The 2025 Stewardship Forester is Green Timber Consulting Foresters in Pelkie, just north of Baraga in the western Upper Peninsula.

Justin Miller and his team of 17 foresters accepted the award in February to recognize outstanding customer service to Michigan’s family forest landowners.

The Stewardship Forester award recognizes the important role of 155 private sector consulting foresters who serve Michigan’s 400,000 family forest landowners. The award is given at the annual meeting of the Michigan Association of Consulting Foresters.

“Relationships between foresters and landowners are at the heart of successful private forest management," said Dennis McDougall with USDA Forest Service. "By listening to the landowner’s vision for their property, the forester develops a unique management plan designed to achieve that vision. Green Timber Consulting Foresters help landowners understand and navigate the unfamiliar world of timber markets and government programs to enable them to make sound decisions about their land.”

Going strong since 2001

Justin Miller started Green Timber Consulting Foresters in 2001 and has grown the business to provide employment for 19 people. Justin and 11 more staff foresters graduated from the nearby College of Forest Resources at Michigan Technological University (their office is only 17 miles from campus).

Green Timber Consulting Foresters provide services to landowners large and small. Staff foresters write simple forest stewardship plans for family forest landowners. Green Timber also is a national leader in complex forest carbon inventories to enroll large corporate and government ownerships (two for the State of Michigan) into forest carbon projects. Green Timber hosts its own Independently Managed Group to provide forest certification to clients through the American Tree Farm System.

Miller and the staff at Green Timber Consulting Foresters have written 475 forest management plans over the last 24 years, covering 215,000 acres in northern Michigan. Green Timber clients use their plans to do projects in the woods such as planting trees, harvesting timber, improving wildlife habitat or enrolling in forest carbon programs.

Forest management plans provide a fast return on investment when landowners use their plan to generate income with a timber sale, sell forest carbon credits, improve water quality and wildlife habitat or lower their property taxes in the Qualified Forest or Commercial Forest programs.

Focus on leadership

Staff at Green Timber Consulting Foresters have numerous credentials to document their professional forestry skills and help landowners enroll in various forestry programs. Justin Miller has served in leadership roles with the Association of Consulting Foresters at state and national levels. Justin served as national president of that organization a few years ago and wrote a grant in 2024 for a $1 million investment from the USDA Forest Service to expand training for 750 ACF members nationwide.

Justin recently took a large risk to grow his business and the forestry profession in Michigan with the acquisition of Grossman Forestry Inc in late 2024. Grossman Forestry is another large and well-established consulting firm in the Upper Peninsula, managing 375,000 acres for its clients since 1990. Jerry Grossman and his team of foresters were recognized with the initial Stewardship Forester award in 2019 when they reached the milestone of developing 1,000 forest stewardship plans. Their office has now completed over 1,250 stewardship plans covering 225,000+ acres.

With Green Timber buying Grossman Forestry, Justin is ensuring continued forest management and stellar customer service for large and small landowners in Michigan served by foresters at Grossman Forestry over the past 35 years. More information is at GreenTimberForestry.com/green-timber-acquires-grossman-forestry-company.

Learn more

The Forest Stewardship Program is funded by the USDA Forest Service and administered in Michigan by the Department of Natural Resources. All partners are equal opportunity providers and employers. For more information, contact Mike Smalligan at SmalliganM@Michigan.gov or 517-449-5666.