Northeast Nominee: James & Linda Culp from Maryland

What makes them outstanding?

The Culp Family is very hands-on with the on the ground management activities.  Jim personally has completed TSI, road, ditch and property line maintenance work on both tree farms, utilizing both hand tools and machinery.  He has installed several hunting stands and a number of wildlife feeding stations on the Colonna Road Tree Farm.  Jim has created several acres of wildlife food plots on the Colonna tract, doing most clearing, disking, seeding and mowing himself, with some help from his hunting companions and family.  In the course of completing this work, the Culps have owned a bulldozer, backhoe, tractor, bush-hog, ATV, various hand tools and a storage container located on the Colonna Road tract.  They also rented a tracked skid steer, equipped with a mulcher head to complete 46.9 acres of timber stand improvement in young loblolly pine thickets in 2012.  Jim operated the skid steer/mulcher, deciding which trees to remove as he maneuvered through the forest.  Linda, Melanie and Stefanie get credit for much of the mowing on the tracts.  Results have been excellent and the growth rate of the remaining trees has increased greatly.  The ladies of the family have also planted pine seedlings, worked on the wildlife food plots and maintained property lines.

The family is constantly seeking advice and adapting it to their objectives.  Staying on top of their recommended schedule as set forth in their Forest Stewardship Plan, sets the Culps apart from most property owners.  They are in constant contact, always asking “What’s next?”

Tree Farmer story

Jim and Linda Laws Culp did not get into tree farming on a whim.  Linda and her family have a very long history in the timber and sawmill business in Worcester County, Maryland.  Linda, Jim and their daughters Melanie & Stefanie represent the 8th and 9th generations of the Laws family that have been in the timber, sawmill and forest landowning business on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland, dating back to the late 1600s.

Linda and her brother acquired the Patey Woods Tree Farm, formerly owned by the Laws Corporation, through their father’s estates in 2013.  In mid 2016, Linda and Jim bought out the interest of her brother.  The new ownership is in the name of Culp Tree Farms, LLC.  Many years earlier, the Culps purchased the Colonna Road Tree Farm from her Uncle Milton Laws, thinking it would be a good investment and in order to have a private hunting area.  Milton had managed the land for many years as part of the timber holdings of the J. Milton Laws Lumber Company, a local sawmill operation.   Jim, Linda and their daughters have continued and intensified the level of forest management.  Not only is there an interest in continuing to grow timber for financial return, but also in improving wildlife habitat, as Jim is an avid hunter.  Jim and several of his friends and former colleagues from his career with the Maryland State Police enjoy hunting and working on the property.

Later this year (2017) the Colonna Road Tree Farm ownership will be rolled into Culp Tree Farms, LLC.  The tree farms will then be re-numbered to conform to current standards for multiple tract tree farms, as set forth by the Maryland Tree Farm Committee.

Jim will frequently contact Rob Clarke, the local service forester with the Maryland Forest Service and ask should we initiate a particular practice at this time; or ask ‘what is the status of a planting or spray project’?  The family is constantly seeking advice and adapting it to their objectives.  Staying on top of their recommended practice schedule, as set forth in their Forest Stewardship Plan, sets the Culps apart from most other property owners.  Others often wait for the service forester to contact them to suggest the next course of action.  The Culps are in constant contact, always asking “What’s next?”

When needed, the family hires consulting foresters to cruise timber and conduct sales.  Industrial foresters have provided advice and guidance in the completion of commercial thinning operations on both properties.  They communicate thoroughly with all professionals involved, to make sure everyone is on the same page.  Whenever a contractor is on the property, Jim stays in contact with them, often visiting logging operations, to make sure everything is going smoothly, that the families’ objectives are being met and that the contractor can operate efficiently within those objectives.

Licensed, registered or approved contractors have been used to carry out timber cruising, herbicide applications, tree planting and logging operations.  Federal and/or state cost share programs and tax incentives have been used extensively to help defray forestry practice expenses.  Whenever they have the opportunity, the Culps encourage other landowners to take advantage of these cost share programs and tax incentives.  Jim and Linda have shared their knowledge of these programs during Tree Farm tours on their property.  They have also discussed their experiences utilizing these programs with forestry students from the Allegany College forestry program, during student field visits to their property.

In an urbanized state like Maryland, it is imperative that forest landowners share their experiences with state legislators.  Many delegates and senators from urban areas have limited interaction with forests or forest landowners.  Jim, as a member of the Maryland Forests Association and its Legislative Committee, has helped to monitor proposed legislation that may affect forest landowners.  Testimony or letters from Tree Farmers such as the Culps help influence legislators as to how they should act on any given piece of forestry legislation.

For the following areas describe how the landowner's management addresses it

Wood: ACCOMPLISHMENTS COLONNA TREE FARM

2016 7 ac. fireline maintenance

2016  2 ac. manual pre-commercial thinning

2014/12/16 FSP updated

2014 - 7 ac. fireline / food plot maintenance

2014 - 4 ac. manual pre-commercial thinning

2013 3 ac plant pine(WIP)

2013 - 7 ac. fireline maintenance

10/13/2012 TF Inspection & Tour

2012 6 ac herbicide treatment

2012 3 ac. plant pine

2012 7 ac. fireline maintenance

2012 46.9 ac. PRE-COMMERCIAL THINNING with CAT mulcher (c/s) (WIP & EQIP).

2011-12 - 126 ac commercial thinning

2011 - 7 ac. fireline maintenance

2011 - 5 ac. bulldozing brush control

2010 - 7 ac. fireline maintenance

2010 - 3 ac. fireline construction

2010 15.9 ac. brush control (WIP)

2010 30 ac. Commercial Thinning

2009 2 ac. fireline construction

2009 2 ac. shearblade & windrow

2009 - 3 ac. fireline maintenance

2008 104 ac. brush control (WIP).

2008 42 ac. commercial thinning

2008-10 ~3 ac. wildlife plots, cleared, seeded

2007 7 ac. planting (WIP)

2007 7.2 ac shearblade, windrow (WIP)

2007 15.9 ac. herbicide spray (WIP)

2007 tile installation

2009 5.3 ac. fireline maintenance

2007-11 2800 fireline construction

2003 25.9 ac. brush control

2002/12 - TF Inspection

04/30/1998 34 ac. pine planting by contractor. (WIP)

1997 103 ac. pine planted (FIP & WIP)

1996/11TF Inspection

1996 163 herbicide release & site prep. (WIP)

1996/4/16 Road work

1996/3/29 FSP

1995/12 Colonna Tract purchased.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS PATEY WOODS TRACT

2016/7/20 Culp Tree Farms LLC

2016 - 8 fireline maintenance

2016 3 pre-commercial thinning

2016 -2018 22.8 pre-commercial thinning

2017 2018 Glatfelter, commercial thinning.

Annuallyboth tracts

Hunting

 Monitor insect, disease, weather damage

Maintenance roads, trails, ditches, property lines.

Water: Colonna Road tract: Buffers are maintained along a tributary stream of Wagram's Creek.  Drainage ditches on the property are well maintained with proper crossings to minimize sedimentation and runoff.

Patey Woods tract: The owners have worked with the local tax ditch maintenance association and were the primary driving force behind getting maintenance work completed on Ninepin Branch drainage ditch that was being destroyed by beaver activity.  All woods roads have proper crossings at ditches.

Wildlife including threatened and endangered species: The owners have installed several hunting stands and a number of wildlife feeding stations on the Colonna Road Tree Farm.  Jim has created about 9 acres of wildlife food plots on the Colonna tract, doing most clearing, disking, seeding and mowing himself, with some help from his hunting companions and family.  Family and friends hunt the Colonna tract to keep wildlife populations at sustainable levels, thus protecting the timber resources from excessive grazing.

Patey Woods tract is hunted and a wildlife plot managed by a reputable hunt club.  This provides the owners an annual income opportunity from this tract and a continuing on the ground presence to monitor for trespassing or other illegal activities.  About 4 acres on the Colonna tract (stand 5) are reserved for wildlife habitat diversity and streamside erosion protection. 

Note: Forested land accounts for about 168 acres of the tract total.  The remainder (~9.724 acres) is a combination of woods roads and wildlife food plots.  A variety of plantings to enhance wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities have been completed by the owners over the past several years on both the roads and food plots.  Continue these practices to increase wildlife populations, improve hunting, protect the stability of the woods roads and to prevent soil erosion.

Recreation and Aesthetics including special sites: Wildlife management and hunting are important considerations in the forest management on the Culp's Tree Farm properties.  Both tracts have considerable road frontage on county roads and consideration is given to visual impact when planning management activities. 

Commercial and pre-commercial thinning operations are conducted at regular intervals to improve the quality of the forest and increase the opportunities for successful hunting excursions.  A variety of plantings to enhance wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities have been completed by the owners over the past several years on both the roads and food plots.

Besides hunting, the entire family enjoys getting out on their woodlands to carry out various forest management practices, from mowing, road improvements, drainage improvements, marking of property lines, installation of wildlife plots and feeding stations, tree planting and pre-commercial thinning.