Learn Ways to Improve Your Woodland Oct. 14

MANSFIELD, Ohio — The Ohio Woodland Stewards Program will hold an Improving Your Woodland workshop on Oct. 14 on the Mansfield campus of The Ohio State University.

The workshop will help participants determine goals and objectives for their woods, such as producing timber and providing wildlife habitat, and the best ways to go about achieving them.

“We’ll spend the morning inside exploring these issues and the afternoon outside putting the ideas to work,” said Kathy Smith, coordinator of the stewards program and one of the workshop’s instructors. She’s forestry program director in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, which runs the stewards program.

The school is in the university’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Mansfield’s green, wooded campus

Ohio State’s Mansfield campus is heavily wooded. Tall maples, oaks and other trees shade the grounds. It’s a great place for the outdoor portion of the workshop, Smith said. Remember to dress for the weather, she added.

Included on the agenda will be sessions on evaluating a woodland for maple syrup production and on management tools such as crop tree and timber stand improvement programs.

Practices to put on your radar

The goal overall, Smith said, is to “show what should be on a landowner’s radar when it comes to managing their woodland.”

The workshop is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 100 Ovalwood Hall, 1760 University Drive, Mansfield.

Sign up by Oct. 10

Registration is $35, includes lunch and materials, and is needed by Oct. 10. Details and a link to online registration are at go.osu.edu/OctoberImproveWoodland. 

For more information, call 614-688-3421.