Paul Szmal: We're Zooming with Ryan Stachok from Cooperative Extension and also with us this morning is Lydia Williams, who is the Regional Director of Cornell's Master Forest Owner Program. Good morning to you both.
Ryan Stachock, Lydia Williams: Good morning, everybody.
Lydia Williams: And good morning to you, Lydia.
Lydia Williams: Good morning.
Paul Szmal: Oh, there we go. Okay, we've got you.
We're going to talk to you a little bit more about the Master Forest Owner Program in a bit. But Ryan, let's start with managing your forest workshop, a choice of in-person at Vince's Park in Seneca Falls or on Zoom a week from today, September 11th.
Ryan Stachock: Yeah, thanks, Ted. You know, one thing I love about working in the Finger Lakes is all of our forested areas. I'm a tree lover. Growing up in a construction family, working with wood, and then finally going to school and learning about trees and managing forests. Something about being around trees that makes me feel pretty good. There's a good sense of feeling and I love them so much because when I go to measure them and play with them, they can't run away, right? So that's a cool thing about being a forester.
But, Ted, something that's really important is managing forested lands. And we're really lucky to live in upstate New York with all of our deciduous forests. And it's really important to manage our forests. There's a significant amount of forested land in New York State. And one of the things I've heard traveling around in the three county region I support is people want to know how should you manage your forest, right? Like, how do you do that? And so we put together this great workshop.
It's going to be held next Wednesday, September 11th, from 5.30 p.m. to 8 o'clock p.m. It's at Vince's Park in Seneca Falls. And we strategically chose that location because we are trying to reach people in Cayuga County and in Seneca County to come on out, learn how you can manage your forests. And registration is required.
And it's important to manage your forests because, well, maybe you want to enjoy your forests for recreational purposes. Maybe you'd like to make some money off of your trees that are getting large and they need to be managed. Maybe you'd like to hunt and use your forest for recreation. A lot of different reasons. And in forestry, we manage by owner objectives, okay? So if an owner wants to do something with their forest, we're going to help you manage your forest for whatever your objectives are.
We're excited to have Bryce June, a New York State DEC forester from Region 8, come out and discuss the fundamentals of a forest stewardship plan. And he's going to summarize how qualified landowners can leverage a cost-free forest stewardship plan. That's right, Ed. You heard me right. You can get a cost-free forest stewardship plan in New York State because the money comes from the federal government and they want you to help manage your forest.
We're also going to have Peter Smolich from the New York State Extension. He's the extension forester from Cornell's Arnott Forest. He's going to discuss what are the best management practices that people can do on their small parcels of forested land. And then finally, we're going to have Lydia, who's going to speak in a few minutes, and also Dale Schaefer, who is the New York Forest Owners Association chair of the Western Finger Lakes Region. They're going to summarize how people can get involved and have master forest owners come and visit their property and help them neighbor-to-neighbor manage their forest.
So we're really excited. I'm excited to have this program. If you're interested and anybody's interested, including farmers that may have parcels in the back of their farmland that have not been managed and that want to learn a little bit more, go to the SenecaCountyCCE.org website. Right on the front there, you'll see that you can register. Click on that, register, pay $9. And most of that money, Ted, we're not really profiting, but we're going to provide pizza for anybody that comes. Because it starts at 530, we don't want any hangry happening there, Ted. So we're going to provide some pizza.
Paul Szmal: I was going to say, Ted, tell us what you mean by leveraging the cost-free plan. Because I think, you know, off the top of my head, your first thought would be their trees. You let them grow and they grow. So what's the advantages to a landowner of having one of these plans in place?
Ryan Stachock: You bet. Yeah. So when Emily and I first moved back to New York State from Colorado and we purchased a rural parcel, I wanted to learn about what are the best management alternatives in New York State. So I called the New York State DEC because they are the professional resource for people. And I learned that in New York State and actually around the country, around the whole country, the federal government sends money to the states for people that have X amount of acres. And they are allowed a free plan, a forest stewardship plan, one free visit from the New York State DEC to come on out. They'll talk to people. They'll ask you what your objectives are. And they put together a simple forest stewardship management plan.
That plan helps landowners prioritize their working objectives. So if you are interested in developing turkey habitat, a forest management plan helps you step by step outline how you're going to achieve that goal. Maybe you'd like to save your oak trees. A forest stewardship plan is going to help you step by step. So a plan helps you implement your management objectives over time. And additionally, if you're interested in involving yourself in more plans or programs, you can use that plan to prove to people that you're dead serious about forest management and you take it seriously.
Paul Szmal: All right, let's bring in Lydia, who again is the regional manager for the New York Master Forest Owner Program from Cornell. Tell us a little bit about the program. We've heard what they can do to help implement a plan, but give us some more overview of the Master Forest Owner Program.
Lydia Williams: So the Master Forest Owner Program is out of Cornell. It is a group of volunteers in each county that we send out to people who are interested in learning more about their forests. We cover anything down from like half an acre up to a couple thousand. And we will come out to your forest and walk around with you and kind of talk to you about what your goals are, what you want to do, and kind of figure out what resources you need to be able to manage your forest sustainably and meet whatever goals you have. And then the volunteers will send you information of how to meet those goals.
Paul Szmal: So what happens over time if I don't have a plan? If I have a woodlot and I have no plan, I just let it sit there, what are some of the negative things that could happen?
Lydia Williams: So it's a lot easier to stay on, to reach, excuse me, it's a lot easier to reach your goals if you have a plan in place. We find that the vast majority of people don't actually have a written plan, which makes it a lot harder to figure out what you've done and what you still need to do. So having something you can go and look at and say, okay, well, this is how far we've come, this is what we still need to do, just kind of keeps you on track and it makes it a lot easier to find resources. So we know what you've already covered and what you still need to meet your goals.
Paul Szmal: Tell us about the Cornell New York Woodlands statistical summary. I was surprised to hear that we've actually had an increase in woodlands in New York in the last 20 or 30 years.
Ryan Stachock: Yeah, thanks, Ted. Go ahead, Lydia. This is really exciting news and you can find this information on Forest Connect, but I'm going to hand it over to Lydia. Go ahead.
Lydia Williams: Yeah, so it's really great. There's actually the majority of the timberland and forests in New York state is actually owned by private landowners. So it's mostly families, 10.8 million acres of woodland in New York state is actually owned by families, not by the government or private corporations. And yeah, it's been increasing a little bit every year, which is wonderful. We're always looking for more people to get out in the woods and enjoy themselves.
Paul Szmal: Well, learn how you can put together a written plan for your woodland. It's managing your forest workshop. You have a choice of in-person or Zoom. It is next Wednesday, September 11th. If you go in person, 530 to 8, Vince's Park in Seneca Falls, or you can sign up on Zoom. You can go to senecacountycce.org and sign up. Thank you both for your time. This is really educational. We've talked about this a little in the past, but I think you've brought into focus the importance of having one of these plans. So we appreciate your time.
Ryan Stachock: Yeah, thank you, Ted. We really appreciate you. I'm going to make one more pitch. If you come out and you're in person at Vince's Park next week, you'll get to see a portable sawmill demonstration.
Paul Szmal: Ah, very good. All right. Thank you both. We appreciate it.
