Several Indiana woodland owners have been recently recognized with the 2024 Charles Deam Forest Stewardship Award by the Indiana Forestry & Woodland Owners Association (IFWOA).
One of the winners is Pence Revington, the owner of Moots Creek Farm in White County, southeast of Brookston, which includes about 65 acres of woodlands. The property sits near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers.
She says the woodland property was purchased by her father 55 years ago.
“[My dad] was a furniture manufacturer. After World War II, he and his brother-in-law had a small furniture company and Delphi, Indiana,” says Revington. “He wanted to be ‘hands-on’ and so he wanted to grow some wood and see what it took, so he bought that woodland property and he’s been my inspirational along.”
As a young girl, she helped her dad plant 10,000 black walnut trees on the property with a plan to harvest those trees down the road for his furniture store.
“He never lived to see any of those trees become mature. He died about five years after he bought the property and we planted all those trees,” she says. “When he passed, it was quite a shock—but I was already a nerd about it since I came home every weekend I could to help him get it started. We spent a lot of time planting those trees, so you can’t walk away from that.”
Even though Revington now lives in Wisconsin full-time, she makes the seven-hour drive back to woods as often as she can.
“At first, it was at least one weekend a month, but now that I’m retired and I can devote most of my time to it, I’m down there at least once a month. I’m there for three to five to six days sometimes twice in a month,” she says.
She even has a “home-away-from-home” in that woods—in spite of her Indiana home not having any electricity or running water. She says she truly enjoys the peace and quiet of nature when she returns to White County to her family woods.
“My ‘cabin’ which I call it, is actually a metal building which requires very little maintenance from me and then there’s a big deck out in front with a grill where I can have my coffee every morning and just get back to work,” she says.
And by “getting back to work”, Revington says that means taking care of the family woods—and those beautiful black walnut trees that still keep her father’s memory and legacy alive.
“There are good, positive, hopeful, optimistic messages all throughout the property—anytime of day, any season—there is something there that reminds me of something good and something important. It goes from, “Wow, I can actually see the creek now,” to “Oh gee, there are box turtles crawling out of the prairie,” or, “Hey, here come my neighbors with beer!” When they hear me on the chainsaw, they show up sooner or later,” she says with a laugh.
In addition to Revington, the following woodland owners were also recipients of the Charles Deam Forest Stewardship Award from the Indiana Forestry and Woodland Owners Association (IFWOA):
Tom and Lynn Webb of Putnam County were finalists for the award from central Indiana. They are especially proud of the fifty plus acres of trees they have planted, over 25,000 in total. They recently installed a 10-acre prairie and have welcomed a diversity of insects and wildlife. They were nominated by Putnam County SWCD.
Chris Lambdin, with property in Orange County, was honored as a finalist from south central Indiana. He manages for timber, wildlife and aesthetics but has especially ramped up his wildlife efforts recently. He has installed watering holes and food plots and enjoys hunting on the property. Chris’s property was nominated by Orange County SWCD.
Stephen and Liz Baldwin, managing their woods in Washington County and nominated by the county Soil & Water Conservation District, were recognized for their stewardship in southeast Indiana. By managing for a diversity of species and ages of trees and creating pollinator plantings, they have enjoyed the added benefit of improved birdwatching on their property.
The Deam award honors outstanding Indiana woodland owners who demonstrate good forest stewardship. Charles Deam, Indiana’s first state forester, was a pioneer in recognizing the need for protecting woodlands and managing our forests. Nominations for 2025 will be accepted starting in May 2025, learn more at www.ifwoa.org.
CLICK BELOW to hear Hoosier Ag Today’s radio news feature on White County woodland owner Pence Revington.
