Beltrami County offers free webinar on forest management, woodland payments

Beltrami County landowners trying to keep wooded acres healthy after storm damage have two forestry opportunities in hand this week: a free online webinar Wednesday at 5 p.m. and a tree giveaway at Lueken’s Village Foods in Bemidji.

The Beltrami Soil and Water Conservation District said the webinar will explain forest management and how landowners may be able to get paid to keep forest land wooded. Stan Grossman, a forester and chief executive of Itasca Woodland Services, will lead the session. Registration will go through Microsoft Teams, and questions can be directed to Kaylie Carver, the district’s clean water specialist, at 218-333-4157 or kaylie.carver@co.beltrami.mn.us.

The district is pushing the webinar as one of two forestry openings, and that timing matters for owners deciding whether to replant, thin, or leave land in timber. Beltrami County’s spring forestry message comes after the June 2025 storm that the county said left a ten-mile-wide swath of damage across southern Beltrami County. County updates described toppled trees, damaged homes and debris spread across the area, a reminder that forest decisions affect not just income and habitat, but the shape and safety of private property after severe weather.

At the same time, the district will distribute 5,000 trees from noon to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Lueken’s Village Foods. For landowners who lost trees, want to reforest a lot, or are trying to stabilize a wind-damaged stand, the giveaway offers a direct way to start rebuilding without paying full price for seedlings.

The webinar also points toward longer-term help beyond a one-night presentation. University of Minnesota Extension says woodland stewardship education covers forest health, timber harvesting, recreation and wildlife management, estate planning and tax incentive programs. Extension also says landowners who register a Woodland Stewardship Plan with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may qualify for woodland tax and financial incentive programs, and cost-share funds can be available for improvement projects. For owners weighing whether to wait or act, that can mean the difference between paying full freight and tapping public support.

Beltrami County’s forestry work sits inside a broader management system as well. The Minnesota Counties Sustainable Forest Cooperative says it formed in 2005, earned certification in 2007 and dual certification in 2008. The county says the cooperative is reviewed each year against sustainable forestry criteria and Minnesota Forest Resources Council guidelines, part of the same framework that is now shaping this week’s push for landowner education and replanting.