Does the land you own have timber on it? Is your forest healthy? How do you know? When harvesting timber, what is your fair share? Is a handshake good enough? How do you enhance wildlife habitat and protect your land from wildfire? How do you harvest timber sustainably without harming your land?

A Forest Stewardship Shortcourse will help answer these questions. Beginning April 23 through June 18, a series of weekly classes will be conducted in Aberdeen for owners of small-scale family forests — typically five to 500 acres.

You can become eligible for cost-share assistance to implement practices, be considered for reduced property taxes and have your land become a “certified” forest.

This program is known as the Forest Stewardship — Coached Planning Shortcourse, and is conducted by WSU Extension and the Washington Department of Natural Resources. It is called “Coached Planning” because a major part of this training involves “coaching” participants as they develop simple management plans for their forests that are tailored to fit your personal land management goals.

Among the topics to be covered are: forest ecology, forest health, applied silviculture, reforestation, responsible timber harvesting, forest soils, riparian area management, fish and wildlife habitat, cultural resources, special forest products and forest recreation.

Course fee is $75 per person, family or land parcel. Participation is limited to 15 registrants on a first-come, first-served basis upon receipt of the registration and fee. Classes will be held weekly on Monday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. in Room 4330 of the Schermer Building of Gray’s Harbor College.

The course is taught by the state’s recognized experts from WSU, DNR, and other natural resource agencies. If you are interested in learning more about this training, please call the WSU Extension office at 360-740-1213 or email at patrick.shults@wsu.edu. Go to forestry.wsu.edu to download a brochure or find links to register online.