SPOKANE, Wash. — For healthy forests, every acre matters, and that’s why forestry experts at WSU are offering funding and educational workshops to help eastern Washington residents sustain small forests that are less susceptible to fire, insects, and disease.
Upcoming dates and locations for free forestry workshops through WSU Extension in Okanogan and Ferry County include:
• 9/26/13- Tonasket Library, Tonasket, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
• 9/26/13- Dance Hall, Chesaw, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• 9/27/13- Wauconda Café and Store, Wauconda, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
• 9/27/13- Fire Hall, Curlew, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
To register for a free workshop, please contact WSU Extension Forester Steve McConnell at 509-477-2175, or go to www.spokane-county.wsu.edu.
“Passively managed forests can be a vector for disturbances that affect adjoining properties,” McConnell said. “Small forest landowners are much more likely to reap the benefits of their property– more wildlife, more timber, more tranquility – if they manage actively and with awareness of what their forests can provide.”
The “For Healthy Forests, Every Acre Matters” workshops mark a transition for extension by targeting information not only to their traditional forestland owning audience but to landowners with less than 10 acres forestland as well. Typically smaller holdings are used more heavily for recreation, and are nearer to roads, houses, and structures, which leave them susceptible to human-caused fires. Knowing how to manage forests to reduce fire susceptibility can help prevent fire-caused death, injury, and property damage. Whatever the size of your forest property, WSU forestry extension invites you to learn how disturbances, natural and human-caused, have influenced current forest conditions—and how thinning young stands and actively managing your property with well-designed, objective-appropriate management can help establish healthy, productive, fire-safe woodlands.
Find this news release at WSU News online at http://bit.ly/175EwVJ.