Maryland's Forest Stewardship Educator
Forest Stewards Can "Get it in Print"
W
here does a forest steward get information to
help manage that woodland and the wildlife in it? Forest
professionals and other forest owners are good sources of
information. In addition, there are numerous publications on
forest and wildlife management. Unless noted, all of the
following are available from your county Extension office
and single copies of many are free to Maryland residents.
enterprises such as fee fishing, sporting clays, shiitake
mushrooms, firewood, bed 'n' breakfast, wood crafts, and
custom saw milling. Borrow the video from your county
Extension office or purchase it for $18, payable to University of Maryland, from Distance Education and Outreach
Education, 0119 Symons Hall, University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20742.
Of general interest
• Recreational Access and Landowner Liability in
Maryland: Guidelines for Managing Free or Fee
Access. Provides details on landowner liability, trespass
• Natural Resources Income Opportunities for
Private Lands. 288-page proceedings of April's conference in Hagerst?wn attended ilft1iJIf_~4J(1f1t:li~IW"'~I';
by 290 people from 23 states.
Includes 3 8 papers on forest
farming and forest utilization,
recreational tourism, recreational access, opportunities
assessment, challenges,
management, estate and tax
considerations, and integration of farm and forest
management. ($20, payable
Washington County EAC,
from Washington County
Cooperative Extension, 1260
Maryland Ave, Hagerstown MD 21740; 301-791-1304.)
• The video Natural Resources Income Opportunities
provides 24 minutes by actual producers of insights into
and property rights, recreational use along tidal and nontidal
waterways, controlling recreational use and timber trespass, and developing a lease hunting enterprise. Includes a
sample hunting lease and sources ofliability insurance.
Bulletin 357, 27 pages, $2.50.
Newly published
NEW! Five fact sheets on riparian buffers are timely
for Maryland woodland owners who will participate in the
effort to plant 600 miles of Chesapeake Bay tributaries by
2010. These fact sheets explain forest riparian buffer
terms, systems, installation, maintenance, and plants to use.
• An Introduction to the Riparian Forest Buffer, FS
724. • Riparian Forest Buffer Design, Establishment, and Maintenance, FS 725. • Trees for Riparian
Forest Buffers, FS 726. • Understory Plants for
Riparian Forest Buffers, FS 727.· Riparian Buffer
Systems, FS 733.
(continued on page 2)
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE
Renewable Resources
Extension Act (RREA)
• A video, Riparian Forest Buffers---The Link Between Land & Water, explains and illustrates the functions
Forest management
Grouse, Mourning Doves,
Eastern Wild Turkeys, Tree
Squirrels, Black Bears, Wood
Ducks, Dabbling Ducks,
Diving Ducks, Canada
Geese, and Songbirds Life
History and Management.
WMP, set $10.
• Enhancing Wildlife Habitats: A Practical Guide for
Forest Landowners, NR 64, $20.
• Guide to Great Forestry and Natural Resources
Publications. Lists all extension publications from the 20
Wildlife damage management
northeastern states. NR91, 88 pages; $7.
• Controlling Deer Damage in Maryland, EB 354, 22
• Sources of Information and Guidance for Forest
Stewards, FS 624.
• Maryland's Forests---Past, Present, and Future, FS
pages, $1.50.
and values of the riparian forest habitat. Designed for
landowners, it is appropriate for individual or group viewing. 21 minutes; closed-captioned. Borrow from your
county Extension office or purchase for $15 from University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Wye Research
and Education Center, 401-827-8056.
• Resistance of Ornamentals to Deer Damage, FS
627.
655; available on the Internet, see below.
• Reducing Vole Damage to Plants, FS 654.
• Developing a Forest Management Plan---The Key
to Forest Stewardship, FS 625; also available on the
• Deer as Public Goods and Public Nuisance: Issues
and Policy Options in Maryland. Proceedings of
Internet; see below.
619.
October 1997 conference, covering aspects of deer biology,
damage, and control. 106 pages, $5, payable University of
Maryland, from Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy, 2200C Symons Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.
• Measuring Your Forest, FS 629.
• Marketing Forest Products: The Sales Contract, FS
Ordering information and related topics
• Glossary of Forestry Terms. 175 forestry terms,
definitions, and illustrations, FS 620.
• How to Determine Your Property Boundaries, FS
628.
• How to Produce and Market Paulownia, Bulletin 319,
21 pages, thirty illustrations, $2.00.
• A Guide to Logging Aesthetics: Practical Tips for
Loggers, Foresters, & Landowners. NR60, 29 pages, $6.
• The Forest Stewardship Planning Guide (FSPG). A
Windows-based computer software program to help private
forest owners determine goals for their woodland with 15page user's manual. Free from USDA Forest Service,
Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, POBox 968,
Burlington,VT 05402-0968; 802-951-6771; fax 802-9516368.
Management of wildlife
• Wildlife Management Series. Set of eighteen illustrated fact sheets. The first four (4-7 pages each) present
an overview of wildlife management and steps for managing wildlife, and the last fourteen (7 pages each) detail
wildlife species' physical characteristics, abundance and
distribution, life history, management, and ecological roles.
Topics are Introduction to Wildlife Management, Planting Crops for Wildlife, Brush Piles for Wildlife, Field
Border Management, Eastern Cottontail Rabbits,
Bobwhite Quail, Ring-necked Pheasants, Ruffed
page two
Several family resource management publications on
estate planning may be useful to forest owners, although
recent tax law changes must be considered. Included in
these publications are transferring property, and gift, estate,
and inheritance taxes. Ask your Extension office about
these and other resource management publications.
For the listed fact sheets and bulletins, contact your
local Cooperative Extension office, under "county government" in the telephone blue pages. Two of the publications,
FS 625 and FS 655, can be downloaded from the Internet
at www.agnr.umd.edu/CES/pubs/online.html.
Two New Incentive Programs
for Forest Stewards
Habitat Cost-sharing
A new wildlife habitat development and improvement
cost-sharing program, WHIP, provides funds for conservation practices that will restore and manage upland grass
habitat to benefit ground-nesting birds and associated
wildlife on America's private lands.
Practices eligible for WHIP cost-sharing are the
restoration of grassland habitat in fields and borders, the
restoration of riparian buffers with trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants, and the stabilization of adjacent stream banks
with trees and shrubs. The area must contain at least one
acre of plantings, or at least 150 feet of stream bank
stabilization.
Practices installed must be in the landowner's conservation plan as developed by the landowner, the Soil Conservation District, and the Natural Resources Conservation
Service. This plan is separate from the forest management
plan developed by a forester. Participants agree to maintain
the practices for five to ten years, with NRCS providing
technical assistance and up to 75 percent of the cost of
installing the conservation practices.
WHIP was created in the 1996 Farm Bill. Maryland
receives $180,000 this year. Although the first signup has
passed, there will be other signup periods. Contact your
local NRCS or Soil Conservation District office.
Stream Buffer Help
Forest buffers by streams and shorelines help reduce
nutrient runoff and promote healthy fish and wildlife
habitat. Maryland's Stream ReLeafprogram can help
landowners establish streamside forest buffers on their
property.
What's available?
Technical assistance to help create a buffer;
Grants of $300/acre for tree plantings through the
Buffer Incentive Program;
Rental payments with a 70 percent bonus on 15-year
contracts for streamside buffer areas planted in trees on
agricultural land thrQugh the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program; and
Help in finding or organizing volunteers for planting.
If you have or know sites where forest buffers might be
planted, contact your Department of Natural ResourcesForest Service project forester.
Tree Farmers Meet on Shore
Tree farmers can meet with other tree farmers several
times during the year. The Tree Farm Committee and the
Tree Farm Grassroots Committee have initiated joint
meetings to discuss common interests and to view forestry
activities. The gatherings are quarterly, rotating among the
four forestry districts in the state.
The next program is Thursday, June 4, in Salisbury,
featuring a tour of the Chesapeake Corporation forest
industry. All forest owners, whether in the Tree Farm
System or not, are encouraged to attend. Contact Billy
Laws, 410-260-8509, or Jeff Bracken, 304-258-4681. •
Tour 1998 Tree Farm
Forest owners and others will tour the farm of 1998
Maryland and West Virginia Tree Farmer ofthe Year, Bill
Slagle, Garrett County, Saturday, June 6.
Featured in the last Branching Out, Bill's Walnut
Meadows tree farm has hardwoods, evergreens, ginseng,
shiitake mushrooms, a recent timber stand improvement,
and a nature trail. The tour also may include Bill's current
project, a "house of the 21st Century," featuring foam
construction forms and geothermal heating.
All are invited to the tour which is sponsored by the
Maryland Chapter of the Walnut Council and the Maryland
Tree Farm Committee. For details, contact Jeff Bracken,
304-258-4681, or Vera Mae Schultz, 301-972-0848,
treefarmer@compuserve.com.
page three
Update on Forest Health
i·
Below is selected information on the health of Maryland
forests. More information on forest pests is accessible on
the Maryland Department of Agriculture website:
www.mda.state.md.us!jorestplhome3.htm.
Gypsy moth populations last year were at their lowest
levels in over a decade. The number of acres defoliated
continued to decline. According to the Maryland Department of Agriculture, 88% of the areas treated were on the
Eastern Shore; the rest were in Charles and Prince
George's counties.
In 1997, forest tent caterpillar defoliation decreased
to about 100 acres, following the 1995 outbreak that
defoliated more than 16,000 acres of hardwood trees on
the lower Eastern Shore. <~~._
An aerial survey in late summer found no active
southern pine beetle infestations. Pine shoot beetles
were found in traps in Washington, Allegany, and Garrett
counties. Before 1997, only one beetle had been found in
the state---in Allegany county in 1995.
Fall webworm activity was evident statewide. Most
areas had isolated roadside infestations. Garrett county,
however, had 3000 acres of heavy defoliation.
No exotic bark beetles were found in baited traps in
the counties adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. This information is important to certify Maryland as free of these
insects for export purposes.
Orange-striped oakworm again localized in Harford
County in a 50-acre stand of predominately red oak. Elm
yellows disease, first identified in the state in 1996,
severely affected elms in Frederick and Washington
counties last year. Dogwood anthracnose was less
prevalent last yeal. Although found statewide, it has had
little impact east of the mountains.
The MDA continues to study potential biological agents
to control the exotic mile-a-minute weed that
affects forest regeneration.
Branching Out
Maryland Cooperative Extension
18330 Keedysville Road
Keedysville MD 21756
Vol. 6, No.2 - Spring 1998
New Deer Plan Available
c
A draft of the Department of Natural Resources' 68page deer management plan "Charting the Course for Deer
Management in Maryland" can be reviewed at most public
libraries, purchased from DNR for $10, or accessed online
at httpllwww.dnr.state.md.uslwildlifeldmp. html.
Non-Profit Org.
U.s. Postage
PAID
Pennit No. 10
College Park, MD