useful to most Iowa wildlife. To give you an idea of how thick it is in
 Ochee, when I try to cut one down, the saw cuts through the trunk, but the
 shrub doesn't fall as there is no place for it to go and its branches are
 intertwined with its neighbors. If you have tried to walk through Ochee
 lately, you know what I'm talking about.

 So, if we have set the stage properly, so to speak, we now have the
 conditions at hand in Ochee that lead to the decision to manage (and I mean
 harvest trees to start with) the timber. We have 1) Mature Oak trees. 2)
 No regeneration of new oak trees. And 3) Choking buckthorn growth.

 Two projects are planned. One is a harvest of the mature cherry trees that
 are scattered throughout the woods. Cherry in Iowa is not a long lived tree
 and they tend to become hollow as they mature. So with Cherry lumber at an
 all time high, it makes sense to harvest the mature trees right now.

 Secondly we have a small clear cut going.

 Thus, if you drive by the woods now, you will see a pile of trees lying on
 the ground. These are mature oak and cherry and a few other species. With
 the help of the Northwood-Kensett Ecology class, we have been harvesting the
 mature trees. There is already some limited regeneration of walnut in the
 area where we are cutting, but in the spring, we will be planting new Oak
 seedlings.

 The students are taking an active role in the management and learning first
 hand skills and lessons in Logging.

 The harvested trees will be sold and the funds will be primarily used for
 timber management. In the long term, the woods will be a better more
 healthy (to wildlife) and more valuable (economically). Our plans are to
 harvest about 2 acres a year on a continuous basis. With around 100 acres
 of timber, this can be a perpetual classroom learning experience. By the
 time you have worked your way around the woods, the timber will be mature
 again.

 In addition, we are doing some other things in the woods. The hill top is
 being reintroduced to fire. Yes, we are burning our woods. Prairie fire
 has been a long established practice for managing the prairie, but fire has
 been neglected in the woods. Perhaps it’s too many years of watching
 commercials about preventing forest fires and seeing the devastation that
 can occur in western forest fires, but managed low intensity fires in our
 woods can be a very good thing.

In an Oak woods, it can help remove the choking under story and
 encourage wildflower growth. Very positive results have been surfacing from
 around the state with county conservation boards that have started doing
 this practice.

 For all practical purposes, mature trees are fireproof in an Iowa woods.
 The leaf litter on the ground just doesn't have enough fuel to produce huge
 fires. Each crop of leaves basically turns into soil by the time of the
 next leaf fall so wood fires tend to be low flame events.

 So, what have they learned so far, well, I have a farm girl who learned to
 drive a tractor for the first time in her life (pulling trees out of the
 woods). The students have also been introduced to the safest method to cut
 down a tree (I have been doing all the saw work for safety sake, but they
 can watch and learn). At some point some of these people will own a chain
 saw and learning how to properly use it is a vastly untaught skill. This
 spring we will have tree planting and weed tree removal (got to get rid of
 that buckthorn).

 The future of the Worth County Conservation timbers will see additional
 harvests to actively manage the forest products and make sure they are as
 useful for wildlife species as they can be, not just slowly degenerating
 into poor quality wastelands.