The annual Tree Farm Field Day will be held Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Becker Demonstration Forest near Waupaca.
Sponsored by the Wisconsin Tree Farm Committee, the event includes tours, management presentations and a silent auction.
Registration begins at 8 a.m., with programs starting at 9 a.m.
Smokey Bear will visit at noon in celebration of his 70th birthday.
The afternoon program will be held from 1-3 p.m.
The cost is $10 per person, $15 for a couple, and $5 for each additional person. There is no cost for children age 12 and under.
The Becker Woodland is located at N3896 North Military Drive, east of Waupaca.
The field day presentation topics include information on pine plantation management, deer exclosure, erosion control, and land surveyors.
The Becker Tree Farm consists of pine and other conifers, northern hardwoods, along with some swamp and grasslands.
Merlin and Georgiann Becker were named as Wisconsin’s Outstanding Tree Farmer in 2013.
They have owned Becker Woodlands for 35 years, completing their first forest management plan in 1977, with an update in 2011.
Merlin and Georgie, with their children Scott and Brenda, make up four generations owning the Becker Woodlands. Merlin’s grandfather, Gust Kapitzke, owned the land originally.
When Merlin’s parents, Ed and Esther Becker, took over the farm, they realized that the old growth timber dated back over 100 years.
With assistance from the Wisconsin Conservation Department forester in 1967, the first harvest was completed, removing some of the large, over-mature wolf trees. Since then the Becker Woodlands have had nine selection harvests, 11 different intermediate thinnings and a few needed salvage cuts.
In 1968, the Becker family started the planting of red pine, spruce, white pine, cedar, red oak and some shrubs on the fields that were depleted of nutrients. This planting expanded the Becker Woodlands to the current 97-acre tree farm.
The Becker tree farm has been designated as the demonstration forest for Waupaca County Golden Sands RC&D since 1986.
For more information, call 715-252-2001 or visit www.witreefarm.org.