Fall 2000 Volume 9, Number 3
WOODLAND STEWARD ANNUAL REPORT
Another year and a new president my name is Stewart Turner a consultant forester from Upland, Indiana. I've been working in Indiana for the past 13 years most of that time as District Forester for the Division of Forestry. Fred Hadley our past president finally found a replacement, me! He is enjoying some well deserved rest, now he can plant trees year-round. Fred accomplished great things with the Woodland Steward Institute and I hope to be able to follow his fine example.
As in the post funding is an ongoing process. We are constant-ly looking for ways to save money or raise new dollars so we can increase the circulation of the newsletter. Currently we have sever-al county databases, with landowners that own timber land, and no way to fund the delivery of the newsletter.
Some of the options that we are considering are finding a free source for the paper, decreasing the quality of the paper, soliciting the SWCD's to fund mailings for their county, increasing dues and providing an electronic, E-mail newsletter.
We are also continuing our efforts with the Woodland Steward web site, www.inwoodlands.org. Our site receives about 1100 hits a month. Many of these hits are from Indiana woodland owners looking for information on timber harvesting, tree planting and the management of their forest land. We received another grant from IDNR Forestry to add timber tax information and to continue providing the Woodland Steward newsletter on the web. This funding will take us into the year 2001. Funding is still needed to continue the web site beyond June of 2001. Some projects for this year include a 5 year plan, e-mail alert to major updates, e-mail newsletter, tree ID key, timber industry information, and updating the home page.
After many years of faithful service our treasurer Warren Baird wants to be replaced. So I am currently looking for someone that can do as good a job as Warren. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer let me know and I'll set you up for some interesting times. I know Warren has everything in order so things should run smoothly for the new person.
Our drive to solicit funds from local SWCD's can use some local help. If you would like to volunteer to approach your SWCD or if you are board member of your local SWCD contact the editor. We would like local people to present the idea of paying for the mailing of the newsletter in their county. This could be a donation of money or we would provide newsletters and they can mail them.
The Woodland Steward Institute is here to serve you, the wood-land owners of Indiana. If there is anything that we can do to better serve you contact me at steward@inwoodlands.org or through the editor at this address.
As the interest in the internet grows so does the number of pages on the web. With the millions of pages out there it can be daunting to find the information that a person wants. Many times sharing web site addresses with others with the some interest can be the most effective way to find new interesting web sites. The following are some of the woodland management sites that I found. Of course check out our web site www.inwoodlands.org for information on woodland management in Indiana.
These are just a few of the forestry sites that I find very helpful.