Mastwood manages 160 acres of hardwood forest in the hills surrounding our home farm following a NRCS Wildlife Habitat Management Plan.
Forest management grant
In 2023, our project received a $200,000 for our “Forest Management Plan with a focus on Wildlife Habitat and Mast Tree Release” from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This grant funds six years of active forest stewardship across the 160 acres of woodland surrounding our home farm. The funding supports a wide range of forest management practices designed to improve both ecological health and long term productivity: mast tree release and non-commercial thinning to concentrate growth on the oak, hickory, and other mast-producing trees that wildlife depend on, selective replanting to restore native species diversity, and the installation of wildlife habitat structures including bird boxes, snag trees, and brush piles for cover. Together these practices are gradually transforming a “deer managed” even-aged stand into a more structurally diverse forest with multiple canopy layers, improved mast yield, and better habitat connectivity for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife moving between the surrounding ridge and the silvopasture orchard below.
To get a sense of what each practices costs check out the NRCS EQIP Practices Rates for 2025 here: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/fy25-ny-eqip.pdf
The first step is to have a NRCS Certified Forester write a Forest Management Plan. You can apply for a mini grant to pay for this upfront or pay for it yourself to speed up the process by about a year! This will cost between 2-3K. A forest management plan can range in focus from timber harvest goals, wildlife habitat goals, maple sugaring goals to even just ecological thinning for firewood needs. We went with a Forest Improvement Plan with a focus on Wildlife Habitat and Mast Tree Release.
