If you own ten
acres or more of mature wooded land, then tree farm management may be for you. Tree farm
management requires a commitment to the forest for many years to come. It is necessary to
think in terms of decades, and not years, when we think of forest management.
We make forest management recommendations by collecting certain data on the trees in your
forest. We use the data we collect in a Timberland Assessment to prepare
a written Forest Management Plan. Forest Management Plans are detailed
documents that help the professional Forester to better manage the property for which the
Plan is drawn. The Plan also helps the landowner to better understand his forest, its
composition, its health and well-being, and the steps that are necessary to bring their
forests up to maximum productivity. Forest Management Plans range in their cost and the
detail with which they address the management of a certain parcel of land.
After the Forester writes the Plan, the landowner then elects to implement some or all of
the recommendations made by the Forester. The Forester implements the Plan as the
landowner's agent.
Preparing forestlands for timber sales involves the marking and tallying of removable
sawtimber forest products. These forest products are usually marketed to local sawmills
and log buyers. Usually all sawtimber products are marketed by the Forester through the
competitive bidding process. The Forester then executes a Timber Sale Agreement
between the winning bidder and the landowner to the landowner's satisfaction. During the
actual tree harvesting operation, the Forester inspects the job to insure that the removal
of forest products meets the constraints as specified in the Timber Sale Agreement. |
The marking for
sale and removal of standing fuelwood trees, called Timber Stand Improvement (TSI),
is another important service provided by the professional Forester. Fuelwood trees are
weed trees that are not acceptable for future growth because they compete with the more
valuable and more healthy growing stock volume for growing space. The selective removal of
fuelwood trees is a vital step in the long-term management of a wooded parcel of land.
Tree plantings are sometimes recommended to improve wildlife habitat, to create a buffer
between different types of land use or along property boundaries, to improve stocking in
poorly developed forest types, to stabilize streambanks and reduce soil erosion, and to
enhance woodland aesthetics. Fees for tree plantings are usually assessed on a day-rate
basis.
The Forester derives his fee for forest management services from the gross cash flow that
occurs when the forest products from the landowner's property are sold. The size of that
commission depends on the quality and quantity of forest products sold, but usually ranges
between fifteen and twenty-five percent of the gross revenues received from the sale of
forest products from the landowner's property. |
