Great to hear from a far-away forester! Thanks for watching.

I hope you consider leaving dead and declining trees for the owls and woodpeckers.

Hi Peter - Good forest management allows for both monetary gain and a chance to improve the overall health of the current forest while opening it up to encourage regeneration for the NEXT forest. These videos aren't designed to convince you to do a timber harvest - they serve to explain how and why they are done. If after watching the video you don't like what you see, I recommend not harvesting your timber. But like David shows in the videos, trees are like people - they get old and eventually die. Forest management allows us to capture a financial return from the timber which helps many folks pay taxes, road maintenance, and insurance costs. Which ultimately helps them maintain ownership of their land. One thing to keep in mind, in New England, the forest type and the type of management will be different from what we do here in Virginia. Thanks for watching!

@@virginiaforestlandowneredu309 Thank you for your response. I think I'll let my children decide when we're gone... I"m hoping for another 15 yrs of good health to enjoy the wonderous beauty of God's Green Forest! Thank you.

Hi German forester! In VA, our hardwood rotation is between 50-100 years depending on the site, species composition, and landowner's goals. With a partial harvest like we show in this video, the potential exists to go back in 10-15 years for another partial harvest, if the landowner desires. Or, the site could be completely cleared at anytime. But these owners are not interested in a clearcut.

Thanks for the comment. Please also watch part 1 of this video where David discusses other management options for this property (and what the current landowner's goals for the property are). There isn't any sugar maple in this forest - lower elevation (

It's true the whole series of "15 minutes in the forest" has a much wider viewpoint. The Red Maple was mentioned as a tree with low commercial value. However, if it's contribution to an apiary is taken into account, it's likely to be more valuable than an oak over the same space and lifespan. I like comparing hard maple to soft because it's nearly universal that people think the hard is more valuable but pointing out the cash value of the honey causes them to think. The most valuable tree per year and per acre near where I grew up was the Pussy Willow.

@@rochrich1223 You are correct. Since we cannot manage for everything on one piece of property, we base management decisions on the landowner's goals - what do they want from their property. Often we find that we can manage for multiple goals at one time. But sometimes they are mutually exclusive and a landowner needs to prioritize what they want to achieve. I'll direct you to my video on Goals and Objectives in this same series. The important thing is to have diversity across the larger landscape. www.bing.com/search?q=you%20tube%20fifteen%20minutes%20in%20the%20forest%20goals%20and%20objectives&qs=n&form=QBRE&=Search%20%7B0%7D%20for%20%7B1%7D&=Search%20work%20for%20%7B0%7D&msbsrank=0_0__0&sp=-1&pq=you%20tube%20fifteen%20minutes%20in%20the%20forest%20goals%20and%20objecti&sc=0-56&sk=&cvid=E185C94362BF4265B301EFB7EA62B048&shtp=GetUrl&shid=30b22a80-3ae8-42de-b475-319c9730fc13&shtk=RmlmdGVlbiBNaW51dGVzIGluIHRoZSBGb3Jlc3Q6IE1hbmFnZW1lbnQgR29hbHMgYW5kIE9iamVjdGl2ZXM%3D&shdk=VmlyZ2luaWEgVGVjaCdzIEplbm5pZmVyIEdhZ25vbiB0YWtlcyB5b3Ugb24gYSB0b3VyIG9mIGhlciBmYXJtIHRvIGRpc2N1c3Mgc2V0dGluZyBtYW5hZ2VtZW50IGdvYWxzIGFuZCBvYmplY3RpdmVzLiBZb3UnbGwgYWxzbyBnZXQgdG8gbWVldCBoZXIgZmxvY2sgb2YgY2hpY2tlbnMh&shhk=ySd30w8i5zzDabhD%2FFGRvNk6NolYvvtkndueIuD3Lng%3D&shth=OVP._NFKrWBIy9iKW2Es2ROYigEsDh

Hi! Thanks for the comment. Actually, there are so many trees out there that would qualify as declining and many were left behind - as live declining trees or dead standing trees. After the harvest this site was by no means wide open. Here is a good article on the topic from the USDA Forest Service: www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/2013/ja_2013_perry_003.pdf Thanks for watching our videos!

@@virginiaforestlandowneredu309 The point I was trying to make is that if the owner doesn't care about income, there is a substantial ecological benefit to leaving snags standing. It is tempting to think of time scales in our own lifetime, but the East Coast forests flourished with no management for thousands of years. When I think of management, it is controlling for invasive non-native species. And without deer exclusion, it is going to be hard to get hickories and oaks beyond the seedling stage.

I agree with you about the deer. They are making it difficult to obtain good oak regeneration in our Appalachian hardwood forests. I would push back on the idea that these forests were unmanaged for thousands of years. Native Americans harvested trees and used fire extensively. One other point: It's expensive to own land. Taxes, insurance, road maintenance. So while income generation may not be someone's primary ownership goal, it's often a necessary management goal. But most landowners are good with leaving snags behind. In fact, most of our woodland owners in Virginia are primarily concerned with managing for wildlife. Thanks for to good conversation!

@@virginiaforestlandowneredu309 I am not advocating for never harvesting timber, just to be clear. I do strongly question the idea that cutting down a declining tree with no commercial value is productive. The reality is, because our ecosystems are getting so messed up, adding light the forest floor is simply not enough to get desirable native species to flourish. At a minimum, you would have to deer-protect some seedlings. I also again want to point out your time-scale bias. Let's be generous and say the first humans were in North America 20,000 years ago. That leaves thousands and thousands of years of unmanaged lands. The humans that did arrive again drastically changed the ecosystem, by wiping out the species of megafauna that adapted without the danger of humans. We have changed it again, wiping out the deer predators such that forest regeneration is in real trouble, and introducing all manner of invasive species that is causing a massive decline in wildlife. In the big picture, what I am saying is that even small pockets such as this can provide ecological value, which is needed because elsewhere, people are busy converting productive lands into lawns. But certainly, there is a place for harvesting valuable timber, keeping in mind the idea of stewardship to make sure other trees grow in its place, which has to involve deer exclusion.

@@ThereIsNoLord How do you manage your land? Do you put your notions to practice on your land, or are they still just notional? Do you have training and relevant experience to support your contradiction of the video's forester?

Hi Randy - thank you for your comment. As you saw in the video, David left lots of large woody debris on the forest floor to decay. In addition, in hardwood forests, branches, leaves, stems, and dead trees are falling throughout the year - returning nutrients to the soil. Of course, the great thing about living in Virginia is that you don't ever have to harvest your forest if you don't want to. All management is up to the individual landowner and what your goals are. If you want to encourage the growth of oaks or other certain species, you may be interested in this article on hardwood management: forestupdate.frec.vt.edu/content/dam/forestupdate_frec_vt_edu/newsletter/archives/2022/fall-2022/Gagnon%20.pdf. Sounds like you are enjoying your forest which is great!