Fall Update 2018

We are wrapping up a rather busy season of Invasive control in Northern Indiana; the leaves are dropping so it's time to park the sprayer until spring.  We appreciate everyone who worked with us this year to rid their forests of the exotic shrubs, thornbushes and vines that are negatively impacting our ecosystems.  We will be taking up the good fight again in May 2019.  To that end, please keep in mind:

EQIP is a 3 year program, if you treated this year or hired someone to do so, you likely need to evaluate the forest again in the spring and apply another treatment.  We will contact all of our EQIP landowners in early spring to schedule re-evaluations and provide cost proposals for 2019 work.

If you are not familiar with EQIP:  Your local Natural Resource Conservation Service offices are accepting applications for Conservation Activity Plans, and the cutoff date is coming up on November 13th, 2018.  This is the first step, to identify an issue that needs to be addressed in your woodland and apply for cost-share assistance, such as invasive brush control or timber stand improvement.  Alternatively, you can apply for a Conservation Stewardship Plan, which pays you for high quality forest management in the past and allows you to continue improving your woodland with more treatments.

We will be in your area marking timber sales and doing timber stand improvement work until spring, give us a call!

 

Purple Paint Law in Indiana Starts July 1st!

If you're tired of posting and replacing no-tresspassing signs that are weathered or vandalized just to keep people out of your woodlands and limit your liability from trespassing injuries, a new law has been passed to help you.

Here is a link to a recent article about it:  https://www.theindychannel.com/news/state-news/purple-paint-law-goes-into-effect-july-1

The rules are fairly simple regarding how to mark your boundaries, however I would not proceed until I was very sure of the boundary locations, either by an official survey or known land markers, etc.  Often your farm manager/forester is well aware of these boundaries, at least unofficially, and can help you locate them.  GPS can help, but in woodlands is spotty and only accurate using high precision instruments.

I have already received a request to mark the boundaries of a large property, and we are available if you decide to ditch the signs and go with purple paint to mark your property boundaries.  Just give us a call!  If you decide this is a DIY project, I recommend contacting our local tree paint manufacturer, BarkMark, in Niles, MI.