Although
Ann and Gary Hockerman grew up in Milwaukee,
the city isn’t the place where they feel the most at home.
“I grew up on 40th Street,” said Ann Hockerman. “[But] I used to play belly-down in the dirt when I was a kid.”
Instead it’s the outdoors – and everything it offers, from the bugs and snakes to, yes, even the dirt -- that has been their love.
The Hockermans are the proud owners of a 400-acre woodland in Jackson County, near Black River Falls, and an additional 240 acres in Eau Claire County in Fairchild. Their younger son now lives on the property in Fairchild and Ann and Gary live most of the year on the Black River Falls property.
Ann and Gary began purchasing land in 1984 in Eau Claire County, knowing only that they wanted to hunt and conserve the woods.
“That’s where we started learning,” said Ann Hockerman.
Over
the years, Ann estimates she and Gary have planted more than 60,000 trees
-- pines, spruces, ash and larch -- at the Fairchild property. All of
which were best-suited for the soil type there.
“Some of them over and over again,” she said, laughing. “It’s much better when they regenerate on their own – less time at the chiropractor.”
Since then the Hockermans have acquired a great
deal of woodland knowledge. In fact their search for information has taken
them all over the United States, and to Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and
Germany.
“[Owning land] is the best thing we ever did -- besides meeting
each other and having our family,” said Ann Hockerman. “It’s
been so much fun.”
Hear more about Ann’s thoughts on what
buying property meant to her: mp3
or Real Audio
But
that doesn’t mean the Hockermans haven’t taken the responsibilities
of landownership seriously.
“Buying land is a gift, but it’s (also) an obligation,” said Ann. “You choose to manage or not to manage.”
The property near Black River Falls is a unique
cathedral of red and white pine, oak, and maple woods. A twisting creek
cuts a steep ravine through the land, forming a peninsular island around
17 acres with scenic vistas.
Ann estimates that about 80 acres of the 400-acre property are red pine,
planted in the 1960s. The previous owners did not aggressively harvest
the area, but today the pine is having its second thinning.
On
the southwestern edge of the property, a boggy marsh has been shaped to
form five ponds. The Hockermans want to attract wildlife, and having the
ponds has been a part of their woodland owners’ dreams.
To hear more about building the ponds,
click here.
For people new to woodland ownership, Ann highly
recommends Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association.
”It’s almost the cream of the crop that participates in forestry,”
she said. “They’re actively renewing the woods, rather than
just attempting to preserve the woods.”
And by all means, she recommends getting management help. “There are so many good guys out there. Why wouldn’t you have a consultanting forester to make a better choice?”
They
know that without a little help, mistakes and delays can occur.
“We had one cut that took forever,” she said. “They were learning on the big equipment. We didn’t have a start and stop (date) -- that you would finish by this time. That was another mistake that we made.”
Ann also wishes they had planted trees sooner and got involved in management planning earlier.
Today their management plan is 22 pages. But as Ann says, "that's our choice." Others need not make theirs as long, she said.
Over the years, the Hockermans management goals have changed. They have been making more aggressive timber cuts, and managing more for wildlife and clean water.
“We don’t use that many herbicides,” Ann said. They worry about the long-term health effects.
Hear
more about their challenges
And Ann does have concern about the future -- she worries about taxes.
“We desperately need Managed Forest Law to help manage private forestland,” she said. “The poor farmers are getting tax breaks and then everyone's goes up. It’s been real hard.”
Ann and Gary know their property is worth a lot of money to developers. But their commitment to keeping the 400 acres together is strong.
“We could have million-dollar developments all along the creek,” she said. "But [the previous owners] sold it to us with the understanding that it would stay together. And that’s what we’re about.”