Green Horizons

Would you like to tour a fine hardwood sawmill? How about being part of a Forestry CSI Team? What about carbon trading and its implications to you as a landowner? Are you interested in learning about current efforts to update the State Forestry Law? If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then make plans to attend the 2008 Missouri Woodland Owners’ Conference, Feb. 22-23.

Once again the conference will kick off with a Friday Field Day at the MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Center (HARC) in New Franklin. Registration opens at 10 a.m. with a pre-field day demonstration of Dutch oven cooking. Following lunch we will tour the Missouri Pacific Lumber Company sawmill in nearby Fayette (transportation provided) and back at HARC we will look at a real-life timber theft that occurred right on the farm! We will also talk about what a person can do following a high-grade such as this.

The conference then kicks into high gear Friday evening at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Columbia (a new location due to a scheduling conflict at Stoney Creek). We will share information about efforts to form a Missouri Woodland Owners Association.

We have shortened the Saturday presentations a bit to make room for more topics. State Forester Lisa Allen will update attendees on current efforts to update the State Forestry Law, which has been virtually unchanged since 1946! Amy Yambor from the American Tree Farm System will give the national office’s take on emerging issues facing forestland owners. Steve Mahfood will talk about the latest developments in the U.S. carbon market. Dr. Rose-Marie Muzika will then update participants on which insects and diseases are on the state watch list.

In addition to recognizing the state Tree Farmer of the Year at the luncheon, we also will recognize a new state champion: the state Logger of the Year! Following lunch, the afternoon sessions will be geared toward marketing and harvesting timber. Bob Massengale will shed some light on Missouri’s major wood products and their relation to tree and log grades. After that Fred Crouse and Jason Jensen will share tips on how to sell your timber. The afternoon wraps up with John Tuttle and some of the regional loggers of the year talking about how to work with your logger in planning and implementing a harvest plan.

For more information you can go online to www.snr.missouri.edu/forestry/extension or www.moforest.org To speak to real person, you can always give Glenda a call at (573) 634-3252.