Last Updated January 24, 2005
Forest Stewardship Program
Helping private forest landowners develop plans for the sustainable management of their forests
About 45 percent of all forest land in the United States—354 million acres—is under nonindustrial private ownership, contributing significantly to America's clean water and air, wildlife habitat, recreational resources, and timber supplies. The Forest Stewardship Program provides technical aid, through state forestry agency partners, to nonindustrial private forestland owners to encourage and enable active long-term forest management.
A primary focus of the program is to develop comprehensive, multi-resource management plans to give landowners the information they need to manage their forests for a variety of products and services.
Project Examples
- George and Joan Freeman of Knox, PA, own the 645-acre Freeman Tree Farm, an educational showplace of good forestry practices. Farm visitors can see how the owners met their goals for growing timber and enhancing wildlife habitat at the crop tree demonstration areas. George Freeman says of the Forest Stewardship Program, "It helped me realize how important it is to look at all aspects of the farm and to realize the great progress that can be made with minimal effort."
- Preparing a Forest Stewardship Plan helped to coordinate the efforts of local, state, and federal staff working on weed control in the Picture Canyon area in Arizona. Named for its many petroglyphs, this 55-acre area located along a river had been seriously degraded by yellow star thistle, scotch thistle, and bull thistle. The plan helped those involved to learn to use a much wider array of management activities, including prescribed fire, herbicide application, and mechanical treatment to control the thistles.
- Landowner Charles E. Garrett, Sr., was recognized with the 1999 Certified Forest Steward Award for his outstanding management of Garrett Timbers, a 1,000-acre property in Berrien County, GA. Garrett has used a Forest Stewardship Plan for the past 5 or 6 years. He has increased the value of the timber on his land by thinning and burning and has provided habitat for declining species such as quail and fox squirrels. Songbird populations have increased by as much as 33 percent since his plan was prepared. Garrett says he likes having a Forest Stewardship Plan because "it is always better to see your land through someone else's eyes."
Application and Financial Information
The USDA Forest Service administers the Forest
Stewardship Program in partnership with state
forestry agencies. Contact a state forestry agency
for more information on this program. For a list of
state contacts, see www.stateforesters.org.
Eligibility, Uses, and Restrictions
Participation in the Forest Stewardship Program
is open to any nonindustrial private forest
landowner who is committed to the active management
and stewardship of forested properties for at
least 10 years.
A landowner may be any private individual, group, association, corporation, Native American Tribe, or other private legal entity. There is no restriction on the maximum number of acres owned, although some states may have a minimum acreage requirement.
Contact
To find out how you can participate in the Forest
Stewardship Program offered by your state, contact
your State Forestry agency. Your State Forester can
be found on the National Association of State
Foresters website: www.stateforesters.org.
Karl Dalla Rosa, National Program Manager
USDA Forest Service
Phone: (202) 205-6206
E-mail: kdallarosa@fs.fed.us
Internet
www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/programs/loa/fsp.shtml
