- Author: Grace Nguyen-Sovan Dean
While trees and forests are often emblematic of constancy in a fast-paced world, our state's forests are actually changing before our eyes. Since 2020, the UC ANR Forest Stewardship Education (FSE) program has been helping California's forest landowners be proactive about the inevitable shifts their forestland will experience. The Forest Stewardship and Post-Fire Forest Resilience workshop programs use an online educational format, which guide landowners through the basics of creating forest management plans and managing post-fire landscapes, respectively. Now, the FSE team is piloting a new program to engage a wider audience of forest landowners and community members passionate about trees.
This spring, the Forest Stewardship and UC ANR Fire Network teams are holding the first California Tree School, where individuals attend multiple in-person classes on the forestry topics they are most curious about. “The existing online programs are very focused on forest management plans and post-fire activity, and [Tree School] lets us tackle other topics,” said UC ANR forest and natural resources advisor Susie Kocher.
A one-stop shop for continuing forestry education
California Tree School was inspired when Forest Stewardship Academic Coordinator Kim Ingram, Post-fire Academic Coordinator Katie Reidy and Kocher attended Oregon State University Extension's Tree School event in Clackamas County, Oregon. OSU Tree School is a day-long experience comprised of classes that cover the different dimensions of forestry: constructing a house from your own timber, carbon cap and trade, and buying portable sawmills are just a small sampling of the options for attendees. OSU Tree School students ranged from forest landowners to community college students, contributing to a space which would facilitate community connections as well as learning.
Kocher described the experience as a “a great one-day, one-stop shop to keep up-to-date on what we [forest landowners and professionals] should know.” Excited by the breadth of opportunities offered at OSU's Tree School, Ingram, Kocher and Reidy were inspired to bring the format to California.
“It's our time to discuss the whole ecosystem,” noted Reidy. “Tree School is bringing in the trustworthy, reliable group of experts who can provide more information on the questions pertaining to landowners' specific goals.”
California Tree School will be offered in two locations this spring, with CA Tree School- Hopland taking place on May 4, and CA Tree School- El Dorado on June 1. Similar to OSU's Tree School, attendees are expected to be a mix of forest landowners, natural resource professionals and interested community members.
Connecting statewide professionals; personalizing forestry education
Tree School offers attendees the opportunity to focus on subjects that pertain to their specific learning needs. This personalized approach is a new foray for the Forest Stewardship team, but is something that Ingram says workshop participants have been wanting for some time.
“Our participants never think they learn enough. They are always asking for more information, and this Tree School gives us the chance to expand on things we might not have had a chance to go over in the workshop series,” remarked Ingram. Additionally, Tree School instructors had creative freedom when it came to developing their classes, from the topic to the class format. This is evident when browsing through each session's class catalog. CA Tree School attendees choose four classes to attend, meaning they can build their first burn pile, understand the ins and outs of regional wildlife, paint outdoors and learn how to aid statewide reforestation efforts all in one day.
“I felt that Tree School created a sense of trust around complex topics,” noted Reidy about her experience last year in Oregon. For CA Tree School, the Forest Stewardship team aims to do the same. This meant recruiting from throughout the UC ANR network and other organizations, including CALFIRE and CARCD (California Association of Resource Conservation Districts), to bring trusted voices to the community.
“What's exciting about Tree School is that we are bringing natural resource professionals from all around to engage everyone at the same time, and all in one place,” noted Ingram.
The team is excited to see all the connections that will be made between community members and professionals during this pilot year, and “if this is successful and we can bring it back next year,” commented Kocher, “we are definitely interested in partnering with more people and expanding our outreach.”
Making CA Tree School an in-person experience was important to the team, as much of the education is hands-on. Additionally, Kocher sees enhanced potential for building personal connections: “In person, you have this opportunity for people to identify as part of a community,” noted Kocher, “So I'm excited for people to hang out with each other.”
Encouraging an informed community
“You can't separate the emotional from the physical, and there are a lot of topics in forestry like wildfire and economics that can be a bit of a downer,” said Ingram. “I'm excited to help create a positive learning environment, and one that encourages folks to turn to UC Cooperative Extension for these resources.”
“Our main goal here is to get science out there,” concurred Reidy. “The more exposure people have to science, the more confident they feel in themselves and their wants and needs.”
- Author: Grace Nguyen-Sovan Dean
This spring, the Forest Stewardship and UC ANR Fire Network teams are holding the first California Tree School, where individuals attend multiple in-person classes on the forestry topics they are most curious about. “The existing online programs are very focused on forest management plans and post-fire activity, and [Tree School] lets us tackle other topics,” shared UC ANR Forest and Natural Resources Advisor Susie Kocher.
A one-stop shop for continuing forestry education
California Tree School was inspired when Forest Stewardship Academic Coordinator Kim Ingram, Post Fire Academic Coordinator Katie Reidy, and Kocher attended Oregon State University (OSU) Extension's Tree School event in Clackamas County, Oregon. OSU Tree School is a day-long experience comprised of classes that cover the different dimensions of forestry: constructing a house from your own timber, carbon cap and trade, and buying portable sawmills are just a small sampling of the options for attendees. OSU Tree School students ranged from forest landowners to community college students, contributing to a space which would facilitate community connections as well as learning.
Kocher described the experience as a “a great one day, one stop shop to keep up to date on what we [forest landowners and professionals] should know.” Excited by the breadth of opportunities offered at OSU's Tree School, Ingram, Kocher, and Reidy were inspired to bring the format to California.
“It's our time to discuss the whole ecosystem,” noted Reidy. “Tree School is bringing in the trustworthy, reliable group of experts who can provide more information on the questions pertaining to landowners' specific goals.”
California Tree School will be offered in two locations this spring, with CA Tree School- Hopland taking place on May 4, and CA Tree School- El Dorado held on June 1. Similar to OSU's Tree School, attendees are expected to be a mix of forest landowners, natural resource professionals, and interested community members.
Connecting statewide professionals; personalizing forestry education
Tree School offers attendees the opportunity to focus on subjects that pertain to their specific learning needs. This personalized approach is a new foray for the Forest Stewardship team but is something that Ingram says workshop participants have been wanting for some time.
“Our participants never think they learn enough. They are always asking for more information, and this [Tree School] gives us the chance to expand on things we might not have had a chance to go over [in the workshop series],” remarked Ingram. Additionally, Tree School instructors had creative freedom when it came to developing their classes, from the topic to the class format. This is evident when browsing through each session's class catalog. CA Tree School attendees choose four classes to attend, meaning they can build their first burn pile, understand the ins and outs of regional wildlife, paint outdoors, and learn how to aid statewide reforestation efforts all in one day.
“I felt that Tree School created a sense of trust around complex topics,” noted Reidy about her experience last year in Oregon. For CA Tree School, the Forest Stewardship team aims to do the same. This meant recruiting from throughout the UC ANR network and other organizations, including CALFIRE and CARCD, to bring trusted voices to the community. “What's exciting about Tree School is that we are bringing natural resource professionals from all around to engage everyone at the same time, and all in one place,” noted Ingram.
The team is excited to see all the connections that will be made between community members and professionals during this pilot year, and “if this is successful and we can bring it back next year,” commented Kocher, “we are definitely interested in partnering with more people and expanding our outreach.”
Making CA Tree School an in-person experience was important to the team, as much of the education is hands-on. Additionally, Kocher sees enhanced potential for building personal connections: “In person you have this opportunity for people to identify as part of a community,” noted Kocher, “So I'm excited for people to hang out with each other.”
Encouraging an informed community
“You can't separate the emotional from the physical, and there are a lot of topics in forestry like wildfire and economics that can be a bit of a downer,” said Ingram. “I'm excited to help create a positive learning environment, and one that encourages folks to turn to [UC Cooperative] Extension for these resources.”
“Our main goal here is to get science out there,” concurred Reidy. “The more exposure people have [to science], the more confident they feel in themselves and their wants and needs.”
- Author: Nic Dutch
Today, the revitalization of the UC Wood Products laboratory at the Richmond Field Station outpost is led by Berkeley's UCCE Assistant Professors and Extension Specialists Dr. Daniel Sanchez and Dr. Paul Mayencourt.
Sanchez leads the Carbon Removal Lab and his work advocates for the adoption of innovative biomass utilization technologies, which encourages policymakers and industry leaders to learn, collaborate and support utilization of woody biomass and wood products. Mayencourt researches the utilization of underutilized small-diameter trees, and Californian native hardwoods, for structural applications in architecture and engineering.
The work and research that both Sanchez and Mayencourt are conducting is inspiring. The UCCE Forest Stewardship Team hosted a field day at Richmond to connect private forest landowners and natural resource professionals to the research at the Richmond Field Station. Participants learned about investing in portable sawmills, utilization of solar kilns, and explored potential uses of their own lumber for DIY creations.
Forest landowners and tour attendees Nora Jesh and Billy Batty recognize that managing excess woody material post-wildfire is one of their biggest challenges and is what inspired their participation in the Richmond Field Station tour. “We are constantly looking for ways to use our timber while reducing our property's fuel load,” said Jesh.
Tour Stop #1: Portable Sawmills
At the first stop in the tour, Mayencourt and Sanchez discussed the considerations of investing and operating a portable sawmill. The conversation highlighted the application of milling non-commercially valued timber, such as small diameter trees, for personal utilization and active forest management. Decreasing tree density, particularly small diameter trees, provides more growing space and reduces competition for larger trees to mature, therefore improving their resiliency in the face of disturbances. They demonstrated the use of the station's “Wood-Mizer” sawmill while milling an often underutilized native California hardwood, the tanoak.
Landowners considering investing in a portable sawmill are encouraged to think of how much material they intend to mill, and the feasibility of further wood processing. Also, there may be portable sawmill operation locally or an opportunity to invest in one as a community, depending on demand.
When asked how wood utilization can improve at the landowner and community scale, Batty and Jesh responded:
“Due to the high cost of logging and transportation to the big commercial mills, it's not really profitable for private landholders to have their timber harvested. But I could see some strong advantages to creating a local co-op type arrangement to buy a portable mill that could be brought to different sites. It just makes sense to do at least the first few levels of processing close to where the trees are. Transportation costs would be greatly reduced, and production could be tailored for local needs. And of course, it would generate profits for the local community. I've heard that there's a mill in the Midwest that pays big bucks for beetle damaged California pine, but why should we be shipping it halfway across the country only to be shipped back as the end product, leaving the profits behind?”
For more information on the broader economy of California's Forestry and Forest-Products Sector, please view our UCANR publication.
Tour Stop #2: Solar Kilns
Next, Mayencourt and Sanchez led the tour to a crucial step in wood processing – wood drying. Before cut wood can be utilized as manufacturing lumber, it must be dried to a specific moisture content. Since California's ambient humidity fluctuates too often for wood to be air-dried, a kiln is essential for lumber processing.
At the field station, Mayencourt constructed a greenhouse solar-kiln that extracts energy from the sun and exerts it to dry lumber. The simple plywood frame construction and south-facing plastic sheet rooftop with fans for air circulation is an approachable means for landowners to take a dive into processing their own lumber.
To explore more, view Virginia Tech's guide for solar kiln constriction.
Tour Stop #3: Wood Product Utilization – Mass timber and DIY
The tour concluded at the station's design and construction building, where Mayencourt and Sanchez research cost-effective and innovative uses of California's lumber, such as mass timber. Mass timber refers to an engineered-wood product, consisting of layers of wood fixed together via mechanical or adhesive joiners. By linking one layer of wood to another, the strength increases and allows it to be used for larger structural components in buildings.
There are different forms of mass timber fastening that do not require adhesives, such as nail-laminated (NLT) and dowel-laminated (DLT). Mayencourt and Sanchez noted that investments in mass timber act as a carbon-smart solution for California's building sector, provides economic value to resilient forest management projects, and reinvigorates the forest product industry in both urban and rural communities.
The most recent Joint Institute for Wood Product Innovations report identified actions and policies that support wood products innovation. Movement on this front can be seen as CAL FIRE invests $15 million in new Wood Products and Bioenergy Program. Sanchez hopes that further funding in innovative research in wood products, as well as state incentives and collaboration with private industry, will lead California into a new era of climate-smart forestry.
As for Jesh and Batty, their ambitions for DIY projects for the resort range from the practical to the fantastical:
“We are both huge Tolkien fans and have been since we were kids. We would love to carve the White Tree or the Gates of Moria into double doors for the lodge. Then use LEDs or glow in the dark resin to make them come alive at night. More realistic goals will be to make tables, chairs, and other smaller items for our rental cabins as we get them restored. We love the idea of furnishing the cabins with wood from the property instead of bringing in outside goods.”
Private forest landowners manage more than 40% of California's forests, and they play a critical role in the states' initiative to expand wood product utilization. Investing in avenues for private landowners to participate in the wood product and bioenergy sector would not only spur economic development in local communities, but also provide environmental benefits via forest health improvements.
- Author: Grace Nguyen-Sovan Dean
Before he became the director of forest policy for a timber company, John Andersen was working next door to one. During his time as a consulting forester, several family forests Andersen visited were adjacent to parcels of industrial forestland that had undergone upsetting changes. “I saw what used to be conifer forests essentially transformed into tan oak forests,” Andersen noted. When the Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) was created in 1998 through the purchase of another industry's forestland, they set out to operate differently.
MRC would be a timber company that prioritized operating sustainably, which interested Andersen. “It was refreshing to see a company that would treat the land right,” he shared. Now, Andersen is the Director of Forest Policy for MRC and the later-established Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) and an employee for 25 years.
MRC and HRC Business Principles
Within California, over 5.7 million acres of forestland are owned at the family or individual level. It seems fitting that as a family business at heart, MRC/HRC, is guided by similar stewardship principles. “Our family-owned businesses,” Andersen noted, “want to hand the forest down to future generations in a better condition than when the forestlands were purchased.”
“The intention was there from the start,” Andersen explains, with the company working towards goals that would foster forest health and positive community relations.
Policies that have resonated well with community members include commitments to retain old growth trees, restore wildlife habitat, and carefully monitor streams. Forest landowners can also sell their timber to MRC and HRC, as both companies house log buyers which connect with local landowners looking to offset the cost of management projects.
Adapting to Wildfire Risk
The future of timber companies in California is indelibly shaped by the threat of wildfire. For Andersen, the risk became clear in 2020, when the CZU Lightning Complex fires burned nearly 90,000 acres of Santa Cruz forestland. “It's getting to the point where catastrophic wildfires are happening in the redwood region,” Andersen stated. As a result, both MRC and HRC prepared fire risk analyses for their lands.
Andersen shared that while the risk level for company forestland may not be high compared to other portions of the state, the analyses help guide company decision making when locating fuel reduction projects. Both MRC and HRC became more proactive with fuel reduction efforts, including getting involved in prescribed fire projects.
Andersen's position is at the intersection of forestry and policy, a space where he has seen shifts in how legislators respond to wildfire risk. “I don't want to ride the coattails of disaster,” Andersen said, “but it seems like that's what changes minds.” He explains that there is now more support for funding fuels reduction efforts. When legislators visit MRC and HRC forestland, Andersen sees firsthand how quick they understand the urgency to develop fire resilient forests.
Public Information
Information sharing is integral to MRC and HRC, and not just for policymakers. Community members have an open invitation to tour company forestland and make inquiries about forest management practices. “Transparency is important, because the public sees our forestland all the time,” Andersen explained. This encompasses a wealth of information available on the company's website, including forest management plans, watershed analysis reports, and habitat conservation reports.
From Andersen's perspective, both MRC and HRC receiving their Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC® C031337) certification was a big step forward. Independent assessments like this provide MRC and HRC the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to forest stewardship and sustainability each time a customer buys their lumber. “It's well and fine for us to say we are doing a good job,” Andersen explained, “but it's also important to have third party input to verify we are managing our forests to high standards.”
Looking to the Future
Proactivity on the part of industry is essential to the future health of California's forests. “I want to see the day where we can say our forests are in a fire and drought resilient condition,” Andersen shared. “Then, if there is a fire, we aren't as concerned with the effects.”
- Author: Kimberly C Ingram
Social Media Summary
Protecting California's forests and building climate-resilient communities and ecosystems requires forest landowners, managers, and natural resource professionals to actively engage in stewardship. UC ANR's Forest Stewardship Education Initiative provides practical forest management information and hands-on skills to small forest landowners throughout California's forested communities. Since 2020, 100 landowners who attended a 9-week Forest Stewardship Workshop series, have had an initial site visit with a Registered Professional Forester or engaged other natural resource professionals to walk their land, discuss their objectives, and identify activities that will help them reach their goals to improve forest management. Together, these landowners manage over 10,000 acres in California.
The Issue
The operational environment for managing forestland in California is challenging, especially for the ~75,000 forest landowners owning 10 or more acres. Current infrastructure and resources tend to more positively support large or industrial forest landowners. Survey data of Forest Stewardship participants identify cost, time, and lack of a qualified workforce as the biggest barriers to implementing forest management activities. Providing forest landowners with the tools they need to develop a management plan, engage a resource professional, and apply for cost-share funding, will help eliminate barriers to implementing their management goals, and address threats to California's forests, such as increasing wildfires and droughts due to climate change.
How UC Delivers
Since 2020, 485 participants have completed 24 Forest Stewardship Workshops across the state. The workshops are offered through a hybrid learning style involving online learning assignments, nine weeks of evening zoom meetings, and one in-person field day to view various silvicultural methods and build hands-on forestry skills including inventory, mapping, and plant identification. Additionally, we focus participants on drafting sections of the California Cooperative Forest Management Plan (CCFMP), which can make them eligible for state and federal cost-share programs. Just over half of registered participants (53%) had received information or advice about managing their land in the five years before taking the workshop. Weekly workshop sessions are led by local resource professionals and UC experts. Connecting landowners with these professionals and their neighboring landowners, empowers them to act.
After completing the workshop, landowners are eligible for a free initial site visit, paid for by the program, with a Registered Professional Forester (RPF), Certified Range Manager (CRM), or California Certified Burn Boss. By covering the initial site visit cost (an $800 value), we remove a barrier and incentivize landowners to continue moving towards active forest management. Goals of the site visit include:
- having landowners engage a natural resource professional on their land and walk the property;
- discussing landowner's management goals and objectives;
- providing preliminary advice around those stated goals and objectives; and
- engaging in conversations that could lead to a working relationship, including the development and implementation of a formal management plan and application for cost-share funding.
“Those forestry workshops have been huge for me. You know I didn't know what I didn't know, and to be able to get an understanding about the issues I should be thinking about, some of the topics that are current and how to approach managing this forest, it's a big responsibility.”
“I really appreciate the knowledge, time, and approachability of all of the experts that participated in the presentations. Thank you for bringing this group together and offering this resource.”
The Impact
Since 2020, 100 participants managing over 10,000 forested acres have had site visits through the program or engaged directly with their local Resource Conservation Districts or Natural Resource Conservation Service office. In interviews with forty of these participants, we learned that 45% are in the process of developing or have completed development of a management plan, 38% have established an on-going working relationship with their resource professional, and 21 applied for and received funding through a cost-share or grant program. Participants also reported increasing collaborations with their local Prescribed Burn Associations, Fire Safe Councils, and neighbors.
Across the range of management activities that forest landowners can take, attitudes and perceptions increased positively (pre-workshop to post-workshop) for prescribed fire (42% to 66%), fuels reduction (65% to 98%), tree thinning (40% to 88%), and timber harvest (15% to 41%).
Pre-post workshop survey data from 2020 to 2023 also shows a change in attitudes around the importance of developing a management plan (29% pre-workshop vs. 92% post-workshop); and communicating or consulting with CAL FIRE (7% pre-workshop vs. 64% post-workshop) or other natural resource agencies (30% pre-workshop vs. 82% post-workshop).
Empowering forest landowners through an increase in knowledge and skills, connecting them to natural resource professionals in their communities and providing incentives to become more active stewards of their forests, leads to improvements in forest management, increased forest resilience, and an overall improvement in climate-resilient communities and ecosystems.
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