2021 Indiana Tree Farmer of the Year
Pence Revington of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin is the 2021 Indiana Tree Farmer of the Year. The tree farm is 50 acres and located in White County. Revington was selected because of outstanding stewardship and willingness to share land management experiences with others. She accepted the award at the Tree Farm Breakfast at the Indiana Hardwood Lumberman’s Association convention in Indianapolis on February 8, 2022.
Forest management has been guided by professional foresters with the goal of a healthy woodland. The management plan was most recently prepared in 2018. The property has been in the Tree Farm system since 1975.
The woodlands consist of 33 acres of natural hardwoods and 17 acres of planted black walnut. Specific wildlife management practices have been conducted on 7 acres. The most recent timber sale in 2021 involved 9,000 board feet of hardwood sawtimber and 1,000 board feet of veneer. The logger has two years to remove the trees. Previous timber sales and timber stand improvement occurred in 2009 and 1996.
Extensive invasive species control has been implemented over the last five years to eradicate Ailanthus (tree-of-heaven), American bittersweet, Asian bush honeysuckle, autumn olive, and multiflora rose.
Revington most recently hosted a Hardwood University session on the property. To persuade other woodland owners to manage their woods Pence has participated in field days for Indiana Forestry & Woodland Owners Association (IFWOA) and Walnut Council and has been featured in videos produced by IFWOA and Purdue Extension. Revington was nominated and selected for the regional IFWOA Deam award in 2020. Jennifer Boyle Warner of ArborTerra Consulting nominated Revington for the 2021 Indiana Tree Farmer of the Year award.
The Tree Farmer of the Year is sponsored by Indiana Tree Farm. Recognition of outstanding professionalism in sustainable forestry practices is one of their objectives. Education is the other objective. Awardees are selected by the Indiana Tree Farm Committee which has 30 members representing a cross section of forestry professionals in the state.
Ken Day is a retired forester and former Woodland Steward Institute board member. Prior to his retirement, he most recently served as Forest Supervisor for the USDA Forest Service, Hoosier National Forest.