DNR Service Foresters

The first place you can turn for advice about caring for your woodland is the local DNR Office. Each county has a DNR forester available to visit your land and answer your questions. The role of Department foresters is to motivate and guide landowners to practice sustainable forestry. The DNR foresters make "woods" calls with personalized, individual service, and they administer a number of planning, property tax incentive and cost-sharing programs.

DNR foresters can:

• Provide general forest management information (office visits, phone calls, walks through property) on a broad range of multi-resource topics including timber production, forest health, wildlife management opportunities, protecting endangered or threatened resources, erosion control, recreational opportunities and forest aesthetics.
• Prepare brief to detailed written forest management plans to meet the owners' objectives
• Administer forest tax law programs (Managed Forest Law, Forest Crop Law, Woodland Tax Law)
• Explain forest protection measures (fire, insects and disease)
• Advise landowners about tree and shrub planting projects


Foresters at a training session in Richland County

• Coordinate tree and shrub shipments from the state nursery and facilitate use of county tree planting machines
• Demonstrate methods to improve growth and value of immature forests
• Provide timber sale advice including harvest methods, names of commercial timber buyers or consulting foresters, and best management practices to prevent soil erosion during harvests
• Timber sale establishment (Limitations: DNR foresters generally only establish sales less than 20 acres for sawtimber or 40 acres for pulpwood. They will set up larger areas only if private consulting foresters decline to provide the service. DNR foresters are restricted from actually selling the timber, acting as the owners' agent, or administering sale contracts.)
• Provide technical and administrative assistance for cost sharing programs
• Educate people through conferences, school programs, public speaking and news releases.
• Promote the Cooperating Forester Program by referring landowners to private or industrial foresters when they need services that the state does not provide.