Good work is not only its own reward, it also wins awards.

Following 58 years of active forest management on the Allen Ranch as part of the Montana Tree Farm program, Shawn Allen, the son of the famous Norm Allen, the man who started it all by enrolling in the program back in 1967, was presented the Montana Tree Farm of the Year for 2025 award at the organization’s annual meeting in Hamilton October 3.

A pretty big honor considering that there are over 600 Montana properties representing 237,000 acres of private timberland currently in the program. The Allen Ranch, managed mostly by Shawn the past few decades, with some help at times from brother Mike and sister Tammy, finished second in the state in 2024 before earning top honors this year. The scenic, mostly forested Allen Ranch is located along the Blue Slide Road about 10 miles northwest of Thompson Falls at the base of Cougar Peak Mountain.

The Montana Tree Farm program is designed to conserve important endangered species habitat, protect municipal water supplies, and provide recreational opportunities on participating members’ private timberlands in the Big Sky Country. That means following good management practices, for example considering stream management zone requirements and other recommended forest health practices when harvesting activities occur.

The Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC) headquartered in Plains provides guidance and monitors local Montana Tree Farms for area property owners participating in the program. After many years of working with DNRC foresters Everet Young and Dale Peters, who are both now retired, the Allen Ranch is now collaborating with and advised by current DNRC forester Erik Warrington. Warrington successfully nominated the Allen Ranch for the 2025 Montana Tree Farm award, and was at the award ceremony to help present it to Shawn Friday in Hamilton. Fittingly, Young and Peters were also there to honor Allen.

Besides receiving a large wood-slab sign with the honor etched into its display side, the Allen Ranch also received its golden 50-year Montana Tree Farm placard and new sign to place on the property.

“Shawn’s pride in ownership and active management is demonstrated in the work and effort he has put into the property,” Warrington wrote in the application. “He has carried on the legacy of active, sustainable management which his father first initiated upon gaining ownership of the property.”

A locally famous traditional outdoorsman (known to many as “Rawhide”) who parachuted in Europe during World War II and later worked as a smokejumper firefighter for 10 years once back in the states, Norm Allen later moved into the Thompson Falls area as a teacher and purchased the 225 acre property in 1957, and officially enrolled in the Tree Farm program in 1967. Although he did some of the work, Norm initially contracted out most of the timber harvest projects on the ranch until passing off all management to his youngest son Shawn sometime in the late 1980s.

The owner of Big A Skidding, an independent logging company he created in that era and solely operates to this day, Shawn was well suited to the task of taking over timber management on the Allen Ranch. Although he considers himself “semi-retired, I only work when I want to now,” Allen still tries to keep up with the management on the property, treating bug infestation areas and windthrown trees and such.

In 2021 after a large windstorm downed a bunch of trees, Shawn ended up removing a lot of the windfall timber, totaling 31 loads of logs. During more normal years, about two or three loads of logs are trucked to the sawmill each year.

Warrington said that Shawn also often works on other area Montana Tree Farms as part of his Big A Skidding business, always following the BMPs (best management practices) for each privately owned forest he is working in.

About 25 acres of property was sold off the Allen ranch years ago and the remaining 200 is used both as timberland and hayfields/cattle grazing. A few neighboring ranchers utilize the grazing areas for their cattle through an agreement with the Allens.

The Allen Ranch grounds look no worse for the wear considering the multiple uses the property serves. The trees are well spaced and appear healthy, also representing a much safer potential wildfire situation as tree crowns are not in contact with each other and ladder fuels (dense branches and/or vegetation that allows fires to easily spread from the ground up into tree crowns) are limited in treated areas.

“It makes sense to do things the right way, and that is what this program helps you do,” Shawn said of his continuous participation with Tree Farm program, thanking the DNRC and its employees for all their support along the way. “I think it makes for healthier forests too over the long run.”

According to the national website, “Tree Farms promote public support and understanding of sustainable forestry by displaying Tree Farm signs, hosting educational programs, engaging in public advocacy, and creating a living example of conservation on working lands.”

Although obviously now famous for his forestry work, many people also know Shawn as Coach Allen, as he served as first an assistant and then as the head coach of the Thompson Falls High School wrestling team for many years before retiring from that endeavor. He was also a high school state champion wrestler his senior year as a student at TFHS, and went on to wrestle in college before returning to the Thompson Falls area.