Heavy hardwood timber makes for lovely walks and horseback rides on our trails through the timber. So how does one grow such a forest?

One way is to begin with native pine woodlands, and lots of bluejays and squirrels. The jays will pick up an acorn in the open hardwood forest, then take it into the pines (where the sharpshin hawk cannot eat the bluejay). The jay will drop a few and the sun-loving acorn will grow in the sunny pine floor.

Shown here on the left, a pine forest that was clearcut to the ground fifteen years prior to this photo. Note the far-too-extensive regrowth of undesirable maples, scarlet oaks, and too-dense hickory and chesnut oaks, with a few desirable white oaks and northern red oaks. While some of the species selection comes from the site being dry and south facing, thereby favoring the scarlet and chesnut oaks, every tree is a hardwood.

Did we say sunny under pines? Hard to believe, is it not? The pine forest floor is more sunny than under a heavy oak canopy, where it's often too shady for acorns to make it beyond a year or two. Just ask Tom Dierauf, a Virginia State Forester and forest researcher for thirty years. His research, on thousands of forest plots on a wide variety of subjects, shows that...

At Bundoran, we are long-time members of the American Tree Farm System, the oldest certifier of sustainable forests in the United States. We try to follow forest management practices that are economically and environmentally responsible - and scientifically sound - and that maintain and improve long-term forest health and productivity.

As we walk these woodlands- taking an occasional break at a gazebo tucked near an old growth mountain laurel in bloom - and looking out over the orchards sloping from the timbered mountaintops, across hundreds of acres of rolling pasture to the valleys below, one cannot but be appreciative of all we enjoy.

We can drive big teams of horses through these woods; come join us.