Andrew A. Kling, Branching Out editor
I was talking with Jonathan Kays the other day about this newsletter, which, of course, was his invention—and he marveled that it’s now starting its 31st year. I’ve been the contributing writer and editor for almost eleven of those years, so we’ve both seen things come and go as well as changes to the newsletter and its readership. We currently have more than three thousand subscribers and many more readers who read it via our website.
Think of where you were and what was happening in your world not just in 2012, when I started with Extension, but in 1992, when Jonathan started Branching Out as a quarterly newsletter for a few hundred Maryland woodland owners, who received a printed and stapled issue in the mail. Before joining the Woodland Stewardship Education program, I was a freelance writer, and shortly before joining Jonathan’s team, I wrote a book for middle school-aged students called “Web 2.0,” when social media was a relatively new thing. Going further back, I wrote one about cell phones that outlined not only how they work but the evolution of “smart phones” that could take videos, and that one day might be used to provide real-time information about family members’ locations. The book examined the debut and rise of the iPhone and the possibilities of the newly-emerging Android system.
What does this have to do with your woodlands? Well, think of some of the information in recent issues that document the intersection of technology and woodland stewardship. For example, Jonathan wrote about the HealthyWoods app two years ago, and we regularly use this content to promote our two online courses (such as here in this issue) that help you learn about getting more out of your woodlands. Additionally, many of our readers choose to read the articles through our website, and use its widget to subscribe to future issues. It’s rare that a week goes by without at least one or two people becoming new subscribers.
We hope that in this era of social media and instant everything-on-demand that this newsletter still has value for you. We’ve been encouraged by a number of recent subscribers who have joined us from outside our traditional three-state market. To that end, we invite you to take a very short survey to provide us with some valuable feedback. We’d like to learn more about our readers and our subscribers. We bill the newsletter as “Maryland’s woodland stewardship educator;” do you own woodland property, or just enjoy time in the woods? Do you live in Maryland, the mid-Atlantic, or somewhere else? We have a number of regular features in each issue; do you have a favorite that you always read first? Are there any topics that you’d like us to explore in future issues?
Please visit this Qualtrics link to take the survey. No personal information is collected and your responses are anonymous. We appreciate your time and your feedback!
Branching Out, Vol. 31, no. 1 (Winter 2023)
Branching Out is the free, quarterly newsletter of the Woodland Stewardship Education program. For more than 25 years, Branching Out has kept Maryland woodland owners and managers informed about ways to develop and enhance their natural areas, how to identify and control invasive plants and insects, and about news and regional online and in-person events.