DNR woods walk

We started off February with a visit from our local DNR forester! He came out to the ridge and spent nearly 2 hours walking around with us. He showed us what type of trees we had, which plants were invasive, and offered suggestions on planting sites (for grapes and trees). He didn't laugh outright at our plans to start a vineyard so that was encouraging.

Some cool details we learned:
- If you want to grow/maintain an oak forest you have to clear acres of land (like cut down all the trees!) and let the oak saplings grow in the sunshine. 

- We have way more maple trees than I thought (hello maple syrup). And they all seem to have come from this one mama tree - the biggest maple I've ever seen.

- Northern facing slopes are preferred for tree growth - they are cooler, more moist, and shady. 

- There are programs to get wood plans drawn up, ways to change (lower) property taxes, and timber sales where you mark trees and let loggers loose.

We still have a lot to learn about our forest but our forester gave us a fantastic start. Check out https://mywisconsinwoods.org/foresters/ if you've got land in the great state of Wisconsin!