Jeff Steinkraus of Marcellus owns Steinkraus Forest Management and has been serving southwest Michigan and northern Indiana for almost 30 years, since 1995.

As he told an audience Nov. 19 in the William P.D. O’Leary Building, he earned his bachelor’s degree in forestry in 1990 from Michigan Technological University and is a registered forester, a certified commercial pesticide applicator for Michigan and Indiana and a certified tree farm inspector.

He has owned Steinkraus Forest Management since 2007. From 1993-2007, he was staff forester for Wakeland Forestry Consultants of Culver, Ind.

Steinkraus served as president of the Association of Consulting Foresters of America Michigan Chapter from 2002 to 2005. He has belonged to the Michigan Forest Association since 1995 and to the Society of American Foresters since 1993.

Dr. Thomas O. Green, Michigan State University outreach coordinator for MSU’s agricultural business certificate at SMC, hosted the speaker, who was also heard by John Tinker’s construction trades green technology students.

Steinkraus grew up on an 80-acre Gladwin dairy farm northeast of Mount Pleasant, but wanted to separate himself from milking 26 cows while continuing to work outdoors and to hunt and fish.

“(Such small farms) don’t exist much anymore in this day and age,” Steinkraus said, “so it’s probably good I chose a different path. But at that time I was just ready to do something else. I was pretty good in math and science in high school, even if I wasn’t sure what a forester did. I figured the UP would be a fun place to explore nature.”

“My last year of college I got married,” he said.

Wendy, a Beaverton girl and his wife of 35 years, played trumpet in the Marching Chips during a year at Central Michigan University.

She eventually enrolled in the SMC nursing program and today is a nurse practitioner.

Their youngest, Amy, graduated from the SMC nursing program in 2022.

All four children earned SMC associate degrees.

“My oldest went to Michigan State for her bachelor’s in nursing degree. She’s up in Canada now. My son went to Michigan Tech and farms. My third daughter got her degree in biology and chemistry. I have one other forester working for me who lives in Kalamazoo,” Steinkraus said. “We cover all of southwest Michigan, from Hillsdale to Lake Michigan and Grand Rapids.”

Services foresters offer include timber land management and plans, timber inventories and appraisals, timber marking and marketing, timber stand improvement, forest tree planting and plantation management and appearing as an expert witness.

Management plans begin with a clear statement of the landowner's objectives, both general and specific, for the short and long run. Maps depict physical attributes of the property, including vegetative cover types (stands), streams, roads, wetlands, soils and other important characteristics.

A forest management plan should be reviewed and updated every five years or as conditions change. It’s recommended to work with a consulting forester such as Steinkraus to write the plan.

Forests once covered 95 percent of Michigan, compared to about half today.

Forest cover varies by region. Twenty-one percent of the southern Lower Peninsula is occupied by patchy woods and wetland corridors, whereas 65 percent of the northern Lower Peninsula and 84 percent of the Upper Peninsula are covered by large forested tracts. 

Foresters are in demand, with a projected 5-percent job growth by 2033. This is due to the ongoing need for forest management, timber production and conservation.

Foresters work in a variety of settings, including state and federal forestry agencies, municipalities, consulting firms, universities, non-profits and private industry, such as logging and lumber companies, sawmills and research and testing facilities.

There are currently an estimated 11,300 U.S. foresters.

“Michigan Tech, MSU and Purdue in Indiana offer forestry,” he said. “I also thought about becoming an arborist,” or tree surgeon.