The Iowa State Forestry Extension and the forestry division of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will be holding conservation classes beginning this spring in Linn, Jefferson and Story counties.

The Master Woodland Managers program provides “educational classes at no cost to participants, with the understanding they will return the favor by donating their time to public service projects,” according to a written statement by Susan Anderson, spokesperson for the College of Agriculture Information Services.

“Volunteers have given almost 10,000 hours. People usually give two years and 32 hours of service,” said Dean Prestemon, an extension forester on the ISU campus. Some public service projects may include sponsoring outdoor classrooms, talks at service clubs, and planting trees, Prestemon said.

The classes will be taught by extension specialists, ISU professors, and DNR professionals and will cover subjects such as “tree biology and identification, ecology, tree and land measurements, wildlife management, proper use of wood, and marketing,” Anderson said.

Prestemon said the program has three goals that include “providing well-trained volunteers to help Iowa’s forestry professionals, to help Iowa landowners manage their own woodlands better and for the graduates of the program to get their friends and neighbors excited in tree management.” Classes will begin May 16 to June 20 in Linn County. The first four classes will last four hours per session and the last two classes will last eight hours per session.

Classes in Jefferson County will begin Aug. 27 through Oct. 1, and classes in Story County will begin Aug. 29 through Oct. 3.

To find out more about these classes contact the forestry extension at ISU or the county extension office. “It’s the most exciting [program] I’ve been involved with in extension,” Prestemon said. “And it has been very successful.”