LEXINGTON, Ky., —The 2020 Kentucky Woodland Owners Short Course will provide new and experienced woodland owners with a bounty of important information about managing their woodlands for extra income, recreation, wildlife and with the environment in mind.

“Not everyone knows where to turn to for advice on how to meet their objectives for their property, but the Woodland Owners Short Course helps woodland owners find the many resources available to them in the state,” said Billy Thomas, UK extension forester in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. “Even if you don’t own woodlands in Kentucky, but you have an interest in learning more about the subject, you are invited to join us.”

This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the short course is free and will consist of live, online evening webinars and potential optional in-person tours to view woodland management practices in Kentucky’s state forests. In case these tours are not allowed, video versions of the tours will be available to registered attendees. The live, Zoom webinars will take place Aug. 18-27, with a “Woodland Owners Partners” webinar on Sept. 17. The field tours, if allowed, will take place Sept. 19 and 26 in five forests around the state.

The sessions will feature forestry and wildlife experts with tracks for both beginning and experienced woodland owners. Registered attendees can watch any or all of the live webinars or view the recorded sessions at their own convenience.

Attendees can participate in two programming tracks, green for woodland owners just getting started and gold for those already actively managing their woodlands or who have attended a previous short course. Because of the online nature of the tracks, attendees will be able to participate in both tracks in the same year. Sessions will cover such topics as tree identification, forest health, woodland management practices, wildlife habitat management and small-scale logging equipment.

If the pandemic situation allows it, the Kentucky Division of Forestry will offer guided, limited-capacity field tours to provide a field component and showcase woodland management practices. Masks and social distancing will be required.

For a detailed listing of sessions and times and to register, visit the short course website at http://forestry.ca.uky.edu/wosc. Registration is required. Registrants will be able to attend any webinar or watch recordings of them and will receive instructions for attending the state forest tours if they occur. Contact Thomas, billy.thomas@uky.edu, for more information.

The 2020 Woodland Owners Short Course is a partnership between the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, UK Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Kentucky Division of Forestry, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Kentucky State University, Kentucky Tree Farm Committee, Kentucky Woodland Owners Association, National Woodland Owners Association, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kentucky Forest Industries Association, the Kentucky Chapter of the Association of Consulting Foresters of America Inc. and Sustainable Forestry Initiative.