Meet the Forestry Faculty

H. E. "Hank" Stelzer, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Forestry Extension

More than 350,000 private citizens own approximately 83 percent of Missouri's 14 million acres of forest land. A disproportionate number of these individuals (329,000) own woodlands less than 100 acres. One third of these family-owned forests are part of the family farm. Of the two-thirds not part of a farm, 70 percent are part of the primary residence.

Regardless of how private forest land is classified, less than 15 percent of these landowners have a management plan or have sought professional help in managing their natural resources. In addition to this lack of awareness on the landowner's part, there are relatively few professional foresters (less than 300) available to meet any increase in demand for help. Proper management of these family-owned forests is vital for sustaining Missouri's natural resources and high quality of life. It is Extension's role to help landowners become competent and connected not only to professional foresters, but also to other landowners who are actively managing their land.

Missouri's non-industrial private forest (NIPF) lands are overgrown with small-diameter (6-12") trees and there are vast acreages that are sick and dying due to many decades of neglect. From a utilization perspective, stands in this condition do not attract new industry due to their poor quality. From a forest management perspective, there is no incentive to manage these stands because there are no viable markets for this small-diameter, low-grade material. MU's small-diameter tree utilization research is focusing on developing new markets for this wood fiber and the spatial analysis of this resource to aid in sighting manufacturing facilities.