Spring of 2024

2024 has been a busy time.  We have used prescribed fire on 153 acres, started a precommercial thin, had 41 acres released, and are working with Quail Unlimited on a quail program on our property.  We have also enjoyed a little fishing in our fish ponds.  We attended the kickoff for the 100th anniversery of the Alabama Forestry Commission at the Governor's Mansion.  This spring we assisted in planting white oak seedlings at Auburn University Reasearch Station for a project selecting the best trees for acorn production and quality.

Longleaf Management

Some random pictures from our longleaf management: removing loblolly from stand and prescribed fire to control competition. 

 

Great Honor for My Wife

 Back in the fall at the Alabama Natural Resource and Forestry Awards Banquet my wife Felicia received the top award one can receive from the State Tree Farm Committee.  The award is named for a great Tree Farm Person, Doug Link.  When we first got started on the State Committee Mr. Link was a great encourager and visited our property more than once. 

To receive this award was a great honor for her and me too!

She definitely was well deserving of this award.  She has spoken at the National Leadership Conference about encouraging more women to get involved in forestry through "Women's Walk in the Forest".  She always helps with "Classroom in The Forest" for fifth graders on our property.  Planting trees, cutting wood, prescribed burning and other management practices are some of her forestry experiences.

So glad I get to share live with her!

Simply Southern TV Show

We were recently featured on the TV show Simply Southern.  It was broadcasted on local TV and on RFDTV network. Below is the link to the show.

Simply Southern

Bald Eagle

 

We were our with our youngest grandson a few weeks ago exploring our property and we found the feather of a Bald Eagle.  This was such a special find, and we had to explaining to him why we had to leave it on the ground.  He had questions but understood what this bird meant to us as Americans.  We had seen an eagle near this area before but never dreamed of seeing a feather shed by the eagle.

A feather from a beautiful, majestic, free flying bird! 

This was the tree we found the feather under.  We knew the eagle had been up in this tree after he had been hunting fish near the watershed lake near by.  The eagle probably enjoyed his meal in this tree.

We left the feather under the tree.  You might ask "why"?  It is illegal to have in your possession any part of eagle.  Only Native Americans can have in their possession a feather and they are required to get a special permit from the US Government. $100,000 and a year in jail is the penalty for having an eagle feather.  

Timber prices/Lumber prices

The link is an article about why timber prices and lumber prices don't match:  https://wallstreetjournal-ny-app.newsmemory.com/?publink=4561554fa

Control Burn 2020

Before

After

We had a great burn on 127 acres last week.