By James Ronald Skains
Journal Correspondent

Doug Miller of Shreveport and his sister, Pam Miller Sandzen who lives in California have been selected by the Louisiana Forestry Association as Tree Farmers of the Year for 2005. The Miller siblings own 1,000 acres in DeSoto parish five miles from Longstreet.

"I believe that we are the fourth generation of the family to manage and use this property," Doug Miller told the Piney Woods Journal. "J. Diehel and Don Russell of Shreveport are our Foresters. They came in a few years ago and gave us a detailed plan of how we could maximize our return on the property with a well managed forestry program. We are very pleased with their work."

So far the management program has involved a final cut on 100 acres this year and a thinning operation on four hundred acres about two years ago.

"We got some very good log timber on the clear cut," Landry noted. "That area that we cut had been pasture land before we planted it in 1979 so we had 26 years growth on the timber. The thinning on the four hundred acres was on some 13-14 year old trees."

"We got a lot of wood but we also got an appreciable amount of chip-n-saw size logs."

Landry, who was nominated along with his sister for the Tree Farmer award by Diehel and Russell Forestry, pointed out. "We are looking forward to seeing what twelve more years of growth will add to those trees."

The management plan on the Miller property calls for cutting on about a hundred acres every five years. The next thinning operation will take place in 2008.They will re-plant the clear-cut this winter with super seedlings.

Miller, a retired machine shop owner in Shreveport, never lived on the property, but it has been a focus during his lifetime. In 1993, his Dad, Darrell Miller was named LFA Tree Farmer of the Year for his Best Management Practices on this 1,000 acres tract. Before Darrell Miller managed the family property, Doug Miller's grandfather, William was the caretaker of the property.

Back