Eastern white pine is making a comeback, but as experienced field foresters know, much of this second-growth timber can be challenging from a quality standpoint. In this episode of SilviCast, we talk with Rene Germain, professor of forestry at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Sara Dreibelbis, Operations Director at Alliance for a Green Economy. They share insights from their research on assessing and managing eastern white pine, including practical approaches for improving timber quality. You may just find yourself looking at white pine logs a little differently!

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In this episode of SilviCast, we talk with regeneration experts Mike Reinikainen, Roger Bohringer, and Tom Hill about direct seeding—a challenging and often misunderstood approach to reforestation that establishes forests by planting seeds rather than seedlings. Direct seeding can be an economical and effective way to establish new forests, but success depends on getting the details right. We explore seed rates and timing, site preparation, planting depth, and the challenges of seed predation and seed procurement. Because little has been written about the practical application of direct seeding, success requires careful planning, patience, and diligence—as well as a willingness to experiment, observe, and learn from what happens on the ground.

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE

Roger Bohringer
Assistant Manager, Wilson State Nursery at WI DNR
Roger Bohringer is the Assistant Nursery Manager, tasked with managing the day to day operations at Wilson State Nursery in Boscobel, Wisconsin. Prior to his current duties, he spent several summers in the field all across Wisconsin, looking at new plantings as part of the program’s reforestation monitoring efforts. Roger grew up in the southwest Wisconsin town of Cassville, a two minute walk away from the mighty Mississippi River, and earned a degree in field biology from UW-Platteville in 1992. After graduation he did various LTE stints in Fisheries and Wildlife before falling into Forestry fulltime when he accepted a technician job at Wilson Nursery in the fall of 1998. It was a good fit, and he’s been there ever since.

Tom Hill
Consulting Forester
Tom Hill is a consulting forester based in Southwest Wisconsin, where he’s spent his career helping landowners understand and care for their woods. After a long career with the Wisconsin DNR, in 2022 Tom launched Tom Hill Forestry LLC to spend more time working directly with private landowners across the Driftless region.

Tom’s a self-described “dirt forester,” known for his practical, habitat focused approach and his ability to make forest management feel accessible. He’s worked with thousands of landowners on everything from Driftless woodland management to MFL planning, timber cutting, tree planting and direct seeding. As an avid hunter and lifelong outdoorsman, he brings a real-world understanding of habitat, regeneration, and long-term stewardship.

Mike Reinikainen
State Silviculturist, MN DNR
Mike Reinikainen is MN DNR’s state silviculturist. He is a University of Minnesota alumnus. He has practiced forestry in the Lake States for 17 years as a consulting forester, serving as forest manager and researcher at the University of Minnesota’s Cloquet Forestry Center, a Hennepin county forester, a MN DNR cooperative forest management forester, and as a MN DNR silviculturist. He spends his free time corralling his three young children, tracking closely the movements of the Packers and Brewers, playing third base, going to live music, slowly cross-country skiing, camping, canoeing, gardening, hunting upland birds and deer, and recreationally reading and thinking about silviculture.

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Black locust doesn't have many fans among foresters in North America. It's often criticized for growing crooked, spreading aggressively, and producing poor-quality stems. But is the problem really the tree, or is it how we've been growing it? In this episode, Zsolt Keserű, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Plantation Forestry and Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Forest Research Institute, University of Sopron, shares how decades of European research and silvicultural innovation have made it possible to grow straight, high-quality black locust timber. Join us for this episode of SilviCast as we talk about the genetics and management practices behind successful black locust plantations, why the species has become such an important hardwood in parts of Europe, and what North American foresters can learn from that experience. If you've written off black locust, this conversation might make you take a second look.

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