Family woodlot owners will be able to get important information about the 2008 federal Farm Bill and good land stewardship through a series of workshops to be held in March.
The meetings, sponsored by a collaboration of federal and state agencies and local groups, will be held around Maine, according to Andy Shultz, Maine Forest Service landowner outreach forester.
“It’s the latest in our long history of working with family forest landowners,” Shultz said Friday. “It’s a big part of our mission to provide information and support to landowners so they can make informed decisions about managing their woods. This is why we call our outreach program ‘Be Woods Wise.'”
There are 97,000 family forest owners in Maine who own between 10 and 5,000 acres each, Shultz said. Forest owners should consider attending the workshops “if they have an interest in finding ways to manage their woodlots to meet their goals,” he said.
“The meetings are for those landowners who want to keep their land, improve it and ideally pass it on in better condition than it was,” the MFS forester said.
The sessions are unique in that they are providing new information and are a multi-agency collaboration, Shultz pointed out.
The MFS, Small Woodlot Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and other partners are teaming up to hold the meetings, Shultz said. The meetings are being hosted by local soil and water conservation districts and are intended for woodlot owners, consulting foresters, and land managers interested in the forestry aspects of the 2008 Farm Bill.
The farm bill “places a greater emphasis on forests in general,” Shultz said. “It opens existing conservation programs to include more forestry practices on family forest land.
“The programs provide financial incentives to use best management practices and follow stewardship principles,” the MFS forester said.
The sessions will highlight programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives program (WHIP). During the workshops, MFS foresters and NRCS representatives will answer questions and help participants determine the next step towards good stewardship of their land, Shultz said.
Sessions will be held:
• March 12 in Dover-Foxcroft and Buxton;
• March 16, Skowhegan;
• March 20, Bangor;
• March 23, Augusta;
• March 24, Farmington;
• March 25, Lewiston;
• March 26, Waldoboro;
• March 30, Littleton;
• March 31, Presque Isle and Madawaska.
The workshops in Buxton and Farmington are co-sponsored by SWOAM.
Shultz stressed that even if meeting attendees decide not to participate in the federal programs, they still can ask for management help from their local MFS foresters.
Meeting organizers ask that participants call ahead to reserve a spot at least one week prior to the meeting they plan to attend.
For more information, go to: http://www.me.nrcs.usda.gov/ or call the Maine Forest Service at (800) 367-0223 for a complete list of meeting dates, locations, times and local contact information.
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