Sisters Judy Howard and Jane Keith have put their timberlands in Catoosa County, Ga., under sustainable forest management.
Their father, James Howard, conducted the first timber sale in 1985 and replanted loblolly pine under the Bowater Inc. WHIP program. The sisters carried on their father’s legacy by holding a commercial thinning of the timber in 2008.
They also employed Registered Forester Diana Gennett of Gennett Forestry Consulting. A forest management plan was written to schedule future objectives, which will improve the value and volume of timber and the wildlife habitat. The plan was a requirement for becoming a Certified Tree Farm under the American Forest Foundation, Tree Farm Program.
In McMinn County, Tenn., landowners Jason and David Keylon and Travis McDonald have brought 228 acres of land under sustainable forest management.
With the assistance of Ms. Gennett, they conducted a commercial timber sale and posted property lines.
These actions qualified the property for inclusion in the American Forest Foundation, Tree Farm Program. It provided the landowners the opportunity for their wood products to be certified under the Tree Farm Program.