Allen M. and Mary G. Glasgow from West Virginia

What makes them outstanding?

Dr. and Mrs. Glasgow take a proactive approach in the management of their forestland. They don't wait for something to happen and then react. They think ahead and put practices in motion to influence the future. For example they were one of the first landowners in the early 1990's to plant loblolly pine in their part of Hampshire County, West Virginia following a VA Pine clearcut. They were also two years ahead of the severe outbreak of Emerald Ash Borer and were able to salvage much of their ash sawtimber before it died. Dr. Glasgow has also been proactive and inventive in creating ways to protect newly planted hardwood trees from damage by deer. The forester doesn't have to call the Glasgow's to remind them of things to do; they are the one's who contact the forester to keep their forest management plan moving forward.It's also interesting to note the Dr. Glasgow's passion and interest is being passed on to the next generations. Mary and Allen's son has a home on the property and William has been assisting and learning from his father more many years. Even Williams’children are paying attention to what Grandpa is doing and they love coming to the Tree Farm for family fun and recreation.

Tree Farmer Story

Allen M. Glasgow is a Tree Farmer who takes a passionate and pro-active approach in caring for his forestland. Through many years of failures and successes he has learned a few things on how to grow hardwood trees. Allen is so knowledgeable, and willing to share his experiences, that a friend of mine described him as guru in planting and growing hardwood seedlings. That description is very accurate, since one definition of a guru is “a trusted counselor and adviser, a mentor.” If a landowner wants to be counseled, advised or mentored on how to plant and grow hardwood trees then Allen M. Glasgow is the person to listen to.Dr. Glasgow began his Tree Farming experience in 1983 when he and his wife Mary purchased their first piece of land in Hampshire County, West Virginia. As a retired physician Allen wanted a property that he and his family could go to for fun and recreation. Over the years they purchased more adjoining parcels to create Turkey Run Tree Farm, a 241 acre property on the Cacapon River in the northeastern corner of Hampshire County. It didn’t take long for Allen to begin planting trees to benefit the wildlife and to create future crop trees.Allen and Mary Glasgow’s first forest management plan was prepared by David Sirna in 1989 who helped guide the Glasgow’s through their first timber sales during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Areas were selectively harvested to remove mature hardwood sawtimber and unacceptable pole trees. Other areas of poor quality hardwood were clearcut and converted to loblolly pine. Now these twenty two year old plantations are close to being ready for a harvest cut.From the very beginning Allen’s passion was to plant trees that would benefit the wildlife and produce sources of income in the future. He started planting paulownia, chestnuts, crabapples, pears, ash, yellow poplars, and other species at the rate of about 300 trees per year.

It didn’t take long to discover the many hazards in planting trees such as: competition from grasses and weeds, deer browsing, poor survival and growth due to poor root development, and bucks rubbing and scarring the trees. With each setback Allen was pro-active and inventive in finding ways to solve each problems. He purchased his planting stock from numerous sources but soon discovered the best source was from the West Virginia State Nursery. He experimented with gathering native nuts to grow seedlings. His whole approach was to think through the problems and find long term solutions.For example, in order to protect his trees he first used round plastic tubes with stakes. He discovered these were not strong enough. One other solution was to use plastic liter soda bottles, with the two ends cut out, and attaching them around the tree. This provided some relief from the deer, but was not always 100% protection. After several other attempts and inventive ideas, Allen discovered the best protection was from a wire cage. The wire cage encircled the entire tree from top to bottom and kept the deer away. However, wire was expensive to purchase so Allen became a “wire picker”.Everywhere he went he kept a watch for used wire. He would gather wire from any source, take it to the Tree Farm, and use it for his wire cages. He also would stock pile discarded outdoor decking for the wooden stakes. Once the decking was ripped to the correct width and cut to length it would support the cages. His storage shed next to the farm house has a good supply of wire and wooden stakes for future plantings.One of Allen’s most important seedling survival discoveries was to plant a seedling with the biggest and strongest root system.

If the seedlings had an underdeveloped root system, they would soon die from the grass and weed competition. Allen solved that problem by constructing raised beds to hold seedlings for one year. If the seeding grew in the raised bed, it would develop a root system that would sustain it through the first year of planting. In addition to the raised beds, Allen started to pre-plant his seedlings in pots and then transplant them in the field. The pots provide enough space for new root development and they are easier to handle in the spring during planting time. All of this requires a lot of planning and effort that takes several years before any seedling gets into the ground. Allen has already planned out the location of each planting spot for next spring. The cages are in place and identified so all he needs to do is drill the planting hole with his tractor, plant the seedling, and replace the cage. He and his helper can get several hundred seedlings in the ground in just a few hours.But as every Tree Farmer knows, nothing is guaranteed to succeed and Tree Farming is very unpredictable. For example Allen’s early plantings for a timber crop were white ash trees. Over the last several years Hampshire County has been invaded by the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). Allen and Mary’s Tree Farm was hit hard. The EAB had infested all his native ash trees plus the young ash that Allen had planted just a few years ago. So again Allen was pro-active during this set back. He contracted with local logger Mr. James Gloyd, to harvest his mature ash sawtimber and pulpwood before the Emerald Ash Borer completing wiped out every tree. Unfortunately the young ash were not large enough to salvage and they remain standing and infested with EAB. Allen plans to replace these dying ash with yellow poplar seedlings over the next several years. In addition, in places where the removal of the mature ash left an under stocked stand, Allen has been filling in the open spaces with new plantings. It’s hard to see at this time, but in a few years these open areas will be fully stocked with trees due to Allen’s pro-active planting program.