We don’t know what we don’t know, and so on...

 There sure are a lot of scrub trees in our neck of the woods. In a sense, it helps create the isolation that we love, but you can’t walk the thicket. You can’t be one with nature here because you can’t penetrate it without emerging scraped and scratched by Devil’s Walking Stick and other plants that were surely put there by the devil himself. So we needed ideas on how to manage the timber we had and get an exemption for doing so.

To apply for a Timber exemption, I called the county appraisal district and learned that one has to have a plan,  and obviously one must be actively working the plan. To help us build a plan, the appraisal district pointed us to The Texas A&M Forest Services (TFS), and after one conversation with a forester our learning journey began. We embark on this journey humbly, knowing that we don’t know what we don’t know, and every day we will have a new opportunity to learn.

On November 4, we met with Eric Wannlund, Forester for Texas A&M Forest Service, for three hours. Eric walked our property, educated us on the types of trees we had and approximate age, explained the options we had to maintain and prep our timber, and then showered us with resources. Due to COVID-19, a number of his classes went online, and it gave him a bit more time, which he generously gave to us. At the end of our time together, David and I both agreed that our heads were swimming with information. Eric then took the time to draft our plan, which we could immediately start working. You might wonder how much are the TFS' services? A great deal is free. They made it so easy for us to engage with them, learn and leverage. At TFS your tax dollars are put to work in a really good way. The reason why is pretty simple. The more Texas land owners  there are who are proactively managing their forest/land, the safer our communities are from the threat of wild fire and the healthier our wildlife is because they can forage easily on the forest floor. 

At my company, I had a former leader who always emphasized “Plan the work. Work the plan.” It is great advice, and that is exactly what we intend on doing here, all with the goal of moving our land out of the status of dog hair thicket and into the status of a healthy, flourishing forest.