CHARLESTON — A Women Owning Woodlands (WOW) workshop will be held for the first time in West Virginia. The WOW weekend workshop is scheduled for May 31 – June 2 in Watoga State Park and Calvin Price State Forest in Pocahontas County. The session covers practical skills such as how to identify common types of trees, manage forests and value woodlands for timber or wildlife.

Space is limited. The deadline to register is Friday, May 24. The $150 attendance fee includes instructional materials and facilities, cabin space for two nights, dinner on Friday, and lunch and dinner on Saturday.

Women play a critical and growing role in farming and land stewardship. Forest industry research reports that the percentage of family forest ownerships where a woman is the primary decision maker doubled from 2006 to 2013.

The WOW workshop instructors and attendees are women. The program is designed to provide women landowners with the opportunity to ask questions, practice skills and network with other women involved in managing their own woodlands.

WOW workshop instructors include service foresters and a retired assistant state forester with the West Virginia Division of Forestry, a private consulting forester, a watershed forester for the Alliance for the Bay (Chesapeake Bay), a research forester for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, and wildlife biologists for the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.

The West Virginia Division of Forestry is the event organizer and the West Virginia University Extension Service is the partner agency. Support is provided by the national Women Owning Woodlands program.

For more information on West Virginia Division of Forestry landowner assistance programs and the Women Owning Woodlands workshop, visit www.wvforestry.com