Forestry Best Management Practices

In the News and Notes roundup for this issue: Baltimore City is examining white-tailed deer overpopulation within its parklands; a new report assesses the impact of the forestry industry on Maryland's economy; the US Forest Service and its partners has issued its annual Tax Tips For Forest Landowners guide; and new research reveals a potential native foe of EAB.

Creating and maintaining a trail on your property helps improve access for natural area management and for recreational enjoyment. Providers of trail construction and maintenance are listed here.

Entries in the Natural Area Management Services Directory are listed alphabetically.

In the News and Notes roundup for this issue: The Maryland state tree nursery is now taking orders for 2026 planting projects; Virginia tribal members establish a food forest; a writer from Backpacker explores a grove of American chestnuts; and NSF funding assists AI research at UMD to forecast wildfires.

In the News and Notes roundup for this issue: Threatened bobwhite quail return to restored habitat in Wicomico County; Garrett College is now home to two historic seedlings; how to report sightings of beech leaf disease; and the 2025 American chestnut photo contest is now open.

Winter Creeper arrived in the U.S. in 1907 and has since spread throughout much of the eastern states. This vigorous evergreen perennial vine can grow in a variety of conditions, can grow into shrub thickets up to 3 feet high, and may climb into trees more than 60 feet above the ground.

Chinese and Japanese Wisterias arrived in the U.S. in the early 1800s and have since spread to habitats across much of the eastern states. These twining and climbing vines can not only strangle and shade out trees, but can form dense thickets that suppress other native species.

Your woodlands are important. They are a valuable resource for your family’s enjoyment and their future, and for the environment. The University of Maryland Extension now participates in the “Call Before You Cut” program. The program provides Maryland woodland owners with free information to ensure that they harvest their timber in the most efficient, cost-effective, and ecologically-sound manner possible.

Paula Whyman ʼ87 and her husband bought 200 acres on a peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she undertook the daunting task of clearing invasive plants and encouraging native plant life on this long gone-to-seed cow pasture and orchard—an experiment she's written about in her new book, “Bad Naturalist: One Woman's Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop.”

Publications to help you better manage your woodlands.