Caledonia Argus

Davison named Minnesota Tree Farmer of the Year

Posted: 8/27/02

By Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter

Butterfield Valley resident Germain Davison was named the recipient of this yearís Minnesota Tree Farmer of the Year Award on August 9 in Grand Rapids, MN. The award is presented each year by American Tree Farmer and is given to one Minnesota farmer who has displayed outstanding sustainable forestry.

In the past, the Tree Farmer of the Year Award has always been given to a farmer from northern Minnesota, where forestry is a major industry. Davison is the first-ever recipient of the award to hail from southern Minnesota.

Davison, an ex-dairy farmer who has also logged forty-one years active service in the U.S. Navy, was a bit surprised when he got word that heíd been chosen for the award.

ìI felt kind of guilty,î he said. ìSome of these guys I was up against have been doing only forestry their entire lives.î

His forestry career began in 1938 in Platteville, where he planted trees on a college campus as an Ag-Ed major. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he acquired land in northeast La Crosse county, where he planted nearly half a million trees, mostly by himself. After nearly two decades of forestry in La Crosse county, he and his family made the move to Butterfield Valley.

ìWe had five boys and a daughter and I was able to convince my wife to move out into the country where we had more room,î Davison said. ìShe finally accepted and this brought us to the beautiful landscape of Butterfield Valley in 1968.î

Upon arriving at his new farm, he was greeted by a rather daunting prospect.

ìI was told by others that the timber wouldnít yield anything because it had been burned over,î Davison said. ìBut my hired consulting forester took borings of the standing timber and proved to me that the trees were sound. Iíve never been happier with a result.î

And though the landscape of Davisonís farm is somewhat less than ideal for forestry, he has managed to turn the precipitous bluffs around his farm into a verdant wonderland of oak, pine, ash, and hickory trees.

ìLevel land is ideal,î Davison noted. ìBut level land has been monopolized by row crops; forestry only enjoys what no one else wants to use.î

Since the time he acquired the farmland in Butterfield Valley, Davison has practiced innovative, sustainable forestry year after year, even despite the somewhat uninviting landscape. He has completed four timber stand improvement projects, in which he removed elms and box elders to make room for oaks, hickories, and cherries. After companies had finished harvesting the timber, Davison required them to cut up the slash left behind, as well as to seed the logging trails and install water barriers- measures that would insure tenable forestry for years to come.

Davison attributes much of his success to the support his family has provided over the years.

ìMy wife raised the kids and always gave up her goals so I could do what I wanted to do,î Davison noted. ìI never could have done it without her.î

This year he has already planted rows of spruce and white oak. And though his forestry career has spanned eight decades, Davison plans to keep on doing what he does best. Taking great pride in the quality of his timber stock, he is someone who has found something he loves to do, and has turned that love into a gainful career.

ìWhen I stand in the center of a piece of timber I planted and itís growing well, I enjoy that little peace and quiet more than the excitement of any city Iíve ever been to,î Davison noted. ìAnd thatís saying a lot, because Iíve been to some of the biggest cities in the world- San Francisco and New York and London and Madrid and Paris and Berlin. Out of all those, Iíd rather be in my woods.î

The secret of his success, says Davison, boils down to a simple maxim, a maxim borne of experience and one that any farmer interested in entering the field of forestry should heed:

ìYou rarely plant timber for your own gain; some of my seedlings will require a hundred years before they can be harvested,î he said. ìAll it takes is patience.î

Top of Page