Our easement on the Shuman farm requires that wildlife and ecological values take priority in all forestry decisions, and like all modern conservation easements, it promotes, not prohibits, management practices to protect these values.

The Shuman example demonstrates that the human footprint in PA's forests extends beyond where we step. In 1907, Pennsylvania's forests bottomed out at less than half their current extent. Even as forest area recovered, the quality suffered from high-grading, which selected the healthiest and most valuable trees for timber, and harvests without acceptable conditions for desirable regeneration, and skewed forests toward trees that have less benefit to wildlife or humans, such as black birch and red maple. Additionally, invasive species of plants and animals introduced diseases, air pollution and acid deposition, and along with excessive deer herds and climate change, our forests were all profoundly affected.

 Leaning over new stumps at the Shuman property, the rings point to the early 1930s. White ash was one of the most important and successful species for reforestation after horses disappeared from farms. Ash samaras were easily blown on the wind into areas that had been grazed as pasture or harvested for straw. A considerable 7% of PA trees are ash, however, on some forest block scales including the former-Shuman property, ash can represent the dominant species.

Tragically, emerald ash borer arrived in Michigan from Asia in the early 2000s and in PA in 2009. As it sweeps across the state, the beetle larva eat through the cambium under the bark. Once emerald ash borers arrive, they kill 99% of ash trees within three years. Not since chestnut blight have we seen such a rapid and widespread eradication, and effectual extinction, of a commercially and ecologically important family of trees.

On the Shuman farm, the death of all the ash could trigger snowballing threats to the conservation values, including increased infestations of invasive plants. Because the forests occur on reforested steep slopes where ash is the primary element, desirable trees are not abundant or close enough to seed in effectively after the ash has died. The landowner, in cooperation with the local Natural Resources Conservation Service, devised a plan to plant thousands of bare root seedlings of high wildlife value to replace the ash. These include oaks, pawpaw, and persimmon.

The owner has taken an opportunity to harvest the ash himself using low intensity forestry practices, a skid steer and a tractor. After he skids logs to his landing, the family can saw it on-site. With its investment in a Norwood sawmill, they make lumber for use on the farm while reinvesting in new habitat through the massive tree planting project this spring.