Educational programs that strengthen agriculture production skills are a continued priority identified by Oldham County’s Extension and Agriculture Councils.  An agriculture commodity that is sometimes overlooked is woodlands.  Wooded areas are not only important for habitat, but managed correctly, these can also be an economically important part of any farm operation.

The most recent Kentucky Forest Inventory, taken in 2016 by the U.S. Forest Service and the Kentucky Division of Forestry estimates the following: 

• Oldham County has a total of 19,672 forested acres, representing 15% of the total county acreage.  
• There are an estimated 6.75 million trees greater than 1 inch in diameter in Oldham County.
• Oldham County’s net volume of saw timber trees represented is 104,418,544 board feet (Using the Doyle Log Rule)
• The majority of the timber in Oldham County and in Kentucky is concentrated in lower tree grades which will not bring as high of a price.  
• There is a high potential for improving trees and the timber grade through good forest management practices.

To address the potential for improving timber sale profitability, UK Forestry Extension partnered with numerous other Forestry Extension Units, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Kentucky Division of Forestry, USDA Forest Service, and Kentucky Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide the Woodlands Webinar Series for county Extension offices in winter 2019.   

Topics included in the five-part series included basic forestry terminology; management principles; identifying and managing woodland threats; wildlife; and resources to assist woodland owners. Oldham County Extension hosted all five webinars.  Oldham County participants attending one or more webinars represented a total of 2,119 forested acres.  These participants completed evaluations of the webinar series, indicating the following initial outcomes:

• Participants indicated an increase in knowledge from 1.89 to 3.00 (on a scale of 1 – 4 with 4 being the highest).
• Participants rated the instructors’ subject matter knowledge at 3.61 (on a scale of 1 – 4 with 4 being the highest).
• 100% of participants no know the right agency to contact for questions about their woodlands.
• 13% of participants planned to contact a forestry/natural resource professional about their property within the 3 months after completing the program

As participants implement changes to their woodland management, the following long-term impacts are expected:  Increased revenue, improved woodland productivity, improved wildlife habitat, and improved woodland health.  Participants will be contacted in 2020 to follow up on their successes.