Stan and Suzanne Woods with granddaughter Leighton Grace.

A Bremen couple has been selected for a notable national award, thanks to their efforts in creating a sustainable environment for where timber and wildlife can coexist — right here in Cullman County.

The American Tree Farm System (ATFS) revealed Bremen’s Stan and Suzanne Wood as one of four nationwide recipients of its annual tree-farming families award. The awards were handed out Wednesday, selected from a pool of more than 70,000 certified tree farmers.

In naming the Wood family as its Southern Regional Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year, ATFS said their stewardship of more than 2,000 acres of forested land in the county’s southwest corner shows remarkably rapid rehabilitation of land that wasn’t always welcoming for trees and wildlife.

The Woods “showcase how hard work and sweat equity can produce incredible results, even in a short amount of time,” ATFS noted.

“Purchasing more than 2,000 acres of an old industrial fiber plantation in 2006, the Wood family set out to practice sustainable forestry for timber and wildlife habitat. In just 13 years, together they have planted more than 900 acres of loblolly and longleaf pine, developed an advanced road system throughout the property, built a bridge out of an old tractor trailer bed, improved the hardwood stands along their three mile stretch of the Black Warrior River, developed an annual prescribed burn program, and controlled the ever-spreading invasive Chinese Privet.”

The Woods’ success at creating a habitat for local fauna also received praise, with ATFS noting their immense effort in “improving habitat for both game and non-game species. They plant food plots annually, have several dozen bird boxes throughout the site, and are proud to say that seven native species of woodpeckers call their property home.”

Exemplifying good land stewardship is only part of the Woods’ success story, however. Evangelizing to other land owners how they can enact similar techniques to make their property more nature-friendly is also part of their ongoing mission.

“Stan and Suzanne have made spreading the good word of stewardship a priority for their Tree Farm,” ATFS said. “They host 12 to 15 tours a year for school groups, local nonprofits, forestry professionals, policymakers, and more. Using their forest as a demonstration site, they showcase the benefits of sustainable management, even leaving a small area unmanaged so that visitors can see the difference.”

In addition to the Wood family, land owners in Maryland, Missouri, and Washington received the other three tree farming awards this year from ATFS. For more information about the award, as well as how you can learn techniques of good land stewardship, visit the organization’s website at forestfoundation.org.