By JoAnne Katzmarek

As new members of the Wisconsin Family Forests, my husband and I recently joined Clyde Samsel for a walk in the woods. The mid-September air was crisp and fresh. The morning sunlight dappled through the tall straight pines. We walked along the sand and pine needle path and up a slight hill and met the owner of these woods, Neil Davies, for our walk in the woods.

Neil owns 40 acres in Greenwood, what he calls "a working tree farm in transition." He bought the parcel in 1958. Then it was gently rolling land with a few oaks and no pines. Immediately he planted 8,000 Norway pines and 2,000 white pines, following Aldo Leopold's suggestion of 4 red pines to 1 white pine, a plan that allows for diversity and regeneration. Neil tells us this ratio is actually the legacy of Alex Katovich, a retired Department of Natural Resources forester and former student of Aldo Leopold, with whom Neil worked to leam more about forest management. Katovich believed Leopold's ratio would be sound practice. Uniformity, after all, is the problem in many systems. Diversity reduces competition. Neil chuckles and mentions that humans could benefit from the lessons of diversity too.

As we gaze above us at the towering pines and observe the certainty of the many rows, we nod in agreement. Diversity yields strong results in these woods and in Waushara County in general, an area benefiting from Katovich's influence and integrity. In fact, Neil comments that Katovich is still working on forestry projects in Waushara County. Currently, he and Linda Warzak are working on an urban forestry project in Wautoma.

Again in 1960 and 1961, Neil planted the same number and ratio of red and white pines. He claims the early years were good wet springs and, thus, he lost very few trees. As we walk, Neil points out the evidence of thinning. He thins every other row every 22 years. Then 5 or 6 years later the pines are thinned within the standing rows. Generally every third tree is thinned.

We notice how quiet the woods are even as we walk, owing more to the time of the year than to any concerns about bird habitat. As Leopold observed in The Sand County Almanac, "By September the day breaks with little help from birds.. .In June it is completely predictable that the robin will give voice when the light intensity reaches 0.01 candle power, and that the bedlam of other singers will follow in predictable sequence. In autumn, on the other hand, the robin is silent, and it is quite unpredictable whether the covey-chorus will occur at all." He is referring here to the fall song of the quail. As we stand in these pine woods, we do not hear the quail or any other birdsong. Neil tells us that he has pileated woodpeckers nesting in his woods, but we do not see these either. Even so, we all look up into the tops of the pines as he speaks, as though they will magically appear. They do not. It is, we are reminded, silent September.

In 1992, Neil clear-cut two acres to build up an aviary. After the clear-cut, he planted grasses, corn, and sunflowers. The deer and turkey fed heavily on these plantings, so he gave up trying to sustain this vegetation. But as we look out over the cleared area, we see signs of regeneration — some dogwood and aspen growth. He also mentions that in fall of 1999, they cleared many big trees, leaving only seed and den trees. He tells us, lamenting somewhat, that the cutting chased away a barred owl that had been a constant visitor in the woods. But the extra sunlight allowed into the forest since the big trees came down, and the canopy which was subsequently opened up, encouraged the growth of the white pine. Red pine doesn't usually voluntarily regenerate whereas white pine will. Thus, Leopold's ratio, encouraged by Katovich, plays out predictably in the new growth of numerous small white pine that we see along the forest floor.

Among those young struggling white pines are numerous stumps. Even in the stumps there is something to leam. Neil points out in a few places where roots grafted to the live trees that were left. He also mentions that elms won't do this, a characteristic that sealed their fate and sped up their disappearance in areas where diseased trees had to be felled.

Neil joined the Nekoosa Family Tree Farm Program in 1968. Since then, he has worked with a number of foresters in that program. Neil's land is also under the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Managed Forest Law program, which requires him to continue to manage for timber. He expects that his pines will reach maturity at about 80 years. Most of them are now about 43 years old.

As we near the end of our walk, I am trying to organize all the concepts I have learned about our Wisconsin forests. I won't remember everything, but I know that in two short and delightful hours I have seen a side of the forest I have never been able to see before. My husband and I do not own extensive wooded property but we live in Waushara County. One reason we chose to live here is the beauty of the countryside, the combination of undulating brown prairie interrupted by stands of powerful tall pine and oak woods, often bordering crystal streams or glacial lakes. We had learned about the Wisconsin Family Forest program and its commitment to have people truly know and care about our state's forests and forestry practices. Because so much of Wisconsin's wooded acres are privately owned, knowing and caring about effective forestry practices is crucial to maintaining healthy forests throughout the state. Our walk has accomplished just that. We learned some new ideas, but the important thing is we learned these ideas in the beauty and integrity of the forest itself. And our guide through this experience cares about the land as much as he cares about any commercial aspects of "his tree farm in transition."

JoAnne and her husband, Marty, have owned property in the Hancock area for 10 years and were able to move there two years ago to live year round. JoAnne teaches Reading and Language Arts in the School of Education at UW-Stevens Point. JoAnne and Marty are members of the Deerfield Alliance.