NWPWA Member Profiles

Tom Sekula, vice president and founding member of the NWPWA, understands that managing forests for timber yields and wildlife takes time but these two topics go hand in hand. Tom owns almost 200 acres of forest in Pennsylvania and New York State including plots in Erie and Warren counties. In 1983, when Tom purchased a plot of land near Waterford, PA it was nothing but rolling hills and fallow fields. Today, many pine, oak, walnut and cherry trees cover the property and provide shelter and food for a variety of wildlife. Tom has not yet harvested timber from his properties but appreciates that he is located in the center of hardwood country. He describes the NWPWA as a "non-biased entity that's working on behalf of the people, not pockets". According to Tom, "good forest management takes work but the rewards are unbelievable, not the monetary rewards but watching the growth of the forest". He hopes that NWPWA booths at events like the Erie Outdoors Expo will lead to the growth of the organization as people realize that "we provide a lot of information in a capsule". He also emphasizes that active members will receive the most out of the organization.

Rich Bowden, Allegheny College professor and NWPWA board member, owns 12 acres of forest land in Crawford County. Working through the Forest Stewardship Program (FSP), Rich developed a management plan for his forest. With the help of this personalized plan, Rich has been involved in timber stand improvement activities including thinning red maple stands to produce more rapid growth, selecting for white oak (reducing competition from other species, releasing oak seedlings, creating light gaps) as a wildlife species and planting white pine seedlings for wildlife cover. Rich has only harvested one tree, "[a] Black cherry that produced 400 bf drying in my garage". The NWPWA has aided Rich in forest management by "putting me in touch with professional forest consultants who have advised me on forest management" as well as "creating a venue for citizens to learn sound forest management and protection principles so that they can make informed and sound decisions". Rich also comments that, "I believe that most landowners in this region truly care about forest health and protection. Most, however, lack the knowledge and experience to employ sound forest use practices, thus they are frequently unaware of the long-term and often highly injurious consequences of poor planning, improper management, and unwise forest harvest practices". Rich sums up the importance of groups like the NWPWA by pointing out that "in gardening, a mistake in growing plants can often be rectified in a summer, or perhaps in the following summer. Unfortunately, forests are not like gardens. A mistake in forest planning may take a lifetime, or more, to correct".

"Forestry for the Future"