forest stewardship

Our house, along with six others, sit in a snug row along 30 acres of heavily wooded lakeshore. Steve and I own three of those acres. For years I have been wanting to know more about how to manage our section of the woodland. And finally this winter, I found the perfect solution: The Minnesota DNR started offering a free Friday morning webinar called “Friday with a Forester”. It’s been great. So far I’ve listened to experts talk about preparing our northern woodland for “Climate Resiliency”, and just last Friday I learned about “Enhancing Forest Habitat for Birds.” I am loving learning the best practices for managing our trees. Honestly, I am such a nerd.

For example, last week I learned about the importance of “high mast trees” for wildlife habitat. Have you ever hear of this? I knew oaks have masting years, but I never thought much more about it. But there is a whole category of “masting” trees: High mast trees in Eastern hardwood forests–such as oaks, hickories, beech, and hazelnuts–are vital, and nutrient-rich “hard mast” producers essential for wildlife, particularly during winter. These deciduous trees dominate the canopy, periodically dropping large amounts of nuts in mast years to overwhelm seed predators. Literal air drops of high density, nutrition rich, protein. It’s so cool!

We have lots of masting trees (mostly oaks, walnuts, and hazelnuts), and lots of wildlife. But hickory might be a fun addition!?

Pin oak (?) acorns caps I picked up in Atlanta last autumn