Growing Trees Is Like Growing Gold

The Eastern Kentucky Coal Fields of the Cumberland Plateau

The eastern Kentucky Coal Fields of the Cumberland Plateau is a distinctly unique physiographic region of Kentucky with a rich cultural heritage.   Eastern Kentucky is especially known for its verdant mountainous terrain, diverse and beautiful hardwood forests, turbulent history, and its proud and fiercely independent inhabitants. I grew up in the gently rolling foothills of the Cumberland Plateau in Laurel County Kentucky where I have descended from generations of farmers, woodsmen and mountain folk who knew how to live off the land. My heritage and upbringing has defined me as a person and has established my destiny—I’ve been called a farm girl and I’ve been called a tree nerd and my response is always a smile of delight and a beam of pride!

 Growing up on a small sheep and goat farm, I understood from an early age why my family was heavily invested in growing vegetables, fruit trees, honey, and livestock. The forests on my family’s hill farm were a source of profit for us as we cut firewood, gathered nut crops, hunted squirrels, and harvested saw logs for lumber.  As I grew older, I realized the importance of agriculture in sustaining human populations across the United States and the globe.  But it wasn’t until I began my studies in Forestry at the University of Kentucky (UK) that I fully understood the importance of forests in an agricultural context.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture houses a multitude of agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service.  In the same way, the UK’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment (CAFE) is

 far-reaching in its diversity of academic departments and programs.  The CAFE’s Department of Forestry has enabled me to appreciate the practice of forestry as a farming enterprise.               

UK Forestry students planting native hardwood seedlings on a surface mine in Pike Co., KY

Trees are a crop just like corn or tobacco. The differences between trees and row crops are obvious. A crop of soy beans will take one year to mature, whereas in southern pine plantations, foresters may harvest their stands anywhere between age 15 and 35 years depending on what the wood will be used for (i.e., saw timber, biomass, pulpwood, etc.).  High value hardwoods like oak, hickory, walnut, and black cherry require a longer time for the trees to fully mature and be ready for harvest (80+ years).  Perhaps the most significant aspect of forests as an agricultural resource is their capacity to provide a suite of ecological services while growing wood products for human use.  No one can dispute the value of forests for their ability to clean the air and water, provide wildlife habitat and recreation, and protect the soil from erosion, as well as provide valuable wood products, fuel, and wood    fiber – growing trees is like growing gold!

                During my studies in the UK Forestry program, I learned that planting trees and restoring the ecological services of the original forests on drastically disturbed sites is a better reclamation strategy than establishing an herbaceous cover of grasses and legumes.  I learned that foresters, reclamation practitioners, and soil scientists are planting trees on barren, unproductive surface mined land in my eastern Kentucky homeland.  Green Forests Work (GFW) is a non-profit organization that was founded in the UK Department of Forestry in 2009.  GFW is dedicated to restoring healthy, productive forests on surface mined land initially reclaimed as unproductive grasslands.  Their mission extends throughout the entire Appalachian coal fields, which spans across eight states- from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

                  Forests are a renewable resource. By reestablishing forests where we have barren land, the economic opportunities provided by GFW will not only provide for the Appalachian people today but will put those lands on a path that will ensure that a forest is available for use by future Appalachian citizens.  Support for GFW is growing and I am optimistic that in time a skilled green workforce can be developed to restore, protect, and manage this natural resource that is so vital to the region’s current and future prosperity. Native trees that are being planted on these surface mines will grow into functioning forests, providing humans with key ecological services and economically valuable wood products for generations to come.  For more information on GFW see www.greenforestswork.org.

Hannah is a senior forestry major from London, Kentucky.