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So God made a (tree) farmer

“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel. By virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say: Let there be a tree – and there will be one.

If his back be strong and his shovel sharp, there may eventually be ten thousand. And in the seventh year he may lean upon his shovel, and look upon his trees, and find them good.”

– Aldo Leopold,

A Sand County Almanac

Greetings, readers. It’s my pleasure to sit in as guest writer for this week’s Outdoors Today column in the Times Republican. In fact, I think Garry did me a favor by asking me to fill in: there couldn’t be a better time of year for a Forester to have the opportunity to sit down and tell you about what’s going on with Iowa’s woodlands than fall, when our native hardwoods are at their most conspicuous and colorful I couldn’t ask for better advertising!

You’ve probably read countless articles on the “how’s” and “why’s” of fall leaf color in trees – how the green chlorophyll begins to wane with the colder temperatures and shorter days, only to reveal the leaves’ true inner colors – reds, oranges, yellows, and every shade between. But what you may not know is that if you were to load up your kids in the Family Truckster this month and take them on a little fall leaf-viewing tour across our lovely state, you might find that something is curiously missing from the landscape. (No, I’m not talking about political candidates in search of your votes, and donations). I’m actually talking about the trees themselves -over 102 million of them – are now gone.

What do you mean, 102 million trees are gone? Where did they go? Did loggers harvest them? Did the Emerald Ash Borer get them?

In an attempt to provide some answers, I will look to the US Forest Service, census-taker of the trees of our nation, which is actually part of the United States Department of Agriculture (trees being a renewable resource). A recent report by the US Forest Service quantifies the status of Iowa’s forests and trees in the year 2014 as compared to the previous census cycle completed in 2009.

To make a long story short, 1) no, loggers are not the cause of the 102 million missing trees; 2) yes, trees are increasingly dying from insect pests, diseases, and old age; however, 3) deforestation — i.e., bulldozing trees and woodlands to make room for other land-uses — is the primary culprit.

How do we know this? Because the actual amount of Iowa land covered by trees and forests declined by an estimated 97,800 acres between 2009 and 2014 (net loss). In other words, the unwitting census-taker showed up to count trees in the forest, only to find that the forest itself was now missing entirely. To illustrate the extent of missing forest land, imagine a triangle running from the City of Marshalltown, eastward to the City of Tama, and south to the City of Grinnell — over 150 square miles or more than 75,000 football fields combined. With the loss of this tree cover and woodlands also goes the biodiversity of plants, animals, songbirds, insects, & pollinators; the watershed protection which helps hold soils and infiltrate runoff to keep our surface waters clean; and the “lungs” that exhale oxygen for all of us to breatheand, of course, the fall colors that we all enjoy seeing.

Meanwhile, the report found that in terms of cubic feet, annual growth of trees exceeds the amount being harvested for wood products by over a factor of three. In fact, the amount of timber being harvested annually from woodlands for lumber production is declining. However, the amount of annual mortality (trees dying from old age, insects & disease pests, wind and lightning) increased by 44%. This last statistic is to say, Iowa’s forests are getting older, and they aren’t holding up very well.

The Forest Service is still putting the final touches on a draft report which will provide a breakdown of the land-use changes that accompanied the deforestation over the past five years — was it mostly due to agricultural land expansion, urban sprawl, or making room for private roads and new homes? We are all guilty of making inferences based on personal observations, but such impressions are not founded in science. When the report comes out, we shall see what the data say.

While we await the answers, let’s just focus on the facts that we do know: 1) this is the first time since the 1970’s that forest acres have declined in Iowa; and 2) the only other time going back in history this has happened was during statehood and the original settlement by Europeans.

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Lest I lose readers to the fear that all news is bad news or that this is just another “Chicken Little” tale of environmental collapse, I’d instead like to turn now towards some solutions to these challenges that we face. Put simply, we need to plant more trees.

As Aldo suggested in his book A Sand County Almanac (quoted at the beginning of this article), we have the ability to “create” trees and forests where none previously grew (or perhaps where trees once grew in previous, but forgotten times). As shovel-wielding landowners, we can make the choice to do something selfless for posterity by planting more trees.

With grain prices declining and input costs rising, farmers are looking for alternative ways to remain viable in modern times. Given the recent declines in forest land, and the increased pressures from new insect and disease pests, there is no better time to ramp up reforestation efforts. All of us who own property or farmland can find some areas on the property where we can plant more trees and create new forests for the pollinators, butterflies, insects, birds, turkeys, pheasants, deer, and other wildlife. I encourage you to visit the local Soil and Water Conservation office or give me a call to find out if there are any programs that can help. Farmers who are eligible for CRP may be pleasantly surprised at the increased rental rates for establishing wildlife habitat.

But what about deer and rabbits — won’t they just eat all my trees? Or what about insects and diseases — is there any kind of tree that’s still safe to plant? Certainly, there are challenges when it comes to tree planting, like anything that is worth doing. But after reviewing hundreds of different forest plantings across central Iowa, some large and some small, some planted during drought years and some during flood years, and some that lived through the peak of local deer populations, I can confidently report that yes, you can absolutely still plant trees successfully and yes, it’s very much worth doing.

The common thread that I see in all successful tree plantings include a landowner who is devoted and willing to put in the hard work (or hire an experienced professional) to make it successful, along with a few other technical details: good site preparation; choosing the right trees for the soil types and growing conditions; planting a diverse species mix to buffer against insects and diseases; proper planting technique; high initial planting density; meticulous weed control; active deer hunting; and above all else, attention to detail and persistence.

We cannot stop the invasion by the Emerald Ash Borer, or halt the spread of Oak Wilt, or predict other future insects or disease pests that may not even be in our sights at this time. All we can do is keep planting more trees to replace and diversify what dwindling forests we do have.

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The Iowa State Forest Nursery (located on South Duff Avenue in Ames) is one of the few remaining bare-root seedling nurseries of its kind in the Midwest. Established in 1938, its mission has always been to offer affordable, high-quality, native tree and shrub seedlings for conservation use to Iowa landowners. Hundreds of thousands of acres of new forest have been established using trees grown at the state nursery.

You may have heard recently that the State Forest Nursery was closing. After several consecutive years of below-average demand for seedlings and above-average cuts to the operating budget, DNR leaders were forced to take a hard look at the sustainability of the nursery. Presently, the facility remains open for the time being, but unless sales dramatically increase or state lawmakers decide to intervene, its future is highly suspect.

With that being said, the nursery is now taking orders for fall and spring tree planting. They offer over forty different species of hardwood trees, evergreens, and shrubs that come primarily from native, hand-collected Iowa seed. Most orders require a minimum quantity of five hundred bare root seedlings, but they do offer smaller specialty packets for smaller acreage owners who are looking to enhance their property for wildlife or conservation.

Encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to plant trees. You can see what species are currently available and place your order online at www.iowatreeplanting.com, or by calling 1-800-865-2477.

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One of the greatest examples of someone who chose to make a difference by planting trees for posterity comes from right here in the Marshalltown community: the late Leonard Grimes. Examples of Leonard’s “creations” and his devotion to conservation and forest stewardship can be viewed just west of town at the Grimes Farm. If you want to see a great display of fall colors this autumn, you need not pile into the car and drive, but rather take a leisurely 10-minute bike ride along the trail just outside town. After going under Highland Acres Road and over Linn Creek, you’ll be flanked on both sides by one of Leonard’s plantings tall cottonwoods and pristine black walnut trees that tower overhead and guide you down the path like runway lights.

As you approach the nature center, there is another planting off to the south of the gravel road where sugar maples pop with orange and red hues, mingling with the rich green of the white pine needles. Further up the slope, the natural forest glows softly with yellow lindens and hackberries, popular with the wild turkeys and cedar waxwings.

Once you reach the nature center, you can park your bikes and take off hiking on foot westward up the hill towards the viewing tower. On the way there, you’ll see what Leonard called his “instant forest” planting, which was created in the fall of 2003 by a method called direct-seeding, in which raw seed is used to establish trees rather than seedlings. For this project, Leonard used nearly 40 bushels of acorns, 130 bushels of walnuts, 13 bushels of hickory nuts, and 13 bushels of ash. He enjoyed getting outside and working to cultivate his trees each year until he passed away last winter at the age of 89 years.

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The title of this article is “So God Made a (Tree) Farmer,” which is a play on the popular Dodge television commercial that ran during fourth quarter of the 2013 Super Bowl, which was of course in turn based on a speech given by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey at a Future Farmers of America (FFA) convention in 1978. In the original speech, Harvey (who I have fond memories of hearing in my Grandpa’s pickup each day during the summers when I would go help on the farm) picked up where God left off by stating that on the 8th day of Genesis, God needed a caretaker for the land He created. Hence, He created the farmer.

Leonard Grimes was not necessarily a “farmer” per se, but he was certainly a “Tree Farmer,” not only in the spirit of the term but also as officially recognized. Leonard and his late wife Mildred both had the vision and passion to do something for wildlife, conservation, and for future generations that seems to be lacking in much of the present generation. Thank goodness the forests that they created are permanently protected so we’ll never have to worry about them becoming a statistic in an article about deforestation.

I, for one, am holding out hope that more people will hear the calling and join the ranks of “Tree Farmer” voluntarily, altruistically, as Leonard and Mildred did, and that a rendering of the 9th day of Genesis won’t be necessary. With that, I’ll leave you with the following quote:

“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, but He is no longer the only one to do so. When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver: He could plant a tree. And when the axe was invented, he became a taker: He could chop it down. Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants.”

– Aldo Leopold

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Joe Herring is an Iowa Department of Natural Resources district forester based in Iowa Falls. He can be reached at 524 Lawler St., Iowa Falls, IA. 50126, via phone at (641) 648-6304 or email: joe.herring@dnr.iowa.gov

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