Timber Talk: Increasing your yields

By Jenna Reese, Executive Director of the Ohio Forestry Association, Inc.

There are nearly 8 million acres of forests in Ohio, which account for 30% of total land use in the state; that means standing timber covers more of the state than corn and soybeans combined. The majority of those 8 million acres, 85%, are privately owned family farms. Drilling down a little further, 116,000 landowners in Ohio own more than 10 acres of woodland, but a shocking 234,000 Ohio landowners have 10 acres or less, according to The Ohio State University Extension. A large portion of those landowners are not actively managing because they are small woodlots adjacent to their row crop and livestock operations. The $30 billion Ohio forest products industry relies on the random acts of conservation from nearly 400,000 landowners.

The Ohio Forestry Association (OFA) is the only state organization that represents the entire forest products industry in Ohio.… Continue reading