Low-Impact Forestry Training Series
The courses and workshops in the Low-Impact Forestry Training Series bring participants into the forested areas of the farm to gain a fresh perspective on what assets the woodlands contain.
Practical Farm Woodland Management
This three-day course provides landowners a practical approach to working with woodlands. Through a blend of classroom experiences and hands-on field work, landowners are guided in skills required to make a functional woodland plan based on sensible management decisions. *Limit 8 participants.
Cost: $150
Fall 2024 dates SEPT 20-22
Registration opens mid-July
Woodland Tools and Their Applications
This three-day course offers training for the selection, care, maintenance, and use of traditional forestry tools and equipment. The course is appropriate for anyone who has no or very little experience working with woodland tools and would like to learn the fundamentals necessary to perform woodland work. *Limit 4 participants.
Day 1: Introduction to hand tools highlighting forest axes, crosscut saws, scythes, and human-powered log-moving systems. Beginning at the workbench, we will cover foundational elements such as: learning axe design and edge geometry, choosing the right axe for specific uses, and sharpening systems to create a strong, working, and long-lasting cutting edge. With properly prepared tools, we will head to the woods to learn chopping, tree felling, and de-limbing techniques to take down a few carefully selected trees.
Day 2: Power chainsaws as a woodland tool. After a thorough safety training, we will use the chainsaw in the log yard to buck to length trees that are on the ground; then, we head to the woods to do the same work. We will explore the effectiveness of a chainsaw in removing non-native invasive species such as bush honeysuckle. Learned safe operating procedures will guide the felling of smaller diameter trees as part of a woodland stand improvement plan.
Day 3: Moving wood from the woodlot to the processing area using human power, draft animal power, and a tractor with a forestry winch to extract logs from the woods to the log yard. In the log yard, we will use hand tools to hew logs into usable building timbers, utilize an Alaskan chainsaw mill to convert logs into lumber, and use a small bandsaw mill to make boards.
Cost: $150
Fall 2024 dates: OCT 4-6
Registration opens mid-July.
Chainsaw Skills Training Course: Introduction to Chainsaw Safety and Directional Felling
This intensive two-day training is appropriate for any woodland owner or farm worker operating a power chainsaw. The course introduces basic chainsaw maintenance, saw chain sharpening, personal protective equipment, professional tree felling techniques, limbing, and bucking trees to length. *Limit 4 participants per workshop.
Format: Each day, this training begins and ends in the shop and practice area where key discussion topics are covered; the practical portion of the course takes place in the woods.
Cost: $100
Fall 2024 dates: OCT 19-20 and NOV 2-3
Registration opens mid-July
Chainsaw Skills Training Course: Advanced Tree Felling
This intensive two-day training is appropriate for farm woodland owners and farm workers interested in advancing their power chainsaw use to include felling difficult trees, bucking stems to maximize value, extraction of logs with a farm tractor and forestry winch, and removal of storm damaged-and-downed trees. *Limit 4 participants per workshop.
Prerequisite: completion of the Introductory workshop or permission of the instructor.
Format: Each day, this training begins and ends in the shop and practice area where key discussion topics are covered; the practical portion of the course takes place in the woods.
Cost: $100
Fall 2024 dates: NOV 16-17
Registration opens mid-July
New for Fall 2024
Logs to Lumber
OCT 26
A one-day workshop. Details forthcoming.
Cost: $50
Forestry for Habitat
DEC 7
A one-day workshop. Details forthcoming.
Cost: $50
Log Skidding for Woodland Owners
DEC 14
A one-day workshop. Details forthcoming.
Cost $50