Leahy, Seymour featured as Outstanding Tree Farmers in Piscataquis Observer
The Piscataquis Observer reported that Jessica Leahy and Bob Seymour, winners of the Maine Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year, hosted a small tour of masked participants in Wicopy Woods in Sebec. Leahy and Seymour are licensed foresters. Leahy is professor of human dimensions of natural resources in the University of Maine School of Forest Resources and Seymour recently retired from UMaine’s School of Forestry Resources faculty after more than 30 years as Curtis Hutchins Professor of Silviculture, according to the article. The Outstanding Maine Tree Farmer of the Year started in 1954 to reward good forestry practices on properties from 10 acres to 10,000 acres, primarily family-owned. These small woodland owners maintain nearly a third of Maine’s 15.5 million acres of privately owned forests and produce 40 percent of the state’s wood supply. There are 87,000 woodlot owners in Maine and many of these forests are certified as Tree Farms. Wicopy Woods is named after the tree species Eastern leatherwood (Dirca palustris) which is also called wicopy. It’s estimated at least 300 wicopy plants reside in this forest and the largest may be more than 100 years old.