Progress report for ENE21-168
Project Information
The Reading the Woods project will enable the utilization of West Virginia’s forests to enhance the state’s agricultural economy. It will support small farms through enhancing capacity of private and public Agricultural Service Providers (ASPs) in the Mountain State. This project will first create an economic, environmental, and regulatory planning tool titled “Reading the Woods.” Project staff will then test and refine resource materials throughout the duration of the project. ASPs will first gain exposure to the broader concept of Forest Farming—the process of cultivating high-value crops within a managed woodlot. They will then be trained to effectively utilize the Reading the Woods guide and resource tools.
Problem and Justification
Rugged geography, limited connectivity, and lack of accessible markets and processing opportunities perpetuate an ongoing economic decline in agricultural production. West Virginia lost 2,000 farms of its more than 20,000 predominately small farms, between 2007 and 2012 (USDA, 2014). The 2012 Census of Agriculture reported that 12,650 of these farms had net losses or zero gain. The majority of West Virginia farm operators (57%) already have a primary occupation other than farming (NASS 2017).
Need exists for enhanced agricultural revenue opportunities throughout West Virginia. According to the state’s 2020 Strategic Plan, “West Virginia’s agricultural land has relatively low value, with an average of $2,750 per acre.” This is largely due to the high prioritization placed on large grazing areas, which does not account for the commercial value of forestlands. “Three in four West Virginia farms sell less than $10,000 annually”. West Virginia has the highest proportion of any state in which the non-seasonal agricultural labor force is comprised of farm proprietors. This project will help farmers who currently have vast swaths of land that is forested and under utilized for Agriculture.
Solution and Approach
Reading the Woods will equip Agricultural Service Providers (ASPs) with the skills and the knowledge to help farmers and forest landowners access opportunities for forest farming income on their lands. The tool will be developed in cooperation with ASPs and farmers to ensure that it is appropriate. ASPs will gain an economic framework for combining sustainable and responsible woodlot management of tree stands with the cultivation and harvesting of native understory woodland plants known as Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs).
Reading the Woods will enable ASPs to help landowners and farmers to determine NTFP opportunities, conduct resource assessments, determine resource management plans, discover production and harvesting techniques/technologies, assess market opportunities, and develop plans for conservation and sustainable production. The project will result in a robust digital resource guide that will include economic costs and environmental impact calculators. Farmers and landowners can diversify their income by bolstering the returns of existing agribusinesses.
“Reading the Woods” will adapt the current SARE-based “Reading the Farm” tool to provide agricultural service providers with a multi-seasonal diversification planning tool for non-timber forest products in West Virginia forests and applicable throughout the Central Appalachian region; the tool will be utilized by at least 25 agricultural and forest service providers who fully complete the training and impact at least 75 farmers.
“Reading the Woods” adapts the current SARE-based “Reading the Farm” tool to provide agricultural service providers with a multi-seasonal diversification planning tool for non-timber forest products in West Virginia forests and is applicable throughout the Central Appalachian and the NE SARE Region.
Educational Approach
Initial project activities will focus on developing a prototype of the Reading the Woods tool by compiling and updating existing economic, environmental, and regulatory frameworks and instruments identified by the Project Team and Advisory Committee. Project Team members will build outward from the NTFP resources identified to create the framework for the Reading the Woods tool. Existing woodlot assessment instrumentation will also be adapted and incorporated.
The Project Lead will work with Team members to identify existing resources and case examples within the region. This evidence base will be the foundation upon which to create the initial Reading the Woods instrumentation. At this stage, education activity will include training of all Project Team members on the prototype design and instrumentation. Team members will also identify resource and technical instrumentation gaps in order to prioritize areas of ongoing resource development.
Future Generations University staff will work closely with the WV Food and Farm Coalition’s Foodshed Coordinators to test the effectiveness of the initial Reading the Woods modules. Farmers that are harvesting at least one agroforestry product will be identified. Outreach efforts will engage existing forest farmers to test the Reading the Woods tool on their existing NTFP products. Foodshed Coordinators will become familiarized with the Reading the Woods tool through helping to test and refine the prototype instrument.
This project will use an iterative design process to conduct training among all project collaborators, while also testing the initial Reading the Woods prototype and its instrumentation. Throughout the process, the Project Advisory team will be engaged to review the tool components. Early outreach will also target any existing ASPs who are already being involved in a forest farming activity to test the Reading the Woods tool, and to help with its design from a landowner/farmer’s perspective. Additionally, outreach activities will identify existing NTFP demonstrations throughout the region and they will be used for subsequent Reading the Woods training activities.
It is anticipated that certain NTFP product modules, such as mushrooms or maple products, will be finalized much more rapidly than others. The initial Reading the Woods prototype will focus on holistic woodlot assessments that prioritize products with clear evidence of rapid economic returns and established value-chains. Reading the Woods will be conceived primarily as a digital product with ongoing support coaching from project staff. New product modules will be continually added/refined throughout the project period, simultaneous to training ASPs on the resources’ existence, purpose, and applications. User feedback will be essential to creating a robust and useful planning tool.
Instrumentation will be designed using offline documentation, spreadsheets, and fillable worksheets supplied to the Project Team. This will include necessary equipment such as handheld GPS devices as well as access to GIS software. Subsequent iterations of tested instrumentation and training material will be digitized into an online training materials supported by online economic and environmental cost and price calculators. Reading the Woods will not only provide ASPs with the content training, but also equip them with a digital toolbox of environmental planning and economic calculators to develop a comprehensive NTFP woodlot assessment and land-use plan.
Initial outreach will target 100 agricultural service providers. Outreach will be conducted with the support of the WVFFC’s Foodshed Coordinators who are responsible for regional county clusters across the state. About 50 ASPs are expected to participate in introductory training on NTFPs in year two of the project. From this initial group of participating service providers, at least 25 are expected to join additional training workshops on Reading the Woods. These 25 service providers (those who complete the full training) will implement the tool during farm site visits, working with three to five farmers within one year of completing the training there by reaching 75-125 farmers over the entire project period. Additional webinars and regional conference presentations will help to disseminate Reading the Woods to an even broader audience of agricultural service providers beyond the primary target audience.
Milestones
Project Advisory Committee: monthly meetings during the first 6 months of the project and then quarterly thereafter to build consensus on content areas and integration of existing resource materials. The Advisory Committee will guide the creation of the initial version of Reading the Woods. They will conduct regular reviews of subsequent drafts as well as a final review of Reading the Woods product at the end of the performance period. They will assist in providing a final assessment of Reading the Woods in the Project Report.
The Reading the Woods project team formed an Advisory Committee made up of seven members who represent diverse technical service providers who service the agroforestry sector in West Virginia and Central Appalachia. Members of the Advisory Committee contribute valuable insight to the project serving as consulting foresters, university extension agents, forest farmers, and representatives of sustainable forestry and rural development organizations and state agencies.
The Reading the Woods (RTW) Advisory Committee met three times during the first six months. During these meetings, the Reading the Woods project team asked the Advisory Committee to provide feedback on the project work plan, the “Reading the Woods” tool prototype, training needs, and outreach materials.
The project team conducted one-on-one interviews with members of the Advisory Committee to inform the design and development of the “Reading the Woods” tool, and to identify or refer the project team to technical service providers and demonstration sites for the project.
In addition, the Advisory Committee members reviewed additional resources developed by the project team. For example, members completed the Technical Service Provider Self-Assessment and provided thoughtful feedback. The self-assessment is to be administered to technical service providers as a prerequisite to participating in the professional development training for Reading the Woods.
Reading the Woods Version 1 will be an initial prototype, developed 6-months into the project start date, that builds upon existing resource materials and adapts/develops suitable instrumentation to be tested during the remaining project period. Version 1 will cover basic woodlot plotting, natural resource distribution and identification, and environmental assessment tools for existing NTFP products in the region. Version 1 will emphasize commonly marketable NTFPs in the region as they intersect with environmental conditions.
To inform the design and development of the Reading the Woods tool prototype, the project team conducted a literature review, interviews, and a focus group.
Literature Review
The project team reviewed over 100 publications and instruments in total. The publications and the instruments address a wide range of topics including, sustainable forest management, cultivation methods, enterprise planning, budgets, domestic and international markets, and regulations. A predominant number of publications and instruments are specific to the Central Appalachian region. Examples from the United States, Europe, United Kingdom, Southern Asia, and South America supplement the limited number of publications and instruments specific to the Central Appalachian region.
Interviews
The project team conducted semi-structured and unstructured interviews with thirteen key informants and the seven members of the Advisory Committee. The project team selected technical service providers and researchers who serve woodland stewards in West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and New York. The project team asked the following interview questions to inform the design and development of the tool’s prototype.
- How much of your job involves working directly with landowners or land seekers?
- What sort of services are you offering them?
- What is the current reality of Agroforestry, Forest Farming, and NTFPs in West Virginia?
- Does it come up in conversation with landowners or land seekers? If so, how?
- As a technical service provider, what resources do you think need to be included in the tool? Please include resources that would be helpful for you and the woodland steward. (Papers, tools, organizations working with NTFPs)?
- What should it look like? An online application; a downloadable, printable binder; USB drive that holds the worksheets, resources, etc.?
- Can you suggest technical service providers that should be participants in our program?
- Lastly, can you suggest sites we can partner with to demonstrate successful examples of NTFPS?
The interview questions are evolving as the tool develops and the research reaches data saturation. Interviews with key informants is ongoing to identify and develop additional resources for the tool.
Focus Group
The project team convened a focus group style meeting with the Advisory Committee to report on the interview data, identify potential gaps in the research, and assess the training needs of technical service providers.
The ongoing research continues to highlight key opportunities, challenges, and needs of the agroforestry sector in West Virginia.
As a result of the preliminary research, Reading the Woods will present technical service providers with an online and offline, open-source tool to guide woodland stewards on sustainable forest management. Reading the Woods follows a holistic approach that assesses the environmental, economic, and social characteristics of a forest to determine nature-based enterprise opportunities for woodland stewards.
The first edition of the tool features resources for the technical service providers to conduct a Whole Woods Assessment and complete a Whole Woods Stewardship Analysis for Sustainable, Nature-based Enterprises with woodland stewards. The tool includes the following:
- A infographic map to guide technical service providers on the steps for “how to read the woods” with a woodland steward.
- A Woodland Steward Self-Assessment and a series of worksheets to assist the technical service provider and the woodland steward through the decision-making process of developing a Whole Woods Enterprise Plan.
- A library and an archive for technical service providers to make available quality materials which fulfill educational, informational, and cultural needs of technical service providers and Appalachia’s agroforestry community. The materials and resources provided by the library and archive may include, training programs, books, journal articles, technical articles, handbooks, photographs, recorded podcasts or radio broadcasts, and field notes.
- A rolodex of local specialists for the technical service provider to contact for additional information.
- A Whole Woods Enterprise Matrix for production planning and layering nature-based enterprises in a forest.
- Four fact sheets to showcase elderberry, stinging nettle, birding, and carbon credit enterprises that each represent at least one category of a sustainable, nature-based enterprise: timber products, ecosystem services and agritourism, forest edibles/culinary foods, medicinal, and floral and decorative products.
Reading the Woods invites technical service providers from all professional backgrounds and skill levels who serve woodland stewards in West Virginia. Woodland stewards are individuals or families in West Virginia who have access to and decision-making powers over an existing forest. They include landowners, leaseholders, or those with informal land tenure agreements.
NTFP Demonstration Farms will be identified within the first year of the project’s performance period. The iterative design process of this project will both test the Reading the Woods instrumentation, and also identify demonstration training sites among existing forest farming locations. 12 Ag Service Providers will participate in the initial trainings. Six farmers will agree to serve as demonstration sites for on-site Reading the Woods training. A minimum of nine NTFPs will be showcased across these six demonstration farms.
The Reading the Woods project team developed a set of criteria (listed below) for identifying appropriate demonstration sites. Nineteen potential demonstration sites that meet these selection criteria were identified.
- The demonstration site is in West Virginia.
- The demonstration site is accessible.
- The demonstration site represents at least three nature-based enterprises from at least two of the five categories.
- The demonstration site is an example of sustainable forest management for the benefit of two or more nature-based enterprises.
- The demonstration site is an economically viable enterprise.
The project team is developing partnerships with demonstration sites through existing relationships between technical service providers and woodland stewards. For example, the Appalachia Program at Future Generations University is partnering with three demonstration sites to measure increased maple sap production in 2022. The demonstration sites present the opportunity for the Appalachia Program’s field team of technical service providers to test Reading the Woods.
The remaining three demonstration sites will be selected and confirmed by May 1, 2022.
12 Ag Service Providers and 6 Farmers, along with the Advisory Committee and Project Team will provide feedback on Version 1 of the "Reading the Woods." Reading the Woods Version 2 will incorporate additional NTFPs identified by Ag Service Providers through year one of the project. Version 2 will incorporate value-chain criteria such as storage, processing, packaging, as well as marketing and distribution planning instrumentation to align with landowner priorities and needs. Online price calculation tools will begin to be developed and tested.
The seven members of the Advisory Committee provided feedback on the first edition of the Reading the Woods prototype in a focus group style meeting.
The Reading the Woods project team developed an infographic and concept page to succinctly present the project and its goals to stakeholders. These two pieces were reviewed by the Advisory Committee and select stakeholders, revised, combined into a 2-page (front and back) flyer, and then distributed. The primary purpose of this publication is to help engage technical service providers and encourage them to participate in the training.
The Reading the Woods project team is assembling fact sheets to exhibit for technical service providers and woodland stewards an example of cultivation, production, and nature-based enterprise scenarios specific to Central Appalachia. The initial set of fact sheets will focus on a representative group of products and services: elderberry, stinging nettle, birding, carbon credits, and tree syrups (maple, sycamore, and walnut).
In September 2021, the project team met with the developers of the Non-Timber Forest Product Calculator (NTFP) – Version 1.0. The attendees of the meeting agreed to develop and test the Forest Farming Calculator in partnership with the project team to avoid creating duplicate calculators. The partners continue to communicate as the data is collected and the calculator is developed.
150 Ag Service Providers will be recruited to participate in NTFP Outreach Training seminars. 20 additional farmers will be recruited to serve as on-farm training sites.
While conducting preliminary research, the Reading the Woods project team recognized that the Reading the Woods professional development tool will benefit more than agricultural service providers. Reading the Woods is recruiting 25 technical service providers (TSPs) from diverse professional backgrounds to test the Reading the Woods tool. The initial cohort of technical service providers represent agricultural and forestry technical service providers (consulting foresters, NRCS, WV DOF, WVU Extension), state agencies (WVDA, WVCA), rural development NGOs (VC2, NCIF, AmeriCorps VISTAs, WVFFC Foodshed Coordinators), and NGOs with a focus on sustainable forestry (Future Generations University field team, Yew Mountain Center, Rural Action).
A cohort of 25 technical service providers will participate in the Reading the Woods professional training. The training will introduce the initial pilot cohort of technical service providers to the tool and ensure that the cohort is prepared to conduct a “reading of the woods” with a woodland steward. The training is designed to meet the following teaching objectives:
- Become proficient in the concepts of agroforestry, forest farming, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) or nature-based enterprises, and their potential in West Virginia and the region.
- Conduct foundational assessments of the social, biophysical, and economic characteristics of a forest.
- Develop a familiarity with the Reading the Woods tool and its uses to benefit the education programs and services offered to woodland stewards.
- Identify and apply the building blocks to forming a successful partnership between technical service providers and woodland stewards.
- Acquire the confidence to use the tool to guide a woodland steward on developing a custom Whole Woods Enterprise Plan based on the social, biophysical, and economic assessments of their forest.
The 25 technical service providers will test the Reading the Woods tool with at least three woodland stewards.
The pilot phase of Reading the Woods will engage the Advisory Committee, the 25 technical service providers, and the 75 woodland stewards to solicit feedback on the tool and its impact. The Technical Service Provider Post-Assessment will be administered to the pilot cohort. The Reading the Woods project team will conduct a final focus group in August 2023.
75 Ag Service Providers will participate in one of eight NTFP Outreach Training Seminars. These trainings will focus on raising awareness about the importance of NTFPs to supporting West Virginia’s small farms through the provision of supplemental income opportunities. Moreover, these seminars will identify ASPs interested in participating in ongoing training opportunities on the Reading the Woods guide. The seminars will be held between months 6--18 of the project. An additional 6 farmers will agree to serve as demonstration sites for on-site Reading the Woods training.
The Reading the Woods project team is focusing the project on implementing a pilot to test the Reading the Woods tool with 25 technical service providers. The previously proposed Outreach Training Seminars for technical service providers will be reevaluated after the testing, and an updated outreach plan will be created.
Reading the Woods Version 3 will be created 18 months into the project period. This version of the resource guide will have very similar content to Version 2 with several key improvements. First, it will have further tested and refined the economic and environmental planning instrumentation in the form of online price calculators. These price calculators will have updated instructions based on ASP user feedback. Final graphic formatting and downloadable offline versions will be made available.
The project team participated in two preliminary meetings with partners and continues to communicate via email and Zoom technologies to develop the Forest Farming Calculator.
Reading the Woods ASP Workshops will begin 18 months after the project start date and run every 2 months during the final quarter of project year 2. Workshops will initially target at least 50 ASPs on the Reading the Woods framework.
25 ASPs are expected to complete the entire training and mentorship program.
Project staff will mentor 25 ASPs to work with approximately three farmers each (75 total) to apply the complete Reading the Woods framework over the course of 8 months (March to November).
Milestone Activities and Participation Summary
Educational activities and events conducted by the project team:
Participants in the project’s educational activities:
Learning Outcomes
At this point in time, the Reading the Woods project team has presented the objectives and the key components of Reading the Woods to 28 technical service providers who service woodland stewards in West Virginia. The project team’s informal presentations of Reading the Woods to technical service providers is an opportunity to educate technical service providers on the Reading the Woods approach to sustainable forest management and encourage a “shift in gaze” when assessing a forest. The project team has focused on the following key areas:
1. Sustainable forest management- a holistic approach that assesses the social, environmental, and economic characteristics of a forest
2. The history of agroforestry and the land management practice today
3. Forest farming methods
4. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and ecosystem services
5. Nature-based enterprises and the opportunity to diversify incomes for West Virginia’s woodland stewards
The 28 technical service providers received a brief overview of the key project focus areas. The professional development training and the Reading the Woods tool will expand upon the key areas to equip technical service providers with the knowledge, the skills, and the resources to confidently educate and service woodland stewards on sustainable forest management in West Virginia.
The technical service providers were introduced to Reading the Woods through one-on-one virtual meetings, two in-person introductions, and email communications. In addition, a one-pager introducing Reading the Woods is circulating among a network of technical service providers in West Virginia.
The Reading the Woods project team is collecting baseline data on the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and awareness of technical service providers by administering the Technical Service Provider Self-Assessment. This assessment will be required of technical service providers who will participate in the Reading the Woods professional development training. Ten technical service providers have completed the self-assessment, thus far. The deadline to complete the assessment will be March 1, 2022.
Performance Target Outcomes
Performance Target Outcomes - Service Providers
Target #1
Agricultural Service providers will fully complete the training on the "Reading the Woods" assessment and decision-making tool
Farmers/land owners will increase their incomes and farm output through sustainable cultivation methods within existing woodlots after developing management plans with ASPs who complete site assessments and follow the decision-making system of the "Reading the Woods" tool.
- 2 Curricula, factsheets and other educational tools
- 1 Study circles/focus groups
The Reading the Woods project team is in communication with 17 technical service providers at this time who expressed interest in participating in the Reading the Woods pilot. Participants will complete the training, implement the Reading the Woods tool with three woodland stewards, and provide feedback to the project team.
Woodland stewards (landowners, lease holders, or those with informal land tenure agreements who have access to and decision-making powers over an existing forest) will increase their incomes and farm output through sustainable cultivation methods within existing woodlots after developing a Whole Woods Enterprise Plan with technical service providers who complete site assessments and follow the step-by-step decision-making guide in the "Reading the Woods" tool.
Performance Target Outcomes - Farmers
Woodland stewards (landowners, lease holders, or those with informal land tenure agreements who have access to and decision-making powers over an existing forest) will increase their incomes and farm output through sustainable cultivation methods within existing woodlots after developing a Whole Woods Enterprise Plan with technical service providers who complete site assessments and follow the step-by-step decision-making guide in the "Reading the Woods" tool.
Information Products
- How to Read the Woods (Decision-making Tool)