Kentucky has an estimated 280,000 family woodland owners who own 10 or more acres. These mostly family owners own over 75% of the 12.3 million acres of woodlands in Kentucky. Unfortunately, these family woodlands are facing unprecedented threats from invasive insects, invasive plants, poor timber harvesting practices, woodland fires, and timber theft/trespass. These owners are mostly individuals, joint owners, or family partnerships (family forest owners) and they control more than 8,500,000 woodland acres in the state and provide the vast majority of the raw materials that supply the Kentucky forest industry. Supporting and educating Kentucky’s family forest owners is a prime objective of UK Forestry and Natural Resources Extension (UK FNRE) and benefits not only those owners but also all Kentuckians who derive benefits from these natural resources.

In addition to numerous local and online forestry educational programs, UK FNRE conducted a statewide educational program designed to educate Kentucky’s family forest owners titled the 2025 Kentucky Woodland Owners Short Course (WOSC); https://forestry.ca.uky.edu/wosc. The program included more than ten partner organizations and consisted of a series of six online sessions and two planned field sessions. Over 185 family woodland owners participated in the online sessions and more than 100 registered to participate in the field sessions. These Kentucky family forest owners indicated they owned more than 14,000 woodland acres. The 2025 WOSC aimed to raise the awareness of the importance of Kentucky woodlands, their owners, and issues facing them; educate woodland owners on how they can be good stewards of their woodland resources; and connect woodland owners with the natural resource professionals, programs, and organizations available to support woodland stewardship.