Webinar Schedule and Participants' Guide
Webinar Dates
Live instruction will next begin on Thursday, February 23rd, 2023, from 6:30-8pm Eastern and the final webinar will conclude on Thursday, March 30, 2023 (please note this schedule change). While we encourage live attendance so you have the opportunity to engage with the presenters and ask questions, all webinars are recorded and posted in our online classroom for students to watch anytime. Once you have enrolled in this course, you will retain access to all materials indefinitely, and can return to participate in the live webinars in future offerings of the course if you wish.
To access the webinars, you will simply need to click on the webinar join link that is posted in each week of the course, and as is posted in the WEBINAR Connection link of the introductory materials. This link will connect you to the same Zoom meeting space for each week. For this course, the Zoom space is always open, but the instructor will only be in that meeting space during the Thursday evening webinar.
You may also join our webinars from a mobile device by installing the official Zoom app from your preferred app store. Then, when it's time for a webinar, simply open your Zoom app and enter the 9-digit meeting ID that will be posted at the top of each week in the course.
Weekly Topics
Week 1: Overview & Tree Identification
Topics covered: Course overview, expectations, why and how to identify trees, best recognizable features of 10 common northeastern trees, and resources on how to learn more trees.
In week 1, student can access the Zoom webinar space 30 minutes prior to each class to test their audio. Students can pre-test their computer audio in their control panel to determine if their microphone and speakers are active. The instructor is unable to give much assistance with your computer hardware.
Week 2: Forest Ecology
Topics covered: How soils, land history, and other factors influence what types of trees grow in what locations; how to select trees for a point sample
Week 3: Thinning your woodlot
Topics covered: Defining good versus bad trees, how many trees should you have in the woods, estimating the volume and value of a tree, exploitive cutting, different strategies to select trees to retain or cut, chainsaw safety
Week 4: Maple Production & Mushroom Production
Topics covered: Different strategies to obtain sap, the basics of how sap is made into syrup, what equipment and resources are necessary for syrup production. Also, the opportunities and options for production and sale of gourmet mushrooms.
Week 5: Silvopasture and Firewood
Topics covered: Defining what is involved in silvopasture (woodland grazing) and the types of farms that should consider silvopature. Firewood production may be a retail opportunity, or a way to offset on-farm costs for energy.
Week 6: Ownership Objectives and People Who Can Help
Topics include: Identifying how your woods can help your financial interests, people who can help and what they can do, resources to help you plan for the future