20 VIRGINIA FORESTS provides management resources to landowners, empowering them to cultivate the forest they want while also improving one of the Commonwealth’s most valuable assets. While knowledge and guidance from a forester is the biggest resource we offer to landowners, the Hardwood Initiative also offers financial assistance to incentivize and enable beneficial management projects. DOF is fortunate to offer both the Hardwood Initiative Cost Share and Hardwood Initiative Tax Credit for landowners who perform hardwood management. For specific information on these financial incentives, visit the DOF website at dof.virginia.gov, or ask your DOF Area Forester. Additionally, 17 consulting foresters have been trained on these programs and can assist landowners with applying for Hardwood Initiative Cost Share assistance. The forestry community has been at work on the Hardwood Initiative for a few years that includes training, practice, and carrying out management practices with interested landowners. DOF foresters are excited to have this cost share assistance available for landowners. Many express that they’ve given recommendations for years to landowners to do hardwood management, but without cost share assistance it was too difficult for many landowners to perform. The Hardwood Initiative is allowing foresters and landowners to perform hardwood management they otherwise wouldn’t have considered. Because hardwood management is more involved than pine management, DOF foresters and consulting foresters have participated in training on hardwood management to make sure they are using the best available science when making recommendations. The actions landowners take in managing forest have impacts for many decades, so we want to do everything we can to make good recommendations and give landowners the best results. Continued training and learning are the best way to ensure that happens. Everyone has a reason to be excited about the Hardwood Initiative. Foresters can provide a new level of service to clients not previously available through a DOF cost share program. Loggers and other forestry service businesses who care deeply about forests and the sustainability of their industry appreciate the beneficial implications of more hardwood management for the future while making use of the forest today. While some hardwood management is non-commercial (such as invasive plant control and cutting non-productive, non-commercial trees to make room for better trees), forestry service businesses are finding new opportunities to help landowners grow better forests. DOF is glad to have recently hired a Forestry Services Business Specialist who is dedicated to helping these businesses perform more hardwood management work. Landowners are the people who make all this work possible. Without landowners interested in improving their property, no work would happen. Fortunately, Virginia landowners are interested in improving their forest. From Wise to Northumberland, Sussex to Frederick and everywhere in-between, landowners are seeing how forest health, regeneration, wildlife, and future income will benefit from carrying out hardwood management practices. Practices have improved tree growth and regeneration, deer and turkey habitat, and species composition—and the benefits for these landowners are just beginning. The Hardwood Initiative is still young. If it were a tree in the forest, it would be a three-year-old oak seedling that has just enough light to grow, a small canopy gap far above, and a long way to go to reach its goal. It needs foresters to pick the right trees to cut to give it more light and decide when to cut them; it needs contractors and loggers to cut the trees; and it needs landowners who want this seedling to grow to become a tree for wildlife habitat, good water quality, and the income it will produce. Everyone reading this article has a role to play to get it there, and together we can ensure Virginia’s hardwood forests continue to be an invaluable asset, today and tomorrow. Joe Rossetti is coordinator for Virginia’s Hardwood Initiative, including training, demonstration, outreach, implementation, and administering assistance programs. DOF Foresters are trained to help landowners who are interested in participating in the Hardwood Initiative.
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