Tree Farm Tour - American Tree Farm System

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May 14, 2016 - property, along with white ash will be cut with the mill. Topics will include the disadvantages of small
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Tree Farm Tour May 14, 2016 All are welcome to a field day celebrating the 2015 PA Tree Farmers of the year on Saturday, May 14, 2016. The event will be held at the farm in Greene County, PA, west of Waynesburg. Farm owners, Harold and Gay Thistle have planned a variety of activities that will showcase the management strategies on the property. Either come for one of the tours/demonstrations or plan to stay the whole day. 10 AM-12 PM From Field to Forest in Fifteen- Dr. Jim Finley, Pennsylvania Extension Forester and Dir. of the Center for Private Forests at Penn State will lead a tour through an early successional forest plot that was converted from field to forest. In the year 2000 black walnuts were planted on the open field site followed by a contiguous red oak planting in 2001. The plot is adjacent to an established forest of white ash, white oak, sugar maple, black walnut, and hickory varieties, which account for the different species among the planted walnut. Today it is a young mixed forest that has stabilized the slumping soils and sustains a variety of wildlife. The tour will focus on identification of local flora, management strategies for a young forest, and the importance of these woodlots in the management plan. This tour will require some walking.

12-1 PM Light Lunch (provided)- visit the SW PA Woodland Owners table, Greene County Conservation District display, get PA American Tree Farm information, and view other displays of information about Penn’s woods . 1:00- 3:00 PM Local Flora (the good and the bad) and Good Forestry Practice- Arlyn Perkey, USDA Forest Service, retired, and Russ Gibbs, PA DCNR Service Forester This tour will start in a 2001-red oak plantation that is ready for follow-up treatments. Sapling and small pole-size trees have been pruned to improve potential saw log quality. Invasive species need to be controlled to maintain rapid growth of the most desirable trees, and inhibit the spread of these undesirable plants to other portions of the property. We will discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly in the early successional vegetation that has become established near an ephemeral drainage. Then a short walk up the hill into a manicured walnut/butternut/red oak plantation where we discuss the difference in the vegetative communities in the 2 locations. This tour will require some walking.

3:00-4:30 PM Small Sawmill Considerations- Harold and Andy Thistle, Max Loughman, John Burnham, and Arlyn Perkey, Landowners A demonstration of a small scale portable sawmill will be given. White oak, which was recently harvested from the property, along with white ash will be cut with the mill. Topics will include the disadvantages of small logs, a demonstration of quarter sawing, and sawing salvaged logs. Test your knowledge of wood identification with a fun game set up in the historic log barn while logs are being loaded. This tour requires minimal walking. The address of the farm is 3033 W. Roy Furman Hwy, Waynesburg, PA 15370. You will know you are here when you see the Mail Pouch barn in front of the property with a stone house behind the barn. Contact email is