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The recipient of this year’s North Carolina Tree Farmer of the
Year Award, Leo Brevard of Charlotte has owned his 1,000
acre Tree Farm in McDowell County for 46 years. Brevard and his
wife, Eleanor, began managing their property on a sustainable basis
almost immediately through a program of improvement cutting and
reforestation. They became Certified Tree Farmers in 1983 and have
thus been North Carolina Tree Farmers for 25 years.
 But there’s a lot more to the story. Brevard served our country
as a Marine in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War and
participated in many of the major amphibious landings, including
Iwo Jima, where he piloted a landing craft. After the war he returned
home to the U.S., earned a teaching degree and began teaching high
school biology in Valdese. When the Korean War started in June, 1950,
he was recalled by the Marine Corps.
As a member of the “Greatest Generation”, he not only served our country during two wars, but also taught science to high School students and served as a Sunday
School Teacher at his church.
He and Eleanor began acquiring forest
land in the early 1960’s and initiated sound forest management
practices to improve the quality of their family forest. Performing
much of the work himself, Mr. Brevard planted hundreds of acres of
trees, both pine and hardwood, harvested them and replanted again.
He has also hosted many tours of his Tree Farm, including a visit by
Tree Farmers from around the country when North Carolina hosted
the National Tree Farmers Convention in 2002.
In addition to being a Certified Tree Farmer, Mr. Brevard is also
a Certified Forest Stewardship Landowner and manages his Tree
Farm not only for timber production, but for wildlife, recreation
and soil and water conservation. In the recent past he has hosted a
national group of 80 individual outdoors men on an annual basis for
an event known as “Practice What You Preach”.
This is an outdoor
classroom for individuals to learn about wilderness survival and first
aid in the field among others. Attendees have come from across the
U.S. and from overseas as well.
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