Women Owning Woodlands

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Janet Steele is a regional Clemson Extension forestry agent based in Orangeburg. She came to Sumter recently to tell us about new program she, Clemson Forester David Coyle and others are offering. In South Carolina eighty-five percent of woodlands are privately owned by companies or families. Eighty percent of married women outlive their husbands. So often while adjusting to the loss of a spouse, these persons also must learn how to manage their family’s properties; a task which most often had been the purview of their husbands. Women Owning Woodlands began nationally to address these needs and issues and now is being presented in our state, where timber and associated businesses account for $21 billion in our state’s economy. To find out about workshops being offered specifically for this target group, call Janet Steele at the Orangeburg Extension Office.