Organizers estimated that at least 200 people enjoyed a walk in the woods at the Minnesota Forestry Association Forestry Field Day event on the Jensen property near Princeton Saturday.  Staff members from the Sherburne Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) were joined by representatives from other agencies and volunteers from the SWCD Tree Survey program in facilitating the event.

 

The event began with a mandatory “boot cleaning” supervised by the event volunteers, who provided individual brushes to each attendee which were used to clean the soles of their shoes to help prevent the spread of alien seeds.

 

A full schedule of events and demonstrations awaited attendees throughout the day, including a slate of activities for children supervised by SWCD Dist. Mgr. Francine Larson and Ginger Kopp, a demonstration of old-fashioned horse-drawn logging by Pat Lanin of Diamond K Percherons, assisted by Lukas Jensen,, a demonstration of a “solar kiln” by Peter Jensen.  Farm Friends Barn board members Jean Johnson and Bill Bronder were also on hand selling their famous roast beef sandwiches and old-fashioned hot dogs. 

 

Also present to enjoy the beautiful fall day was former property owner Dorothy Grill, who had originally moved to the property with her late husband Jack in 1956, when they began logging and farming the 200-acre plot.  Debbie Jensen said her family began purchasing parts of the property in 1996, and have added to their holdings over time since then.  They have planted a large number of Norway pine in the area, she said, and have recently logged-out the red oaks that had been infected with oak wilt.

 

A visit from Smokey the Bear was a delight for kids of all ages at the event, which also included a portable sawmill demonstration, workshops on soil health and plant communities for pollinators, “light on the land” equipment for minimal disturbance of the earth during logging or farming operations, oak wilt management, wildlife inventorying and a woods walk with the landowners to discuss their future stewardship plans for the site.

 

Exhibitors for the event included the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Dept. of Natural Resources, Sherburne County SWCD, U. o f M. Extension, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge and the MN Lyme Association.

 

The event was hosted by the metro chapter of the Minnesota Forestry Association (MFA), the Sherburne SWCD and the Jensen family.