Located on this site are forestry links and pages that are very helpful in management of your Tennessee forest and trees.

Our forest over the millennia evolved into a  state of equilibrium.  Once man was introduced  that all changed.  Biblically  with the apple.  Evolutionarily  with man’s ingenuity.  Most of the forest land in Tennessee has not been cared for properly since the introduction of the  European settlers.  By the 1600s  most of Europe’s forest had been consumed by overuse.  America at that time was a sea of forest and ripe for the pickings.

About 10,000 years ago in Tennessee the American natives started using fire to forge a forest.  Fire was used to hunt and control pest.  Because of fire much of Tennessee as well as Kentucky became savannas.   The American Chestnut tree became a dominate species especially on the mountains and ridges because of its thick bark,  ability to sprout and the ability to adapt to all different  sites and soil types.  That all ended with the introduction of the Chinese chestnut tree.  On the Chinese chestnut was a fungus that had never been in America.  It destroyed the American chestnut.  Changed our forest completely.  In Tennessee the oaks have replaced the American chestnut with a few chestnut still trying to sprout.

We seem to never learn from out mistakes.  We are constantly  bringing into America all types of biota that become very problematic and negatively impacting our native species.  Check out my page on Forest Health.

Some historical practices  that in the past and even today devalue the forest are as follows:  Allowing livestock to graze in the forest;  allowing loggers to harvest without oversight by a professional forester from a accredited  University ;  wildfire.  Call your State Forester and have him look at your forest, in most cases it is free.

I am Guy Zimmerman the author of this website.  I worked for the State of Tennessee for 40 years as a forester and the last 2 years as a forestry consultant.  I am a Certified Forester through the Society of American Foresters and was a Certified Arborist through the International Society of Arborculture until I let my certification expire.