Letter from the EditorBrian MacGowan

Spring is finally upon us. With its arrival comes a reminder of all the fauna and flora that call our woodlands home. I hope many of you can get out in the woods and enjoy it. Spring is also a season of change. Here at the Woodland Steward, we are no different with a recent change of leadership. With a change of jobs, Dan Shaver stepped down as president of WSI. On behalf of the board, I would like to recognize all of Dan’s hard work and dedication over the last 13+ years as our president. We wish him luck in his new position as State Forester with the NRCS in Indiana. We are also pleased to announce that Dan McGuckin will be our new president moving forward. Dan has a broad set of expertise that comes with working as a consulting forester but also working in state and federal assistance for private lands management in Indiana.

In this first issue of our 30th year, we have several stories focused around aspects of climate change. As you may suspect, changes in climate likely involve changes in our forests. How these may or may not impact woodland owners and what we can do about them is really the question. To shed some light on the subject, we have several articles written by top experts in their respective fields. Articles focus on impacts to our forests, ways woodland owners can address some impacts, how environmentally friendly are hardwood products, and climate solutions on farmlands.

As always, we enjoy receiving your feedback on stories and things you would like to see. Be sure and check out the calendar of events in this issue. We all look forward to connecting in person this year as more field days and workshops are now being planned and offered.

Sincerely,

Brian MacGowan, Editor