Our house sits on a lot that was a black walnut tree farm. Besides what was cut down for the house, the rest of the trees were left standing. On our 1/2 acre lot, I have around 75-100 trees standing in rows. They range in size from a couple inches in dia to 13'.

What I am looking for is advice on what I should be doing to optimize the health of the trees with the long term goal of allowing someone to harvest the trees once they've matured. At this time we're doing nothing but let nature take its course. Should I be thinning out the number of trees or pruning them or ??? We really like the look of the yard and we would have to weigh the answer against how drastically it would change the appearance to decide which way to proceed.

Thank you for your time,

Doug Roth Sugar Grove, IL

Greetings Doug:

The best bit of advice I can give you is to contact a local professional consulting forester (or your local IL DNR forester) for an on-site evaluation and assessment. Based on your goals and objectives for this property, the forester will make several recommendations based on current growing and stand stocking conditions matched to short- and long-term management objectives.

Professional Consulting & IL-DNR Foresters:

http://dnr.state.il.us/conservation/forestry/