Become a Woodland Steward

Woodland stewards manage their land, or land trust property, for the long term. To make all the information that is essential for sound, sustainable forestry management easily accessible to the more than 120,000 small woodland owners in Maine, Maine Woodland Owners, along with the Maine TREE Foundation and the New England Forestry Foundation, created an online educational program.  

     Written by Lee Burnett, and brother Harold Burnett, a forester, this 10 module course includes online quizzes view-able only by the participant.  Following are some of the topics covered:

•Getting started: land boundaries, access, posting and landowner liability
•Forest laws and regulations
•What’s on your property:tree identification, soils, land-use history, wildlife and natural areas, wetlands and streams, and forest health
•Forest ecology: the life cycles of trees, the movement of water & nutrients, how water and nutrients affect tree growth, forest succession, and how forests regulate climates
•Wildlife: wildlife habitat needs, focus species forestry, and endangered species
•Insects, diseases and invasive plants
•A successful timber harvest: professional foresters, skilled loggers, logging equipment, fair compensation for wood, scheduling a harvest, legal considerations, contracts, proper record keeping, and a warning about solicitation letters.
•Woodlot finance: current use property tax programs, timber as an investment, managing financial aspects of forest investment, documenting land purchases, tax liabilities of selling timber, federal and state landowner assistance programs, and estate planning
•Non-timber forest products (NFTP): maple sugaring, mushrooms, Christmas trees and wreaths, ginseng, fiddleheads, and carbon credits.
•Putting it all together: insight about how all the individual topics interrelate, management plans, sources of assistance, forest certification, and continuing education

     To maintain the website and updating content, there is a $20 fee for this comprehensive course.  Click here for a sneak preview, try a quiz and see if this course is for you.