Raul Chiesa and Janet Sredy, owners of the 110-acre Beckets Run Woodlands in Forward, say their selection this week as National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year is about a lot more than the trees.
Instead, they say, it is recognition of a “futuristic” approach to private stewardship of woodlands in the “urban-wildland interface” that uses an ecosystem-based approach to sustainable forestry, taking into account wildlife, native species, aesthetic considerations and even using forests to offset industrial greenhouse gas emissions.
“Carbon trading, conservation banking, biodiversity banking to offset losses elsewhere are all part of our planning for the forest and ways to use the forest in non-traditional, looking forward, ways,” Dr. Chiesa said Wednesday. “Forest certification is a good thing, but we think it’s much better to have a diversified planning approach that has timber, but also has other things that will be just as important in the future.”
Ms. Sredy and her husband, Dr. Chiesa, received the award from the American Tree Farm System at a ceremony Monday in Washington, D.C., attended by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
They had previously been recognized for their forest restoration work as Pennsylvania Tree Farm of the Year for 2014, and earlier this year as Northeast Region Tree Farm of the Year.
Their property, 20 miles from Downtown Pittsburgh and too close to the constant traffic noise of Route 51 to feel isolated, is on a ridge top along the Monongahela River and has a long history of degradation, including damage from industrial emissions from U.S. Steel’s zinc mill in Donora during the first half of the 20th century that denuded the river valley and stunted tree growth.
More recently, it’s been used as an illegal dump, ATVs and dirt bikes have ripped up its trails and eroded its soil, and myriad invasive species have taken root.
“The major problem we had was that the ecosystem was disturbed,” Dr. Chiesa said. “Invasive plants and vines were competing and crowding out native species. We’re in the process of reversing that.”
They are removing invasive plants, acre by acre, and cutting some trees while keeping others, including oaks, aspens, paper birch, red maple, crabapple and yellow poplar, all marked with blue paint dots. Both have attended classes and become certified loggers.
“It’s like weeding a big garden right now,” Ms. Sredy said. “We’re just completing the first stage of the improvement plan.”
Much of the property has been in Ms. Sredy’s family since 1920, when it was purchased by her grandfather, but ownership has been divided among several family members. In 2007, Dr. Chiesa and Ms. Sredy, along with her brother and sister-in-law, Mark and Patty Sredy, brought those pieces together and established a forest management plan with the help of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service.
“We thought about what to do with the property and decided let’s do what’s best for the land,” Dr. Chiesa said. “We liked trees, so we went to the DCNR and got technical support.”
They entered into “biodiversity partnerships” with the DCNR, California State University and the U.S. Forest Service.
Dr. Chiesa and Ms. Sredy were selected for the national tree farm award from 698 privately owned, certified sustainable forests, covering a total of 150,000 acres. There are 82,000 tree farms in the U.S.
What set them apart, they think, is that they’ve been able to improve their property while reaching out to the surrounding property owners and community. They’ve leased their property and some adjacent land to a hunting club for private hunts, and worked with Dominion, a gas pipeline company, to improve pipeline right-of-way reclamation standards on certified forest land. They’ve also put together a wildlife management plan, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, for an adjacent property owned by Dominion.
“We’ve extended beyond our property borders to help with wildlife management on another 600 acres,” Ms. Sredy said.
Don Hopey: 412-263- 1983, dhopey@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @donhopey
First Published: October 22, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
