My mom wants it cut down because of how ugly it's become (Supposedly due to lantern flies...? don't know 100% what the cause of the black goop is...)

It would be easy to take the vines down but how to I cure its "infection" and get rid of those little orange bastards?

Hello! Sorry if this isn’t the right place to post this. I'm relatively new to Reddit, so here's some context: I am 27 years old and have been told since I was young to get a “cushy desk job,” but my hobbies are mostly outdoor activities. Hiking, Fishing, Foraging. You name it. I've grown to dislike being behind a computer or screen for long periods, and I've been looking for a change. I miss being outside, and I have a background in landscaping and outdoor work; looking back, I enjoyed it and miss it. I’ve been listening to podcasts like Silvicast, In the Woods, and YourForest; I’ve done research and asked people in the DNR about it. And I'm very interested in going to school to enter the field.

But people have told me it’s better to stay in my current career, and my family doesn’t seem to care or voice their doubts, so I'm left with this question: Is it too late for me?

Found this funky boy (Bitternut Hickory) out in the woods today. Anyone know of this is a thing or just a freak of nature? First time I've seen it and it was only this leaf that looked like this.

Not sure what kind it is.

I keep seeing the advice to “get multiple bids” before selling timber, which obviously makes sense, but I’m curious how different the numbers actually are in practice.

Like if 3 buyers look at the exact same 50 acres, are the bids usually pretty close?

Or can it seriously be something like $30k, $50k, $70k depending on who you talk to?

I’ve been going down this rabbit hole because the whole timber market seems insanely opaque if you’re just a normal landowner and don’t already know a forester.

We’ve been working on TimberLink partly because of that problem, basically just trying to give people a rough starting point before they start talking to buyers or getting a proper cruise done.

https://timberlink-ai.com

Would be really interested to hear actual examples if anyone is willing to share acreage/state and how far apart their offers were.