Woodland Health

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Introduction

For 25 years, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has assisted landowners in protecting natural areas—woodlands, wetlands and prairies—and the wildlife that inhabit those wild places.

As we've met and worked with Iowa woodland owners, we've discovered that—while there is a wealth of information available to them about managing forests for timber production—there is little that focuses primarily on managing woodlands to maintain or improve their overall health and diversity.

This booklet is a response to that need. It brings together an array of information on several issues related to woodland health. It both introduces the topic and suggests a few stewardship options to promote health.

Single copies of this booklet are available free by request. To get your free copy by mail, contact the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation office at 515-288-1846 or info@inhf.org. Be sure to tell which book you're ordering and to include your mailing address. Organizations who work with woodland owners can order up to 20 copies at no cost. Additional copies are 50 cents each.

To download the book from this website, click on the Table of Contents below, which links you to the PDF files for each section. Print any/all sections as desired.

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Skip to Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

All images are ©Mark Müller

Acknowledgements    (reformatted from pages 2-3 and 32)
Introduction    4-5

A Glance at Iowa Woodlands
History and Current Status of Iowa Woodlands    6-8
Value of Iowa Woodlands    8-9
Getting to Know Your Woodland    10-11

Some Stewardship Options
Recognizing and Controlling Invasive Plants    12-19
Filling in the Gaps    20-21
Limiting Damage from Livestock and Deer    22-23
Avoiding Further Fragmentation of Woodlands    23-24
Permanently Protecting Your Woodland    25-27

If You Want to Know or Do More
Resources    28-31

Back Cover    32

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Acknowledgements

Our thanks to the following individuals:

• Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, for partially funding production of this booklet
• Cheri Grauer, INHF staff, for research and writing
• Larry A. Stone, who provided both peer review and editorial assistance
• Heather Von Arb, INHF intern, for her design assistance
• Mark Muller, Down to Earth Graphics, for the use of his woodland illustrations.

Our thanks to the following individuals for their contributions to, and their comments on, this preliminary management guide. We will continue to work together to identify additional research needs and management tools that will contribute to the enhanced health of Iowa forests.

• Don Farrar, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
• Heidi Abjornson, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University
• Jean Eells and Del Christensen, Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D
• Paul Tauke, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
• Mark Pingenot, Trees Forever

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For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, INHF Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.