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Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

1. Knowledge of tree identification

• Tech Talk: Dendrology 101

  • Callie Bertsch, NRCS State Forester, and Jon Sellnow, TTCP Coordinator, present the basics of tree and woody shrub identification of native Minnesota species. They look at identification by family groups, leaf structure, bark, when the trees bloom or leaf out and when they change color in the fall, and even take a look at common forest health issues that affect each species. All things to help you identify the species to better take inventory and identify resource concerns when working with private landowners.

• Tree Identification

  • University of Minnesota resources for the identification of trees: Tree Identification Cards that can be downloaded and printed, Beginners Guide to Minnesota Trees, and Winter Identification Key

2. Knowledge of forest ecology and management including tree regeneration

• Introduction to Conservation Forestry

  • This course informs conservation planners about basic forest ecology and forest management practices to establish a foundation for implementing forestry and agroforestry conservation practices. Planners will learn about common objectives of forest landowners, threats to forests, the forest inventory process, forest management plans, and laws, regulations, and permits related to forest management. The course includes client stories to demonstrate the planning process with clients who have diverse forest types across the United States.

• Tech Talk Replay: Forestry Resource Concerns

  • Tech Talk replay from May 4, 2020. Celie Borndal, NRCS State Forester, reviews common forestry resource concerns and planning criteria.

• Enhancing Mast (food) Production for Woodland Wildlife

  • Fruit from trees and shrubs (aka mast) is a significant source of food for many wildlife species. This webinar will explore a variety of mast producing trees and shrubs found in eastern deciduous woodlands, as well as, their role in sustaining the wildlife species that depend on them. It will explore on some of the techniques, including crop tree management that can be employed to enhance the diversity and productivity of these woodland mast producers. (Time: 1:05)

• What’s at risk? Implications of climate change on forests and options for adaptation

  • Climate change is altering forest ecosystems, with many changes expected by the end of the 21st century. Forests vary widely, and not all forests are equally at risk; vulnerabilities are strongly influenced by regional differences in climate impacts and adaptive capacity. Further, as an increasing amount of scientific information on forest vulnerability to climate change becomes available, natural resource managers are searching for ways to realistically use this information to meet specific management needs, ranging from landscape-level planning and coordination to on the ground implementation.

• Crop Tree Management for Forest Stand Improvement

  • This webinar provides insight into how meeting the sunlight needs of individual crop trees can facilitate Forest Stand Improvement efforts. (Time: 00:56)

3. Knowledge of silvics of tree species to be managed

• NPC Silviculture Strategies for Forest Stand Prescriptions

  • The Division of Forestry has developed silviculture strategies to inform sustainable forest management in Minnesota. These documents include information on the following key elements for each native plant community (NPC) class:

    • Vegetation, structure, and composition

      • Landscape setting and soils

      • Tree suitability

      • Tree response to climate change

      • Tree establishment and recruitment

      • Stand dynamics and growth stages

      • Two page silvicultural strategies for each major natural disturbance agent

• Emulating Forest Disturbance with Silviculture

  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has developed a Forest Ecology and Management course focused on advancing knowledge and skills for USFWS biologists, foresters and others who manage forests on refuges or partner lands to meet wildlife habitat needs and objectives. This webinar is an overview of the course which is designed to introduce biologists and others to the concepts of forest disturbance ecology, basic silvicultural approaches and the design of silvicultural prescriptions that will either emulate conditions more typical of natural disturbances or meet the needs for a particular set of species. The course covers field skills, stand exams, forest dynamics modeling, cruising, marking and harvesting. The course and presentation focus on using emulation of natural forest disturbances as a main thesis.

4. Knowledge of invasive plant identification and management, and effects on forests

• Invasive Terrestrial Plants

  • Invasive terrestrial plants can disrupt native landscapes like prairies, wetlands, and forests. They also negatively impact agriculture economies and can be harmful to our health. Learn more about the invasive plants that are threatening Minnesota and what you can do to help by visiting the resources on this page.

5. Knowledge of identification and management of forest insects and diseases

• Forest pests and diseases (DNR)

  • This Minnesota DNR website has links to forest pests and disease descriptions, identification and management options. 

• Minnesota Forest Health Highlights from 2021

  • Each year, the Minnesota DNR Forest Health team conducts both aerial assessments and on-the-ground monitoring to assess the health of the state’s forests. Join us for this webinar as MN DNR Forest Health Specialists provide an update on the status and trends in forest health from all corners of the state.

• Forest pests and diseases (UMN)

  • This University of Minnesota website has links to forest pests and disease descriptions, identification and management options. 

6. Knowledge of short- and long-term management effects on forest stand condition

• 2022 Webinar: Adaptive Silvicultural Experiments in Midwestern Hardwood Forests: Examples from Floodplains and Oak-dominated Uplands

  • Join Drs. Miranda Curzon and Marcella Windmuller-Campione as they discuss their work on two Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) project sites. The ASCC project represents a collaboration between managers and scientists to establish experimental trials that assess forest ecosystem response to climate adaptation approaches (resistance, resilience, transition, and passive no action). Miranda will introduce a new multi-state ASCC study to be implemented on state-owned lands in the Driftless Area. Next, Marcella will provide two-year results and insights from another ASCC site, a 736-acre urban floodplain forest in St. Paul, MN on the Mississippi River. 

• Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change: Lessons for timber-oriented managers

  • The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) project is designed to demonstrate adaptation options to natural resource managers and help them integrate climate change considerations into silvicultural decision making. Climate adaptation approaches being examined are designed to sustain ecosystem services into the future, including timber production. As one of the original developers of the ASCC adaptation framework, Brian Palik will discuss research results of interest to stakeholders having timber (or revenue) production as primary objectives. For example, what are the timber production tradeoffs, if any, associated with treatments designed to increase resilience? What growth responses have been observed since treatments were implemented? How are novel timber species, i.e., those adapted to climate change, responding to the treatments? How can these results inform management in similar forest ecosystems across the northern Lake States?

7. Knowledge of soil health and management

• Unlock the Secrets in the Soil

  • A series of 41 videos, mostly under five minutes each that discuss various soil health topics and applications of soil health principles.

• Soil Quality - the Foundation for Resource Management

  • (Time: 1:55)  Participants in the webinar learn about Natural Resources Conservation Service conservation planning principles to improve soil health and the impact soil health has on other resource concerns, such as water quality.

• Soil Health

  • (Time: 57:21)  In this session, Dr. Jessica Gutknecht discusses soil health. When you think about the soil beneath your feet, or beneath your tractor, what does it mean for it to be healthy? What does it take for it to be healthy, and what are the results of those efforts? In this talk, we will explore the world below with a brief introduction to soils, how soil structure is built into a healthy soil, and some management options for building a healthy soil. We will also discuss the win-win of soil health for sustainable management and for adaptation to increasingly variable Minnesota weather and climate.

• Living Soil Film

  • (Time 1:00:22) Our soils support 95 percent of all food production, and by 2060, our soils will be asked to give us as much food as we have consumed in the last 500 years. They filter our water. They are one of our most cost-effective reservoirs for sequestering carbon. They are our foundation for biodiversity. And they are vibrantly alive, teeming with 10,000 pounds of biological life in every acre. Yet in the last 150 years, we’ve lost half of the basic building block that makes soil productive. The societal and environmental costs of soil loss and degradation in the United States alone are now estimated to be as high as $85 billion every single year. Like any relationship, our living soil needs our tenderness. It’s time we changed everything we thought we knew about soil.

8. Knowledge of resource impacts of harvesting, including fire hazard, water quality, wildlife effects, etc. 

• Application of Forestry Best Management Practices for Water Quality Protection

  • Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) are techniques and practices used to minimize and prevent water quality problems associated with. (Time: 1:00)

• Forestry Equipment

  • Duane Fogard, American Bird Conservancy Forester,  from the  Duluth Field Office,  will lead us in a review of commonly used forest equipment that we may encounter in the state.  This training is for anyone who is working in a region of the state who has significant areas of land dedicated to forests to consider attending, especially if you are newer to forestry or would like to “brush up” on terminology or identification of commonly used equipment, availability,  suitability, and limitations based on site characteristics.

• Forest Management Guideline Online Training

  • The Forest Management Guidelines provide valuable decision-making tools for landowners, resource managers and loggers throughout Minnesota, who share an ongoing responsibility to make balanced, informed decisions about forest use, forest management and forest sustainability.  The online training is designed to familiarize the user with the layout and use of the Forest Management Guidelines document.   

9. Knowledge of local markets and economics of harvesting 

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10. Basic knowledge for recognizing potentially special sites and Threatened and Endangered (T&E) species, sufficient to initiate contact with the appropriate specialist 

• Environmental Evaluation Series No. 6: Planning for Endangered Species / Migratory Birds / Bald and Golden Eagles Special Environmental Concerns

  • As the sixth in the series on environmental evaluations, this webinar will assist USDA NRCS conservation planners, partners, and technical service providers to understand the ecological importance of protected species and how to properly analyze and document existing conditions and the effects of planned conservation actions. Primary topics include: legal foundations, information/data sources, tools, mitigation measures, and documentation requirements including examples.

• Request Natural Heritage Database training access through your Area Resource Conservationist

11. Basic knowledge of visual quality management in forests

• Forest Management Guideline Online Training (Visual Quality module)

  • The Forest Management Guidelines provide valuable decision-making tools for landowners, resource managers and loggers throughout Minnesota, who share an ongoing responsibility to make balanced, informed decisions about forest use, forest management and forest sustainability.  The online training is designed to familiarize the user with the layout and use of the Forest Management Guidelines document.

Minnesota Guidance: Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

Planning Certification Phases

Job Class I

1. Read and understand the Conservation Practice Standard (CPS) 666, Implementation Requirements (IR), and Statement of Work (SOW)

• CPS 666 Practice Standard, Implementation Requirements (IR), and Statement of Work (SOW)

2. Ability to document environmental benefits of forest stand improvement. Conservation planners must understand the NRCS resource concern cause of “degraded plant condition”

• Tech Talk Replay: Forestry Resource Concerns

  • Tech Talk replay from May 4, 2020. Celie Borndal, NRCS State Forester, reviews common forestry resource concerns and planning criteria.

3. Knowledge of Minnesota forests, common forestry goals, proper planting techniques, establishment techniques, and site conditions (hydrology, soil capability, landscape position)

• Introduction to Conservation Forestry

  • This course informs conservation planners about basic forest ecology and forest management practices to establish a foundation for implementing forestry and agroforestry conservation practices. Planners will learn about common objectives of forest landowners, threats to forests, the forest inventory process, forest management plans, and laws, regulations, and permits related to forest management. The course includes client stories to demonstrate the planning process with clients who have diverse forest types across the United States.

• NPC Silviculture Strategies for Forest Stand Prescriptions

  • The Division of Forestry has developed silviculture strategies to inform sustainable forest management in Minnesota. These documents include information on the following key elements for each native plant community (NPC) class:

    • Vegetation, structure, and composition

    • Landscape setting and soils

    • Tree suitability

    • Tree response to climate change

    • Tree establishment and recruitment

    • Stand dynamics and growth stages

    • 2-page silvicultural strategies for each major natural disturbance agent

4. Ability to identify tree and shrub species during the growing and dormant seasons

• Tech Talk: Dendrology 101

  • Callie Bertsch, NRCS State Forester, and Jon Sellnow, TTCP Coordinator, present the basics of tree and woody shrub identification of native Minnesota species. They look at identification by family groups, leaf structure, bark, when the trees bloom or leaf out and when they change color in the fall, and even take a look at common forest health issues that affect each species. All things to help you identify the species to better take inventory and identify resource concerns when working with private landowners.

• Tree Identification

  • University of Minnesota resources for the identification of trees: Tree Identification Cards that can be downloaded and printed, Beginners Guide to Minnesota Trees, and Winter Identification Key

5. Knowledge and understanding of silviculture regeneration methods utilized in forest stands with less than or equal to 4 overstory tree species as outlined in the Minnesota guidance for overstory species

• NPC Silviculture Strategies for Forest Stand Prescriptions

  • The Division of Forestry has developed silviculture strategies to inform sustainable forest management in Minnesota. These documents include information on the following key elements for each native plant community (NPC) class:

    • Vegetation, structure, and composition

    • Landscape setting and soils

    • Tree suitability

    • Tree response to climate change

    • Tree establishment and recruitment

    • Stand dynamics and growth stages

    • Two page silvicultural strategies for each major natural disturbance agent

6. Ability to determine harvest equipment operability for well suited sites

• Soils Module 2: Web Soil Survey

  • This course will cover information to assist users of soils information with accessing and interpreting soils data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey including a review of the online interface.

7. Understand nonvolatile fuels and their fire risk in Minnesota

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8. Knowledge of invasive plants found in Minnesota

• Invasive Terrestrial Plants

  • Invasive terrestrial plants can disrupt native landscapes like prairies, wetlands, and forests. They also negatively impact agriculture economies and can be harmful to our health. Learn more about the invasive plants that are threatening Minnesota and what you can do to help by visiting the resources on this page.

9. Knowledge of the MN Forest Resources Council Site Level Forest Management Guidelines document

• Forest Management Guideline Online Training

  • The Forest Management Guidelines provide valuable decision-making tools for landowners, resource managers and loggers throughout Minnesota, who share an ongoing responsibility to make balanced, informed decisions about forest use, forest management and forest sustainability.  The online training is designed to familiarize the user with the layout and use of the Forest Management Guidelines document.

Job Class II

1. All Requirements from Job Class I

See content above

2. Knowledge and understanding of silviculture regeneration methods utilized in forest stands with less than or equal to 6 overstory tree species as outlined in the Minnesota guidance for overstory species

• NPC Silviculture Strategies for Forest Stand Prescriptions

  • The Division of Forestry has developed silviculture strategies to inform sustainable forest management in Minnesota. These documents include information on the following key elements for each native plant community (NPC) class:

    • Vegetation, structure, and composition

    • Landscape setting and soils

    • Tree suitability

    • Tree response to climate change

    • Tree establishment and recruitment

    • Stand dynamics and growth stages

    • Two page silvicultural strategies for each major natural disturbance agent

3. Ability to determine harvest equipment operability on moderately suited soils

• Soils Module 2: Web Soil Survey

  • This course will cover information to assist users of soils information with accessing and interpreting soils data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey including a review of the online interface.

4. Understanding of live volatile fuels and their fire risk in Minnesota

No content identified

Job Class III

1. All Requirement from Job Class I & II

See content above

2. Knowledge and understanding of silviculture regeneration methods utilized in forest stands with less than or equal to 10 overstory tree species as outlined in the Minnesota guidance for overstory species above

• NPC Silviculture Strategies for Forest Stand Prescriptions

  • The Division of Forestry has developed silviculture strategies to inform sustainable forest management in Minnesota. These documents include information on the following key elements for each native plant community (NPC) class:

    • Vegetation, structure, and composition

    • Landscape setting and soils

    • Tree suitability

    • Tree response to climate change

    • Tree establishment and recruitment

    • Stand dynamics and growth stages

    • Two page silvicultural strategies for each major natural disturbance agent

3. Ability to determine harvest equipment operability on poorly suited sites

• Soils Module 2: Web Soil Survey

  • This course will cover information to assist users of soils information with accessing and interpreting soils data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey including a review of the online interface.

4. Understanding of dead volatile fuels and their fire risk in Minnesota

No content identified

Job Class IV

1. All Requirements from Job Class I, II, & III

See content above

Design Phase

Job Class I

1. All Requirements from Job Classes I from the I & E Planning and Installation, Oversight, and Certification Phases

See content above

2. Ability to conduct a forest inventory to document species composition

• Forestry Technical Note MN-1: Forest Inventory Methods

• Forest Inventory Tool

• National Forestry Handbook

3. Ability to measure tree heights and diameter using forestry tools such as a Biltmore Stick, clinometer, and diameter tape

• National Forestry Handbook 

• Forest Inventory, Part 1: Tree Measurement Tools

• Forest Inventory, Part 2: Using a Clinometer to Measure Tree Height

4. Ability to calculate basal area using an angle gauge (Cruz-All) or prism

• National Forestry Handbook

• How to Measure Basal Area per Acre

5. Ability to conduct plot sampling for forest inventory

• National Forestry Handbook 

• Forest Inventory, Part 3: Plot Establishment Tools

• Forest Inventory, Part 4: Plot Layout and Inventory System

6. Knowledge of tree and shrub pests and diseases that may influence species selection and management

• Forest pests and diseases (DNR)

  • This Minnesota DNR website has links to forest pests and disease descriptions, identification and management options. 

• Minnesota Forest Health Highlights from 2021

  • Each year, the Minnesota DNR Forest Health team conducts both aerial assessments and on-the-ground monitoring to assess the health of the state’s forests. Join us for this webinar as MN DNR Forest Health Specialists provide an update on the status and trends in forest health from all corners of the state.

• Forest pests and diseases (UMN)

  • This University of Minnesota website has links to forest pests and disease descriptions, identification and management options. 

7. Ability to determined preferred tree species based on client’s objectives and site suitability

• Conservation Tree/Shrub Groups: A Tool for Matching Woody Plants to Soils

  • This webinar provides guidance on how to develop and use Conservation Tree/Shrub Groups (CTSG) to match woody plants to soils. (Time: 00:39)

8. Demonstrate ability to write a forest stand improvement plan according to requirements in the CPS 666 SOW. Plan must be reviewed and approved by NRCS area or state forester

• CPS 666 Statement of Work (SOW)

Job Class II

1. All Requirements from Job Class I for Design and Development of the Conservation Practice 

See Design Phase, Job Class I content above

2. Requirements and all requirements from Job Class II of the I & E Planning and Installation, Oversight, and Certification Phases

See Planning and Certification Phases, Job Class II content above

Job Class III

1. All Requirements from Job Classes I and II for Design and Development of the Conservation

See Design Phase, Job Class I and II above

2. Practice Requirements and all requirements from Job Class III of the I & E Planning and Installation, Oversight, and Certification Phases

See Planning and Certification Phases, Job Class III above

Job Class IV

1. All Requirements from Job Classes I, II, and III for Design and Development of the Conservation Practice Requirements and all requirements from Job Class IV of the I & E Planning and Installation, Oversight, and Certification Phases

See Design Phase Job Class I, II, and III above and Planning and Certification Phases, Job Class IV above 

Recorded November, 2018