Yellow-poplarA major effort of the Forestry and Natural Resources Extension unit is to educate Kentucky woodland owners on the importance of sustainable woodland management for the environment and the economy. Almost half of the state is covered in forested land, which is close to 12.4 million acres. Of these woodland acres approximately 73% of it is privately owned by families and individuals.

The Forestry and Natural Resources Extension unit has developed many successful educational programs to address the needs of these woodland owners. Learning about the trees that makeup the forests is usually the first step or class of many of these programs. During this reporting period the Woodland Owner Shortcourse, Forestry and Natural Resources Fall Webinar Series and the Ohio River Valley Woodland and Wildlife Workshop were three educational programs that offered tree identification classes.

“Kentucky Tree ID” at the Woodland Owner Shortcourse is the first class most woodland owners attend at the day-long program. Three Shortcourses were conducted across the state in July and August of 2017. Tree identification was taught to 147 woodland owners that owned more than 19,900 woodland acres. Based on evaluations 100% of participants indicated that attending the program better prepared them to manage their woodlands and more than 85% of the participants indicated they would utilize the skills they learned in the “Kentucky Tree ID” class.

“Identifying Kentucky’s Trees” webinar was conducted as part of the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources Fall Webinar Series which was broadcast to hosting county extension offices in Kentucky. Participants were introduced to Kentucky’s trees and instructed in how to identify them using a dichotomous tree key. Based on evaluations 115 people owning an estimated 1,257 woodland acres attended the webinar. Ninety-four percent indicated the program will help them with managing their woodlands. In addition the knowledge gained as a result of the program was as follows: 30% - importance of trees and woodland; 55% - diversity of tree species in Kentucky; 66% - how to identify trees; 69% - sources and types of tree identification assistance.

“Step One – Tree Identification” was held at the Ohio River Valley Woodlands and Wildlife Workshop (ORVWWW) in the spring of 2018.  ORVWWW is coordinated and conducted jointly by the Cooperative Extension Services of the University of Kentucky, Purdue University and the Ohio State University. There were 125 participants from Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio that owned approximately 9,000 acres much of it forested. Evaluations indicated the following: 83% found learning identification skills would be useful in managing their woodlands; 68% would take steps to obtain a woodland management plan or modify an existing plan; and more than 80% would recommend the Cooperative Extension Service to family and friends as a contact for information about woodland management.

Understanding and wisely managing our natural resources begins with being able to comfortably and correctly identify the resource and in woodland management it begins with tree identification.