Stewarding woodlands isn’t just about the trees and wildlife—it’s about the people involved, too. Dealing with taxes, figuring out the laws related to woodlands, and making a plan for what will happen to the land when you or your loved ones pass away are not as fun as listening to songbirds, foraging for ramps, or hiking to the old bur oak. But these less glamorous topics are important to understand so that you can enjoy all the things you love about your woodland for years to come. Explore these webpages to learn more.

Do you know your neighbors? Whether you all live on your property year-round or only spend part of the year there, your woodland neighbors can be a great resource. It’s a good idea to start your relationship with them on friendly matters, rather then waiting until a problem emerges.

Finding natural resource professionals

Whenever you’re looking for a forester, a wildlife biologist, a logger, a restoration contractor, or any other natural resource professional, ask your neighbors if they have any recommendations. They won’t know all of the professionals in your area, but they are likely to have first-hand experience with a few, so they can tell you which individuals they had a positive experience with—and who you might want to avoid.

Teaming up on shared goals

Another worthwhile conversation-starter is to ask your neighbors what types of projects or goals they have for their woods. You might find opportunities to work together to achieve shared goals with bigger impact. For example, if you have a mutual interest in a particular animal (deer, turkey, grouse, etc.), coordinating work across property boundaries will expand the opportunities to attract that wildlife. This might mean providing water, travel corridors, greater variety of food, more space, or other aspects of habitat.

Another example is being aware of the threats to forests in the form of insects, diseases, and invasive plants. If one landowner notices something amiss, it can be a chance to catch something early before it spreads too far. For example, oak wilt doesn’t care about property boundaries—it spreads through root systems underground and through beetles flying from one tree to another. Knowing oak wilt is in the vicinity allows you to be proactive and reduce its overall impact. In the case of invasive plants, you may consider working together to control them. Even if your individual interests aren’t the same, you might still find a common link. For example, if one neighbor is interested in hunting and another in photographing songbirds, controlling invasives will help you both create the habitat that your desired critters need.

Coordinating on timber sales

A timber sale can be another opportunity for you and your neighbor to work together to achieve both your goals. Sometimes the area you wish to harvest isn’t big enough or the trees aren’t valuable enough to attract a logger. By combining your timber sale with your neighbor’s, you will get more interest from loggers and maybe make more money. This doesn’t mean you have to sell your timber in one contract, but putting out requests for bids at the same time can attract more loggers.

Even if doing a harvest at the same time isn’t possible, it is still good to communicate when you’re planning a timber sale. Walking the boundaries of your or a neighbor’s property and marked sale—prior to the harvest starting—can prevent costly errors down the line. Cutting timber from a neighboring property is considered timber theft and comes with a hefty price tag. On a more positive side, there is a chance that either you or a neighbor could benefit from each other during a sale. Access to property through a neighbor’s old logging road would save on the costs to your own sale. Or you can contract services with a logger while they are near you to improve trails or roads.

Agreeing on property boundaries

Walking property boundaries is useful beyond holding a timber sale. If you have questions regarding a boundary, talking to neighbors up front is a better practice than finding out 20 years down the line (when it may be too late). Unfortunately, fences and other line markers may not always be accurate indicators of property boundaries. It is good practice to know your boundaries, and to make sure that someone doesn’t take ownership of a portion of your land (adverse possession) due to a misplaced boundary fence that has been in place for longer than your ownership.

The other benefit of making practice of walking boundaries with your neighbor, particularly for those who don’t live on their property, is having an extra set of eyes on your land. For example, if you and your neighbors all want to hunt deer, and none of you live on the property, working together in a Deer Management Assistance Program group could provide the opportunity for you all to make a practice of keeping an eye on each other’s woods.

Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Although owning woodlands is an individual endeavor, ultimately nature occurs at a much bigger scale. Getting to know your neighbors, and understanding common interests, will make nurturing your own woodland easier and more fun.

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