Department of Agriculture Service Northeastern Area State & Private NA-IN-02-05 2005 1 CO NTE NTS

INTRODUCTION

page 4

1 2 MAKE A MASTER WORK SAFELY PLAN WITH A CHAIN SAW Family Activity: Taking a Trail Tour Family Activity: A Log Home

page 6 page 8

3 4 PROTECT YOUR IDENTIFY AND PROPERTY FROM MANAGE HAZARDOUS DEFECTS IN YOUR

Family Activity: Family Activity: Fire Audit There’s a Fungus in Your

page 11 page 15

5 6 KEEP YOUR ATTRACT WOODS HEALTHY WILDLIFE

Family Activity: Family Activity: Insects Are Apartment for Rent Everywhere!

page 18 page 21

2 “Your woodlot is, in fact, an historical document which faithfully records your personal philosophy.” Aldo Leopold

7 8 PROTECT HELP YOUR CLEAN WATER PREFERRED TREES GROW Family Activity: It’s Raining Cats and Family Activity: Dogs! Leave It to Me!

page 24 page 27

9 10 PRUNE YOUR PLANT TREES TREES Family Activity: Family Activity: Trees Grow and Grow Old as the Hills

page 30 page 32

11 12 GROW AND GENERATE COLLECT SPECIAL PRODUCTS FOREST PRODUCTS Family Activity: Family Activity: Finding Firewood Bird Cone Treats

page 35 page 38

3 INTRODUCTION

Bring Your Vision to Life

rom lush temperate in the Pacific Northwest to the semitropics of Florida, the woods Fare alive. Wooded land doesn’t have to cover hundreds or thousands of acres to harbor richness and diversity of life. Your backyard woods can be fi lled with crawling creatures, fascinating mushrooms, towering trees, and other living things. Perhaps you dream of sitting on a deck, overlooking lush green scenery. Or you want to attract birds, deer, or

other animals, or harvest Steve and Dave Maslowski special forest products or mature trees. You may In some areas, backyard woods are a dominant part of the le fi even want to improve your landscape. land for your children and grandchildren. Whatever This booklet and the companion tip sheets will help you your vision, with a little plan and manage your backyard woods. The effects of the planning and work, your things you do to manage your woods extend far beyond Robert Karpa, Master backyard woods can be a your property boundaries. Every bird that hatches in your true jewel to you, your family, and the wild creatures that woods and every you plant makes the landscape, as a depend on it. whole, a richer place. This booklet was written for the 6 million landowners in the United States who own 1 to 10 acres. While such acreages may seem small, they have big impacts. Backyard woods collectively add up to millions of acres. le fi Master Larry Lefever, Grant Heilman Photography

4 www.arborday.org/backyardwoods

Did You Know . . . ? William M. Ciesla, Forest Health Management www.forestryimages.org International, cover 1/ 3 of the United States. Ownership is diverse, with 49 percent in private ownership, To read companion tip sheets with more in-depth 19 percent in national forests, 23 percent in other information, go to www.arborday.org/backyardwoods. public ownership, and 9 percent held by forest industry. Backyard woods owners comprise 60 percent of all U.S. private forest landowners.

Forest Ownership 9%

23% 49%

19% Private Ownership National Forests Public Ownership Forest Industry is Ron Franc Ron The information presented in the “In In the Forest the Forest” sections Forest land in the United States is owned publicly will broaden your and privately. The U.S. Department of Agri culture perspective from ()USDA Forest Service manages 147 million acres your backyard of forest land represented here by the Roosevelt woods to the larger Nati onal Forest in Colorado. The 10 million private forest landscape. forest landowners in the United States own 363 million acres of forest land. Just like your backyard woods, large forests provide scenic beauty, recreati on, w i ldlife habitat, cl ean water, wood products, and many other benefi ts. Tony SweetTony and Marian Kraus, Digital Vision

5