Hi Abigail,

Great to hear that you want to learn more about your property.  I would recommend walking your woods with a forester.  Foresters are professionals who are trained to understand your woods and what you can do to ensure and improve the values have for your woods, whether they be aesthetics, wildlife, etc.  To prepare for a visit, I would recommend developing a map of your land and using our Goal setting tool to think about why you own your land and what you want it to look like into the future.  

There are several different types of forester that you could work with.  You might want to start with a local forester with your state Departmenet of Natural Resources.  You can find out who to contact here.  You might also consider hiring a consulting forester to work with over the long term to ensure the health of your woods.  We have some instructions available to help walk you through this process of connecting to our 460 plus foresters from around the country.  Through your account, you can Request a Consultation and share a read-only version of your map and goals. 

We also have some helpful content around Choosing a Consulting Forester and Finding and Hiring a Consulting Forester. 

Hope that helps.

cheers,
Caroline Kuebler

Program Manager for MyLandPlan.org