SPRING 2023 33 TAILGATE TALK Over time, you will find that you may be constantly changing things in the plan as you grow with the property, and I know even on my own plan, I keep coming up with new ideas and keep adapting to my changing objectives. Even though it is a 10-year plan, I keep changing it in my mind every year. That’s the beauty in owning property, and I view it as a painting that I’m constantly working on. The land is dynamic and so am I. We grow together. Everything around our forest is changing as well. Our forest is merely one part of what I like to refer to as the forestry ecosystem. Most foresters are taught about the Forest Ecosystem. The forest ecosystem includes all living One of the first things I usually teach new clients is that the forest is dynamic. Many believe that once a clear-cut, always a clear-cut. They can’t see that the forest changes over time. In college, I had a professor who taught Introduction to Appalachian Studies. She taught us that the majority of the Blue Ridge Mountains were heavily cleared for agriculture or logged in the early 1900s. Once she found out I was a forestry student, she questioned me. “Doesn’t clearcutting kill the hardwoods forests?” I responded, “When you drive down the Blue Ridge Mountains, Do you see pasture fields and orchards on the mountain slopes? Or mature hardwood forests?” I could immediately see the light bulb turn on in her mind. The forest is a dynamic, living, breathing thing that changes over time and is influenced by all factors within the ecosystem. When writing a forest management plan, we are writing the plan for a period of 10 years and beginning at a specified date with the forest in a static condition. I often include blank pages in my plans for record-keeping and for the landowner to make notes over time. I keep my own management plan in a binder that makes it simple to make changes. In some ways it is a living diary of our relationship with our land. Forests are Dynamic, Living, and Ever-Changing By Matt Dowdy, CF, Magazine Editorial Committee “Change is the handmaiden Nature requires to do her miracles with.” Mark Twain
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