Southern OTFY: Dwayne Wilson of Tennessee

What makes them outstanding? 

Dr. Dwayne Wilson practices responsible forestry by combining the knowledge of a forester with the harvesting skills of a logger. By doing so, he has sustainably managed Slippery Hills Farm in Wildersville, Tennessee since the 1970’s. It was then that he began with a forest that was high graded under previous ownership and set his goal “to leave a much better stand than the one we started with."

Over time Dwayne purchased a track hoe and two log trucks. To this day, with an array of chainsaws and felling wedges, he harvests with uncommon restraint by always removing the worst trees first. He has never let anyone else cut his timber. His priority is high-quality tree retention with a minimum amount of residual damage.

In addition to his harvesting activities he practices TSI and Crop Tree Management. He applies mechanical and chemical treatments in his understory/mid-story to reduce the presence of undesirable species and releases competitive oak advance regeneration.

He also practices afforestation. He has established 9 different loblolly pine plantings, 5 mixed oak fields, one black walnut field, and one mixed oak-walnut field. The interplanting of oak and walnut was performed with the intent that the oaks would compete with and train the walnuts to grow straight and tall (only time will tell).

His blend of sweat equity and forestry knowledge makes Dwayne Wilson an exemplary tree farmer that the ATFS in Tennessee is proud to nominate as 2020 Southern Region Tree Farmer of the Year.

Tree Farmer Story

Dwayne Wilson’s Slippery Hills Farm is located in northeast Henderson County in Wildersville, Tennessee. There he carefully manages his 405-acre property to sustainably produce both agricultural crops and timber – of which 170 acres has been ATFS certified and inspected by his forester, Jon Marden. The farm has been in the Wilson’s family since 1849 when Uriah Leonardbought the land from Tennessee. The Wilson’s grandchildren will become the 6th generation owners, and enjoy watching and learning from their grandpa operate a sustainable working woodlot. Dr. Dwayne Wilson can trace back their family history of the family farm to Dr. DanBradfield who built a cabin by hand in 1870. Today that cabin has moved to a different location on the property and is being meticulously renovated by Dr. Wilson. A second cabin that is sentimental to the family was built by his son, around the time he was in high school and is now used as a hunting retreat. The Slippery Hills Farm forest officially became an ATFS tree farm in 1985 when he and his wife Jill settled in Wildersville. Dr. Wilson inherited a forest that had suffered the ill effects of careless forest management. His forest, in turn, inherited an owner with a keen interest in silviculture who diligently worked to improve the species composition and health of his family forest. Each project has undergone a careful strategy to achieve the highest and best use of the land.

In the 1970s, he began performing timber stand improvement treatments (TSI) methodically removing undesirable species and unhealthy trees with poor form. Back in those days Dr.Wilson would fell and pull out the trees he needed and worked with a local logger to collect and haul off the timber to a mill. Nowadays, he performs all logging aspects on his property. He feels the trees, bucks the logs, and then loads them onto his log trucks with a track hoe. The pulpwood is sold to a mill in Gorman, Tennessee, and sawlogs are sold to other nearby mills. Dr.Wilson carefully maintains his forest roads so that erosion and sedimentation is not an issue for the watersheds. The forest roads are located away from water bodies and any surface water runoff travels directly onto forest floor vegetation. When timber hauls are resting, his family enjoys the trails with ATV rides and hiking through their sustainable family forest.

Over the years he established hardwood plantings on locations with productive soils, and loblolly pine plantings on the ridges and hilltops where they thrive on less productive soil sites.Dwayne also uses a combination of TSI and Crop Tree Management (CTM) to improve the species composition of his understory/mid-story. Undesirable native woody competition and non-native invasives are first cut, allowed to re-sprout, and then backpack-sprayed with herbicide. Elsewhere, crop tree releases have added promising scattered cohorts of competitive oak regeneration. Some of these trees will grow to become codominant in the Slippery HillsFarm forest canopy someday.

Dr. Wilson keeps a balance sheet of his family’s forest that reflects the careful attention of a man who up until recently was the Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Freed-Hardman University. Recently deciding to make the transition back to full-time teaching in preparation for his retirement in May of 2021.

Dr. Wilson’s love for sustainable forestry is poured into future students of forestry. At Freed-Hardeman University he teaches Forest Management. He has taken his students outside the classroom to his tree farm, Slippery Hills Farm, where his Area Forester Jon Marden with the Tennessee Department of Forestry showed the class how to perform a forest inventory for a forest management plan. During the fall of 2019, he also brought students to Natchez Trace State Forest to meet Richard Sanderson, State Forester, with the Tennessee Department of forestry to learn about the practices of State Forest management. Dr. Wilson manages his forest and teaches students his 4-step methods for quality oak tree management:

1. Mechanically control shade-tolerant mid-story stems
2. Chemically treat invasives and re-sprouting tree stumps that are non-desirable and/or previously harvested
3. Cut low vigor pulpwood stems
4. Release high-quality crop trees and provide for quality regeneration by thinning low quality saw timber.

Dwayne’s interest in forestry is not just applied at his home tree farm or in a university setting.In November 2018 he hosted the 412 Corridor Forestry Association members to his farm for a forestry field day. Attendees were a group that included forestry-minded landowners and professionals from Henderson, Madison and Decatur Counties, and enjoyed seeing the results of his forestry practices firsthand. Dr. Wilson serves as acting Treasurer of the 412 Corridor Forestry Association, and also is a member of the state-wide Tennessee Forestry Association.

Dwayne’s effort has always been for the satisfaction of performing a labor of love. He has said“[His] intent is to leave a much better stand of timber than what we started with.” Hisperseverance was commended and recognized by the ATFS Tennessee Tree Farm Committee as the recipient for the 2019 Tennessee Tree Farmer of the Year. The ATFS Tennessee Tree Farm Committee, the Tennessee Forestry Association, along with his Tennessee Division of Forestry Area Forester, Jon Marden, are thrilled to help support Dr. Dwayne Wilson along in the process as Tennessee’s candidate for the 2020 ATFS Southeast Regional Tree Farmer of the Year.

Describe any outreach on behalf of sustainable forestry that the Tree Farmer has done.

Dr. Wilson has hosted forestry association field days on his tree farm; one for the new and current 412 Corridor Forestry Association in November of 2018 and also field days for the previous association named Henderson County Forestry Association. He currently serves the association as treasurer of the 412 Corridor Forestry Association. Dr. Wilson is also a member of the Tennessee Forestry Association.

Dr. Wilson’s love for sustainable forestry is poured into future students of forestry. At Freed-Hardeman University he teaches Forest Management. He has taken his students outside the classroom to his tree farm, Slippery Hills Farm, where his Area Forester Jon Marden with the Tennessee Department of Forestry showed the class how to perform a forest inventory for a forest management plan. During the fall of 2019, he also brought students to Natchez Trace State Forest to meet Richard Sanderson, State Forester, with the Tennessee Department of forestry to learn about the practices of State Forest management.

For the following areas describe how the landowner's management addresses the core values of ATFS

Wood: Dwayne performs all logging on his property. He prioritizes careful, methodical felling so that desirable residual trees are not damaged. He has practiced TSI in his forest since the 1970’ sand has steadily worked to remove undesirable species, unhealthy individuals, and trees with poor form.

He owns and operates his own logging equipment; two log trucks, a track hoe, and an array of chainsaws and felling wedges. Pulpwood is sold to a mill in Gorman, TN while sawlogs are sold to whichever local mill offers the best price. An itemized balance sheet is maintained for all pulpwood and sawlog profits.

He has established hardwood plantings on locations with productive soils. Nine different loblolly pine plantings were established on dry ridges and hilltops because they thrive on poor sites. Each project has been part of a strategy to achieve the highest and best use of the land. Dwayne practices TSI and Crop Tree Management (CTM) to improve the species composition of his understory/mid-story. Undesirable woody competition is first cut, allowed to re-sprout and then backpack-sprayed with herbicide. Problematic native species include hophornbeam, Carolina hornbeam, red maple, and beech. Chinese privet is a non-native invasive plant that is targeted in the bottomland forests and along creeks.

Elsewhere, crop tree releases have added promising scattered cohorts of competitive oak advance regeneration. Some of these trees will grow to become codominants in the Slippery Hills Farm forest canopy someday.

Water: Dr. Wilson carefully maintains his forest roads so that erosion and sedimentation is not an issue for the watersheds. Forest roads are located away from water bodies and any surface water runoff travels directly onto forest floor vegetation.

Slippery Hills Farm stream banks are stabilized by forest vegetation and are in good condition. Invasive/ undesirable plant presence is steadily being reduced as needed through careful TSI treatments.

Mr. Wilson avoids operating logging equipment in streamside management zones(SMZs) and is careful to remove severed tops from stream channels.

Wildlife including threatened and endangered species: Dwayne’s management of Slippery Hills Farm forest yields wonderful benefits for Tennessee wildlife. His TSI efforts have created a high-quality upland oak-hickory stand with many mast-producing species. The most important upland overstory species are white oak, southern red oak, shagbark, and pignut hickory. Other mast producers include cherry bark oak, northern red oak, and beech.

American holly, black cherry, flowering dogwood, wild grape, and sumac produce soft mast and are seen in the mid-story and understory.

Important mast-producing species in Mr. Wilson’s bottomland mixed hardwood overstory include cherry bark oak, willow oak, and black cherry.

Five wildlife-friendly mixed oak plantings, a black walnut planting, and a mixed oak walnut planting have been established on the upland portion of the property. These trees are not yet old enough to produce fruit. Also, a half-acre bottomland area was planted with Nuttall oaks during the winter of 2018.

Four species of concern are listed on the TDEC Rare Species website for the SlipperyHills Farms Area. They include American ginseng, Maryland milkwort, American pillwort, and Southern lady slipper. None have been observed in the farm forest, and no forest management methods are practiced that threaten wildlife habitat.

Recreation and Aesthetics including special sites: Slippery Hills Farm's forest roads are well distributed and well maintained. They are used for hauling timber along well-maintained roads, but they are also enjoyed by his family ATV riding and hiking.

At the north end of his tree farm in the upland oak-hickory forest, Dr. Wilson’s son built a log cabin when he was younger which carries sentimental value to the family. His son uses it now for hunting trips. His great grandfather, Dr. Dan Bradfield, built a log cabin by hand in 1870. Today Dr. Wilson has moved it to a different location on the slippery Hills Farm, and is in the process of restoring the cabin’s integrity.

Dr. Wilson’s son built a log cabin at the north end of the property in the upland oak-hickory forest when he was younger, and it carries sentimental value to the family.

Dwayne has moved the log cabin built by his great grandfather Dr. Dan Bradfield in1870 from a nearby property to Slippery Hills Farm and is in the process of restoring the cabin’s integrity.

Describe other forestry programs or organizations in which the Tree Farmer participates

During the operation of a previous forestry association, Henderson County Forestry Association, he served as the president. At the advice and initiative of his forester, Jon Marden, the association moved to gather more members by reaching out to adjoining counties. The three counties in Tennessee: Henderson, Decatur, and Madison Counties, combined make up the 412 Corridor Forestry Association. Dr. Wilson now serves his association as acting treasurer.

When Dr. Wilson isn’t timbering, teaching, spending time with family on his tree farm, or serving his association, he is planting trees with a program called D’Addario Play, Plant, Preserve program through the Tennessee Division of Forestry. The program provides him hardwood trees for planting on his family forest with the purpose of promoting a sustainable forest yield from the trees harvested in the music market to make Promark Drumsticks.