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 trashing your land?
The Coached Planning Shortcourse will help you answer these questions. Beginning January 7th though March 11th, an outstanding series of weekly classes will be conducted for owners of small-scale family forests (typically 5-500 acres). You can simultaneously become eligible for cost-share assistance to implement practices (such as thinning, pruning, slash disposal, reforestation, and wildlife habitat improvement), be considered for reduced property taxes, and become a certified forest. This award-winning program is known as the Coached Planning Shortcourse, and is conducted by WSU Extension and the WA Dept. 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. Among the topics to be covered are: forest ecology; forest health; wildlife habitat improvement; thinning and pruning; wildfire protection; reforestation; responsible timber harvesting; forest soils and roads; riparian area management; fish habitat; cultural resources; special forest products; forest recreation; and more.
Course fee is $150 per person, family or land parcel. Participation is limited to 30 registrants on a first-come, first-served basis upon receipt of the registration and fee. Classes will be held 6-8:30 pm in an online format via Zoom Meeting Rooms (emails will be sent when registration concludes).
The course is taught by the state’s recognized experts from WSU, DNR, and other natural resource agencies. If you are interested in this training, please register here.