The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has entered the second year of its Forest Landowner Academy online. Until the end of February, enrollment is discounted by 30%. 

The course is online and asynchronous, fully flexible to individual schedules, meant to provide an overview of the basics of forest land management, according to Florida Land Steward program coordinator Chris Demers. 

“The core mission of the course is to provide quality core education about forestry, forestry concepts, principles, applications, to the forest landowner audience,” Demers said in a phone interview. “It’s a non-professional audience and information is presented in a way that they can understand it and utilize it.” 

UF/IFAS added the forest resources management segment to its Online Learning Catalog early last year, though Demers said the idea had been circulating since about 2019. He and others had noticed that landowners were having more difficulty than before with finding the time to get to workshops, tours and events to educate themselves. 

To solve that problem, UF/IFAS took the program online, recording hours of presentations in seven course modules: understanding your forest resources, developing your management plan, timber management, marketing forest products, other forest enterprises such as pine straw and hunting leases, wildlife management, and planning for the future. 

Each module contains videos recorded from the field or a virtual classroom, reference links and an assessment that helps apply the learning to course-takers’ land and situation. 

Demers said if someone were to spend an hour or two on the course each day, they would probably finish within a few weeks. Upon completion, participants fill out a questionnaire about their property and learning and receive a certificate of completion. 

The course is intended to “help and encourage private landowners to manage their lands for long-term environmental, economic and social benefits,” according to the website. Demers said people can make money off the property they own or manage if they can steward it properly, from things like timber and wildlife habitat. 

“Forests can provide many more benefits if they’re actively managed,” Demers said. “Unmanaged forest is going to get clogged up with invasive species. It’s going to be unproductive.” 

In addition to invasive species, Demers said unmanaged forest can also grow too many hardwoods that “shade out” other species, making it a poor contribution to wildlife habitats. 

There’s no minimum amount of forest land acreage for a person to own that is not being used industrially to produce timber or another forest product to qualify for the program.  Demers said the course is a good start for someone who bought or inherited property without knowing how to manage it. It also provides the foundations to communicate with a consulting forester about the property. 

Last year, 52 people enrolled in the program, only half of UF/IFAS’s 100-enrollment goal. To try again for that goal, the program’s $150 enrollment fee is discounted by 30% until Feb. 29.  

“Having a plan is certainly the first part of any endeavor,” Demers said. “So yeah, that’s where it all starts.” 

Click here to enroll in the Forest Landowner Academy and use promotion code SWDXWF.

Questions about the course can be directed to Demers by calling (352) 846-2375 or emailing cdemers@ufl.edu.