Essentials of Volume 43, number 4, Autumn 2021

Non-Timber Forest Products

Please help us spread the word about woodland solutions to our pressing national and global issues. Share your copy of National Woodlands, join our social media venues (Wednesday Woodland Word

weekly newsletter or Facebook), share the message of woodland stewardship with family, neighbors and friends. And thank you for your critical role in our woodland landscape!

When looking at management plans for natural forest lands, decision makers may want to think past timber. Forested land can produce food and medicine, in addition to traditional products such as timber. Trees provide food, medicine, and other things

that people need. USDA Forest Service researcher Jim Chamberlain developed factsheets for eight species.

In Indiana, forestry agencies including soil and water conservation districts are focusing on educating landowners on the connection between healthy forests and healthy markets; many landowners there don’t realize that harvesting is the sixth largest industry in the state. Knowing what to harvest when and how it impacts the health of the forest is critical in maintaining the balance.

In Congress and in the media, climate change is receiving a lot of attention, and rightfully so. Scientists agree climate change is fueled by human-generated air pollutants called greenhouse gases. The most common among them is carbon dioxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels like oil, gasoline, and coal. Forests and urban and community trees represent one potential solution for mitigating the impacts of these emissions.

I’m a regular contributor to WOWnet, a professional forester, a mom of two boys, but not a woodland owner. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic my family adopted a local, neglected woodlot and got to pretend it was ours by working hard, creating a socially distanced community and making the world—we hope—a little better. This is my story.

On another tax front, some of the toughest tax conversations revolve around telling a landowner that they qualify for casualty loss treatment but have very little deduction due to low or zero basis. In late September a bill was introduced in the Senate (S.2768) that will have significant implications for some

forest landowners. As introduced in the Senate, this change would allow landowners holding uncut timber that is damaged or destroyed in a casualty event to deduct a higher amount than is currently allowed.