Leaves are Changing on Dewberry Lands

The leaves have really changed this week, it seems like over night.  They are beautiful!

I think the big frost we had Saturday morning contributed to this.  the picture below is of that frost. 

Fawns Losing Their Spots

We had twins out behind the house Monday morning.  Their mom is the doe with the white spot on its back.  This was the first time they had been out with her.  One of the twins allowed me to take its picture.

Touch of a Pieball

This deer appeared about two weeks ago in our back yard.  We had never seen her before, being able to identify her by the white spot on her back and a smaller spot about the size of a silver dollar on the top of her tail.  This weekend we got a picture of her across the road at our lake on the game camera but she had twins with her.  This morning they were with her in the back yard.  Another doe at the same spot of the game camera had one fawn with her.  It was good to see these fawns because we have a large coyote population that is nearly impossible to control because of all the woods and only small openings.

Good News

This was great news from the American Forest Foundation in the form of an Email I received this weekend.


Dear Lamar,


There’s nothing better than starting the weekend off with good news, especially when it’s good news about an issue that we’ve all been working on for years.

Today, we received the news that wood products, including products from American Tree Farm System certified lands, will be given a fair shot by one of the largest builders in the federal government—the General Services Administration. After much education and outreach from the AFF network, our industry partners, governors, Members of Congress, and others, the GSA has decided to recognize both the Green Globes rating system and the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system (LEED) as viable green building rating systems for the federal government.

GSA has for a number of years recognized only LEED, which historically discourages the use of wood, especially wood from ATFS certified forests.  While this decision does not change our concerns with LEED, it means that GSA, and potentially other federal agencies who follow GSA’s lead, can now choose not to use LEED.

With this change, we now have an opportunity to get the federal government to use more wood in their buildings, and to use wood from ATFS certified forests.

Thank you for all your support over the years on this issue—it truly demonstrates what can happen when we all engage on critical issues.
Sincerely,

Tom Martin
President and CEO
American Forest Foundation

Harvesting

My last post started with a picture of the area we were about to harvest.  It is now in progress.  Below is some of the pictures from the harvest.

We have produced some fine wood since our thinning of this tract.  This is to become GP plywood.

One day last week we attended the North Alabama Forestry Field Day in Cleburne County.  It was a wet day but we needed it for fall plantings if food plots. 

"A Walk in the Forest", Two Meanings

A tract of timber at McCollum ready to be harvested.  Next week the cutting is to start. 

I remarked the SMZ'z (streamside management zones) on the tract.  I don't allow any cutting in these areas for the protection of the water and wildlife corridors.  The harvest is better when no trees are harvested from these sites. 

This was a wonderful walk on the property all by myself.  It was cool and I made some pictures of interesting places on the property before the harvest.  There are probably 30 to 50 of these rock piles on the hillside.  These rock were not stacked from clearing a field, but I have no clue of their purpose?

Another Walk That Week

A doe and her fawn early Wednesday morning after we had stayed at the lodge was watching Felicia and I as we got everything ready for the Women's "Walk in The Forest". 

It was a most beautiful day for the women to have their walk.  The walk was on the railroad track bed which was built over 100 years ago. 

This was a project of Felicia's.  She knows the blessings we have and wants to share with others.  She wrote and was awarded a grant from Alabama Forest Forever Foundation to have this "Walk in The Forest" promoted by the American Forestry Foundation and Society of American Foresters".  A van was rented and the transportation was easy for the tour to the site.  Felicia gave a short talk before the walk which included a section on tree identification.

Nick Jordan with the Alabama Forestry Commission spoke briefly on what the commission does.  The Clay County Forestry Planning Committee also helped with the event.

There were 22 at the meeting with Mattie, our granddaughter, being the youngest. She had a great time as always when she is outside and offered thanks at the luncheon in the lodge. 

Sherri Rollins, District Director with Congressman Rogers office, spoke during lunch after the walk about her work in the Congressman's office.  Everyone seemed to have a great day.  We are still having wonderful comments  from participants about the day.  It was well worth the time and effort in putting on the event.

Oh! Mrs. Wilma Miller won the Tree ID contest.  She was my fifth grade teacher.  She had a great influence on me and that is one of the reasons I am who I am today.

Other Happenings 

The saw-toothed acorns are dropping and the wildlife are enjoying them.

Deer tracks and acorn hulls, that is all that is left on the ground under these trees.  They love these acorns and so do the turkeys.

Family and Friends

First, I have added six new wildflower pictures.....

It has been nice having my son back home.  He has been so much help: bush hogging, plowing, planting fall food plots, filling feeders, tearing out beaver dams that are backing up water on roads (see picture below). We are always looking for different types of wildflowers to document  on our property and Nathan knows the names of most. 

He waded through the snakes and who knows what else in that swamp to break the dam.  The beavers will build it back faster than we break it.  We are going to have to declare war on them before they get much worse. 

Nathan's son, my grandson is really growing up fast.  The other day when we were bush hogging and clearing roads James did a great job driving the gator.  Here he is moving the vehicle to the next stop.  He is beginning to be big enough  to help.

Alabama Treasure Forest 

This past weekend we attended the annual meeting in Ozark, Alabama.  I was elected Sec/Tres. of the association which I hope will be a good thing.  We got to see many good friends and people that have a love of the land as we do.  Mr. Bill Moody received special recognition at the meeting where Treasure Forest was forty years old.  Mr. Moody started the program.

We got to see some nice property: Billy Blackwell's, past president and person responsible for this good conference, and the tour on Saturday was on the Strickland's property. Felicia and I always enjoy seeing how others have been blessed.

We saw a demonstration about controlling wild hogs and a demonstration on baling pine straw.  The person in the green shirt helped out in tying the bale is Wayne Ford, a Clay County boy that I grew up spending a lot of time with.  We see each other quite often at these types of meetings.  I always tell people that know both of us that we grew up in the woods and this is all we know.

F