William Beaty - 2009 California Tree Farmer of the Year

William (Bill) Beaty has been selected as the 2009 California Tree Farmer of the Year. Mr. Beaty’s Tree Farm is 407 acres located in Shingletown, CA. The property has been in the Tree Farm system for 51 years and the first parcel was acquired in 1956.

Given time, patience and skillful management, “Trees Grow” This has been Mr. Beaty’s basic philosophy for forest management throughout his career and he practices what he preaches on his own Tree Farm. The Tree Farm is surrounded by small 2.5 acre parcels in the heart of the town of Shingletown, and is used to show potential clients and new residents that forest management is a compatible use in the urban interface. Acquired in the 1950’s as cut over timberland, the Beaty Tree Farm now has an inventory that is four times the original while having provided periodic timber income while giving consideration to watershed values, wildlife and recreation.

Bill has conducted tours through the Forest Landowners of California which are open to the public. The Tree Farm is a great promotional tool of the Non-Industrial Timber Management Plan demonstrating sustained yield and long term management objectives while complying with all the Forest Practice Act Regulations.

In the course of a career that now spans over 60 years, in addition to Tree Farming, Mr. Beaty has been a member of the Board of Forestry, was selected as the Redding Chamber of Commerce “Citizen of the Year” in 1998, and has been a Society of American Foresters Fellow since 1982. He is a past chairman and current board member of the Turtle Bay Museum and Arboretum, were he was instrumental in the development of the Forestry Museum. Mr. Beaty was a founding member and two term president of the Forest Landowners of California of which he is still a member. Mr. Beaty is a past President or Chairman of all of the following: The California Protective Association, the Technical Advisory Committee of the UC Forest Products Laboratory, the Western Forestry and Conservation Association, the Forest Insect Committee of the California Forest Pest Council, and the California Chapter of the Association of Consulting Foresters. He was also the recipient in 2002 of the Francis H. Raymond Award, the highest honor awarded by the California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection for excellence in forestry.

Mr Beaty will be honored at the 2010 Forest Landowners Annual meeting at the Redding Holiday Inn Redding April 29-May 1 . A field tour of the property will be Thursday April 29th. You are welcome to attend.