"The mission of the New York Forest Owners Association (NYFOA) is to promote sustainable forestry practices and improved stewardship on privately owned woodlands in New York State. NYFOA fulfills this critical mission by being the leading organization to provide education, peer-to-peer networking, and advocacy for the woodlot owners of NY."

Jerry Michael was born & raised near Binghamton, NY. He graduated from Cornell University, Business & Human Resources. Jerry was a US Army Reserve Infantry Officer. He was with IBM for 32 years filling a variety of management jobs in the US and overseas. After retirement 33 years ago, he took on forestry as a 2nd career. He purchased a family tree farm in Broome County in 1972. He joined NYFOA in 1989, served on its Board of Directors for 12 years and Chaired NYFOA's Restore New York Woodlands initiative. Jerry participated in Cornell's Master Forest Owner Volunteer training at Arnot Forest in 1995, where he has since assisted over 200 woodlot owners under the program. He has hosted on his property about 20 woodswalks.