GREENFIELD — A handful of Hancock County property owners gathered July 24 for a walk in the woods at Thornwood Preserve in Greenfield. The group escaped the hot sun to stroll in the shade of the trees, guided by specialists in biology, ecology and forestry who pointed out the dozens of different species around them as they roamed.
These residents weren’t just there for an afternoon stroll, said Roy Ballard, an ANR Educator with Purdue Extension Hancock County. They were there to learn.
Tuesday kicked off a series of educational programs entitled “Common Sense Management of Your Woodlot for Pleasure or Profit,” sponsored by the Greenfield Parks Department and Purdue Extension Hancock County. This three-part course is free to the public and serves as a primer for landowners to better understand Indiana woodland history, management and protection strategies, said Lenny Farlee, a specialist with the Purdue Extension’s Forestry and Natural Resources department.
Ballard helped coordinate the joint program between the parks department and Purdue. Its purpose was to encourage local landowners to take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them in their own backyard, he said.
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“This is just a gem of a learning environment and recreational environment,” Ballard said. “And it’s right here, just in sight of the courthouse.”
“People are here for their own purposes, just here to learn about the woods,” he added.
Joe Whitfield, Greenfield Parks Department Coordinator and the property manager of the Thornwood Preserve, said the program is beneficial for any landowner who showed interest in attending, whether they owned one acre of woodland or 100.
Whitfield accompanied the attendees on the first walk on the trail in Thornwood in hopes that he might pick up some new information himself on how to take care of local public lands a little bit better, he said.
The initial session focused on exploring the woods through a historical and biological perspective, Farlee said. His lesson Tuesday explained the history of Hoosier forest land while also identifying the various types of vegetation commonly encountered in wooded areas.
“It’s kind of a nice broad overview of why woods are where they’re at, why they grow the way they do and what species we can find out there,” Farlee said.
As the series continues in future dates, Farlee will continue the discussion and move on to woodland management principles and practices, he said. They will discuss proper maintenance techniques and lessons on how property owners may wish to grow trees for the purpose of marketing timber.
Farlee pointed out a number of dead or dying ash trees among the lush green wilderness at Thornwood; many of which were likely negatively affected by the presence of the emerald ash borer, a type of beetle accidentally introduced to Indiana from Asia, which local flora has no natural resistance to.
Follow-up programs will include strategies they can use to combat invasive species like the emerald ash borer and other pests that may damage wooded areas, Farlee said.
The future sessions for the free woodland education series will take place on Aug. 15 and Sept. 12.
Interested parties can contact Roy Ballard, Purdue Extension Educator for Agriculture in Hancock County by calling 317-462-1113 or by email at [email protected] to register or to find more information about upcoming sessions, according to an organization news release.
