Forest Service-funded Connecticut landowner training earns national recognition
CONNECTICUT—Two national organizations recently recognized an innovative USDA Forest Service-funded woodland owner training program in Connecticut.
The National Woodland Owners Association and the National Association of University Forest Resources Programs presented the Family Forests Education Award to the Connecticut Forest and Park Association and partner organizations for their Master Woodland Manager Program.
Connecticut Forest and Park Association and partners received the award for their outstanding efforts in developing an individual educational program to improve management of family-owned forests.
The training program was developed to improve communications and connections with woodland owners and land managers, to increase their knowledge about forest management and, ultimately, to improve woodland conditions in Connecticut.
The association launched its highly successful Master Woodland Manager Program providing continuous learning opportunities for landowners using a $216,025 Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration grant running from 2019 to 2022.
The grant helped the association establish a plan, create a website and other marketing materials, develop a course curriculum and conduct training for program participants in Connecticut.
Beth Bernard, Connecticut Forest and Park Association’s education director, expressed her excitement in receiving the national award: “CFPA is grateful to our program partners and the Forest Service for helping to make this program a reality. Our program participants are engaged and motivated to care for Connecticut’s forests, for now and the future. We’re looking forward to continuing this program for many years to come.”
The Master Woodland Manager Program course topics include forest ecology, wildlife ecology, forests and climate change, forest management practice, Connecticut’s forests, resources for woodland managers and forest health.
Course organizers and partners used web-based and email marketing strategies along with social media and local news outlets to get the word out to woodland owners and land managers in Connecticut.
“It’s gratifying to learn of this national recognition from the National Woodland Owners Association,” said Karl Honkonen, the Forest Service Eastern Region grant monitor for the project. “There are now 70 well-trained forest landowners in Connecticut who will manage their woodlot more sustainably and share their knowledge with neighbors.”
Now in its third year, the program currently has 51 enrollees. Connecticut Forest and Park Association received a second Landscape Scale Restoration grant from the Forest Service for $245,464 for this project for 2023 through 2026.
Other partners in the project include University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Audubon Connecticut, Yale University and the Connecticut Land Conservation Council.
The award was presented in October 2023 to Beth Bernard and program partner Thomas Worthley, an assistant extension professor of forestry at the University of Connecticut Extension.