Private property owners control roughly 80 percent of Vermont's 4.46 million acres of forested land.
To assist landowners in maintaining the best practices to keep all that area pristine, the Middlebury-based Vermont Coverts has offered a Forest Stewardship training program for more than a generation.
Designed to introduce property owners to basic concepts of forest management, wildlife ecology, invasive species and other strategies, the three-day, in-depth program is an important way to get more knowledge about woodlands into Vermont communities.
"It's an excellent program. Landowners who are highly motivated to learn more about their woodlands and who are willing to offer information
to their neighbors will find that this program provides literally a wide array of skills," said Windham County Forester Bill Guenther. "They learn basics about forest management, they learn about wildlife habitat and how forests can be manipulated to provide a more enhanced habitat for wildlife."
Coverts Executive Director Lisa Sausville said the programs educate and inform landowners about sound forest management.
"Basically, we have a couple different programs that we do and the flagship program is this three-day cooperator training and during the training, we look for interested landowners, people who are community leaders that are also going to share what they learn from this weekend in their communities," she said. "Because
that's the way it's going to have the greatest effect, and the goal is to share a little bit about forest ecology, wildlife stewardship, forest management, the issues that effect our forests."
Those attending the training workshop find themselves involved in field experiences and conversations about woodlands and wildlife. By the end, they can provide guidance to their neighbors and communities about good forest management decisions.
Last month, a class of 16 Vermonters from nine counties graduated from the program, increasing the total number of so-called "cooperators" in the state up past 500. There are roughly 45 active graduates from the program in Windham County, including Dummerston resident John Evans.
Managing a forest is not possible without a multi-generational point of view, said Evans, who attended the Coverts training with his wife, Barbara, in 2002. He said this idea developed decades ago that was based on peer training, one farmer passing on best practices to another.
"It was not having an extension agent from the government visiting the farmers saying do crop rotation, do erosion control, the thing that worked was when one farmer did it, then he went and talked to his neighbor and said look, this is what I've done," he said. "That's the foundation principle of peer to peer training and it's the origin of Vermont Coverts."
Evans has taken his training and has devoted time to studying the control of invasive species.
"I've been very involved at the state level and locally in educating landowners about invasive plants because they are a threat to forestry regeneration," he said. "If I hadn't gone to the Vermont Converts training, I would not have learned a lot about managing my own forest, I wouldn't be in a position to have an intelligent two-way conversation with both my loggers on my land, and the consulting foresters, and I certainly wouldn't have gotten so energetically engaged in invasive plants."
Nearly
hree decades ago, the Ruffed Grouse Society received funding to explore new methods to reach private landowners across the Northeast with information about wildlife management. Soon after, the Coverts project was developed by the Vermont Extension Service forestry program and joined the Connecticut Extension, and the first training took place in 1985.
"Vermont broke off and became an independent nonprofit, and we've been in operation as a nonprofit ever since, so we're different then all the other coverage programs around the country," Sausville said.
The program became so successful, it expanded to 14 states across the Rust Belt, as far west as Wisconsin. By 1991 within the Green Mountain State, the program was incorporated
as the nonprofit known as Vermont Coverts, Woodlands for Wildlife, Inc.
Elysian Tree Farm owner Bill Schmidt was in the initial class during 1985. Three short years later, his farm was recognized statewide for his efforts.
"Our farm is managed by covert standards, we've just been following these principles ever since," he said.
Coverts will host another training session at the Kehoe Conservation Camp in Hydeville Sept. 9 through 11. Sausville said the Coverts also put pupils in touch with consulting foresters in their region and other resources to assist them following the session.
"The program is great fun, you're sort of a cohort group. You're in this weekend together, usually off season at a kid's camp," she said, noting the sessions are not about one ideal, but about building partnerships with like-minded individuals. "My goals for my land may be different than your goals for your land, and they both may be good for wildlife, but they may involve different techniques or different strategies to get to the points we want to get to."
Tom and Vivian Prunier, who are members of Vermont Coverts, recently hosted a logging class titled "The Game of Logging," which teaches practices to anyone with a chain saw in order to make their use safer and more productive.
The Pruniers moved to Westminster from Virginia in 2009 and bought 80 acres of land.
"We were looking for a place just like this," he said.
Prunier was encouraged by a surveyor to participate in the Coverts program.
As a "wood scientist" he was no stranger to the uses of lumber, but the program taught him about the natural and human habitation history of the area as well as land-use practices and better ways to manage forests.
In "The Game of Logging," participants learn 10 things to save your life and 100 things that will make your job in the woods a little bit easier, said Prunier.
"The class is not just for loggers," he said, "but for anyone who owns a chain saw -- to learn how dangerous they can be and how to turn them into a safe tool."
To assist landowners in maintaining the best practices to keep all that area pristine, the Middlebury-based Vermont Coverts has offered a Forest Stewardship training program for more than a generation.
Designed to introduce property owners to basic concepts of forest management, wildlife ecology, invasive species and other strategies, the three-day, in-depth program is an important way to get more knowledge about woodlands into Vermont communities.
"It's an excellent program. Landowners who are highly motivated to learn more about their woodlands and who are willing to offer information
to their neighbors will find that this program provides literally a wide array of skills," said Windham County Forester Bill Guenther. "They learn basics about forest management, they learn about wildlife habitat and how forests can be manipulated to provide a more enhanced habitat for wildlife."
Coverts Executive Director Lisa Sausville said the programs educate and inform landowners about sound forest management.
"Basically, we have a couple different programs that we do and the flagship program is this three-day cooperator training and during the training, we look for interested landowners, people who are community leaders that are also going to share what they learn from this weekend in their communities," she said. "Because
that's the way it's going to have the greatest effect, and the goal is to share a little bit about forest ecology, wildlife stewardship, forest management, the issues that effect our forests."
Those attending the training workshop find themselves involved in field experiences and conversations about woodlands and wildlife. By the end, they can provide guidance to their neighbors and communities about good forest management decisions.
Last month, a class of 16 Vermonters from nine counties graduated from the program, increasing the total number of so-called "cooperators" in the state up past 500. There are roughly 45 active graduates from the program in Windham County, including Dummerston resident John Evans.
Managing a forest is not possible without a multi-generational point of view, said Evans, who attended the Coverts training with his wife, Barbara, in 2002. He said this idea developed decades ago that was based on peer training, one farmer passing on best practices to another.
"It was not having an extension agent from the government visiting the farmers saying do crop rotation, do erosion control, the thing that worked was when one farmer did it, then he went and talked to his neighbor and said look, this is what I've done," he said. "That's the foundation principle of peer to peer training and it's the origin of Vermont Coverts."
Evans has taken his training and has devoted time to studying the control of invasive species.
"I've been very involved at the state level and locally in educating landowners about invasive plants because they are a threat to forestry regeneration," he said. "If I hadn't gone to the Vermont Converts training, I would not have learned a lot about managing my own forest, I wouldn't be in a position to have an intelligent two-way conversation with both my loggers on my land, and the consulting foresters, and I certainly wouldn't have gotten so energetically engaged in invasive plants."
Nearly
hree decades ago, the Ruffed Grouse Society received funding to explore new methods to reach private landowners across the Northeast with information about wildlife management. Soon after, the Coverts project was developed by the Vermont Extension Service forestry program and joined the Connecticut Extension, and the first training took place in 1985.
"Vermont broke off and became an independent nonprofit, and we've been in operation as a nonprofit ever since, so we're different then all the other coverage programs around the country," Sausville said.
The program became so successful, it expanded to 14 states across the Rust Belt, as far west as Wisconsin. By 1991 within the Green Mountain State, the program was incorporated
as the nonprofit known as Vermont Coverts, Woodlands for Wildlife, Inc.
"Our farm is managed by covert standards, we've just been following these principles ever since," he said.
Coverts will host another training session at the Kehoe Conservation Camp in Hydeville Sept. 9 through 11. Sausville said the Coverts also put pupils in touch with consulting foresters in their region and other resources to assist them following the session.
"The program is great fun, you're sort of a cohort group. You're in this weekend together, usually off season at a kid's camp," she said, noting the sessions are not about one ideal, but about building partnerships with like-minded individuals. "My goals for my land may be different than your goals for your land, and they both may be good for wildlife, but they may involve different techniques or different strategies to get to the points we want to get to."
Tom and Vivian Prunier, who are members of Vermont Coverts, recently hosted a logging class titled "The Game of Logging," which teaches practices to anyone with a chain saw in order to make their use safer and more productive.
The Pruniers moved to Westminster from Virginia in 2009 and bought 80 acres of land.
"We were looking for a place just like this," he said.
Prunier was encouraged by a surveyor to participate in the Coverts program.
As a "wood scientist" he was no stranger to the uses of lumber, but the program taught him about the natural and human habitation history of the area as well as land-use practices and better ways to manage forests.
In "The Game of Logging," participants learn 10 things to save your life and 100 things that will make your job in the woods a little bit easier, said Prunier.
"The class is not just for loggers," he said, "but for anyone who owns a chain saw -- to learn how dangerous they can be and how to turn them into a safe tool."
