WINTHROP — Morten Moesswilde of the Maine Forestry Service will present a free woodland owners short course on Friday, Sept. 11, at Camp Mechuwana. The program is being co-sponsored by the Kennebec Land Trust.

Morten will highlight the basic elements of successful woodland stewardship and point landowners toward the resources to achieve them. Additional topics will include how to develop landowner goals, basic woodland ecology and assessment, essential administrative/planning decisions and key elements of a successful timber harvest.

The goal is to make current and future woodland owners, and others who work with woodland owners, more familiar with the basics of forest stewardship.

Moesswilde, Midcoast District forester, has been with the service for 10 years, prior to which he worked in Midcoast Maine as a private consulting forester.

Registration will be at 8 a.m. and the course will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Those attending should bring a bag lunch. Register in advance by calling Kennebec Land Trust at 377-2848.

A tour of the Readfield Town Forest and Kennebec Land Trust’s Macdonald Conservation Area will take place from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12.

Harold Burnett of Two Trees Forestry, Readfield Conservation Commission members and Howard Lake, steward of Kennebec Land Trust Macdonald Conservation Area, will lead tours in the 110-acre Town Forest and the 100-acre conservation area.

The Town Forest is managed for conservation, recreation and as a woodlot, and is an example of a well-maintained forest. Twenty-five acres were selectively harvested during January 2009, under the supervision of forester Harold Burnett. Prior to the logging operation, a Maine Project Canopy grant funded an effort to control invasive shrub honeysuckle adjacent to the harvest site.

Participants will view the recently harvested section, learn about the honeysuckle control project, as well as visit woodland trails, observing stonework dating from the time when the land was the Readfield Town Farm.

Kennebec Land Trust’s Macdonald Woods is adjacent to the Readfield Town Forest. Hiking trails link both properties. Meet at the parking area for the Readfield Town Forest on the Belz Road, Winthrop. See the KLT Web site for directions at www.tklt.org. Registration is not necessary.