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Online Learning Options

Join Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension Foresters from across Virginia for a 15 minute video on a timely topic every other Friday at 12:15 on Facebook Live  or YouTube Premier.  All videos can be viewed on the Virginia Forest Landowner Update YouTube Channel any time (subscribe to be notified when new videos are added). Click here to see the upcoming schedule of videos. 

This 10-week self-paced on-line course teaches the fundamentals of forest management. 

Topics include:

  • Setting management goals and objectives
  • Forest history
  • Stewardship and sustainability
  • Marking your boundary lines, and locating, reading, and understanding your deed
  • Using maps, photos, Google Earth, and soil surveys
  • Forest ecology and management
  • Sources of assistance and planning options

Upon completion of the program, you can have a draft forest management plan. Natural resource professionals serve as mentors and the class winds up with an optional end-of-the-semester hands-on field trip. 

There are two levels of participation. 

  • Basic level - requires completing reading assignments, quizzes and evaluations (1-2 hours per Module)
  • Advanced level - includes all of the basic level requirements, plus field activities (3 or more hours per Module, depending on the size of your property)

Participants can choose to complete none, some, or all of the advanced level activities.  

All students will receive 5 books:

  • Welcome to the Woods! A Guide for New Virginia Woodland Owners
  • Common Forest Trees of Virginia
  • Common Shrubs and Woody Vines of Virginia
  • American Forests: A History of Resiliency and Recovery
  • Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas
  • as well as all online course materials, discussions with natural resource professionals, an online Tree ID tutorial, optional videos, and webinars.

 

Upon course completion, participants will receive a copy of: Legacy Planning: A Guide for Virginia Landowners

Over 1,200 landowners across the US have participated in this class.

This regional 4-part webinar series is offered annually in January-February.  Topics change each year and include a variety of applied subjects for woodland owners. The 2024 topics will be available in late 2023.

Learn more

Virginia's SHARP Logger Program has assembled a series of free on-line trainings for continuing education for logging professionals.  However, many of these topics are of interest to private woodland owners, Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, and professional foresters as well.  These on-line training programs are available year-round and free of charge. 

Current topics include:

Fifteen Minutes in the Forest

  • 12:15
  • September 1 - Forestry Myths and Misconceptions
  • September 15 - Building Roads and Trails 
  • September 29 - The White Oak Family
  • October 13 - Chiggers
  • October 27 - Virginia's Hardwood Initiative
  • November 10 - Hellbender Update

Nothing at this time.