Forestry Management Practices and Plans

Surely I cannot be the only Hoarder who engages in Forestry Practices here on the site?

Have had my land enrolled in the County C.A.U.V. plan for nearly ten years now. This program requires treating invasive species, using BMPs and protecting water quality. I have literally cut thousands of grapevines around the property over the years to the point where you will have to look pretty hard to find one. I have also been spraying Ailanthus trees and Barberry. These are not required actions in the CAUV (current agricultural use valuation) program, but I have been doing it solely for the improvement of my woodlands. The plus side for the landowner (besides obviously improving the woodlot) is a tax abatement. The theory is that forest land should not be valued at the same tax rate as land that is residential or commercial. Timber is, after all a crop. Farmers get a similar reduction for lands used to produced livestock or food crops. The tax savings have allowed me to retain the property. Frankly, without it, I would need to either start butchering immature timber or selling off bits to cover the tax burden. It has been a lot of work, but not only does it save me money on taxes, I am actively improving the forest by implementing the practices required. I recommend that any of you with 10 acres or more of forested land to contact local conservation district and see if this type of program is available in your area.

Recently, I have decided to take the next step. I will be applying for assistance from the State of Ohio under the E.Q.I.P. (Environmental Quality Incentives Program). This one is a little more involved.

Environmental Quality Incentives Program | NRCS Ohio

I have completed a preliminary step. A forester recently toured the property to analyze stocking levels, growth rates, stand densities/compositions, estimated standing boardfootage, and then wrote up a Forestry Plan based on those observations. You must have a plan, written by a certified forester in order to apply for the EQIP program. A benefit that I have already gained from the Forester's visit is establishing what my "Basis" is. I'll not go into details, but this has a positive effect towards taxation when harvesting timber.

As I understand currently, there are limited grant funds available...not everyone gets money. This program is considered a "cost share". The state will grant monies based upon certain criteria (they are looking to help motivated folks out and not just throw money away to anyone who applies). I feel like my chances of getting a grant are good, based on my ongoing voluntary practices already being implemented. If awarded a grant, it will not be "pocket money". I have already incurred related costs in tools, equipment, herbicides and my own labor. This will help to offset and recover those costs so I can continue to make improvements going forwards, which is the goal of the program.

I will never see my land as merely "an asset". It means SO much more to me, especially being a third generation holder. I have great memories of the property going back as far as I can remember and have spent considerable time in my life under the canopy of those beautiful trees. I am very blessed to have them and will never take it for granted. Finances and my interest in improving the property have led me down the path of conservation. I honestly want to leave it better than I found it. My humble, yet honorable legacy as of yet, unrealized.

So, are any fellow hoarders participating in any forestry programs/practices?

 

I am actively working to improve my little corner of the world, 10 acres. I try to follow "best practices" and do a lot of research to determine what that is.

I don't have or want governmental help, I would rather do things the way I see as right, and not have the interference. If that cost a little more in taxes, so be it. That is the way I roll, not judging you.

It is good to take care of what is in your care.

 

They really aren't too intrusive as I understand. Land is still yours to do as you please with. They don't ask anything that is not an interest to the landowner. If you are signing up, you already have decided to manage anyways, but you have the benefit of knowledgeable folks to help you make good decisions. It's more of a deal that you will perform certain tasks, and they will help financially. You can decline to complete said tasks and default, but you must return the funds allocated to you. I think the stewardship contracts are where you begin to run into strict regulations? Not to sound like an ingrate, but larger acreage can be quite burdensome if you are not turning crops over every year or have a juggernaught of a gas well or something. My level of income allows me to keep and maintain the land....barely. Thus far, my experiences have all been good with the programs and people associated with.

I hear that there is a push here to just designate forest lands as crop lands to help out people like me. For whatever reason, it is treated differently?

 

I have had Forrester here.. but we had a tornado.. took 12 acres of trees and made them deadly with widow makers.. Forrester came up and we walked it.. it was then basically clear cut.. leaving only healthy trees. luckily for me the neighbor farm is in a land program and that involves select cutting.. we planTed many trees most did not make it and are going to need to thin soon many popular and pin cherry took hold.. maples are starting amazing to see regrowth in 10 years..

plus side we have trails now

 

Ditto, private nature preserve. We try to keep the invasive species out that includes the government and their dirty money.

 

I had some storm damage from the derecho in 2012. Lost a bunch of good saw timber. Found a state run relief program offering landowner assistance with cleanup. Rid the woods of widowmakers and cull (girdle) the heavily damaged trees. Forester came, toured with me and assessed, mailed a packet with landowner requirements a few weeks after. Gave a two year window to complete tasks. Returned after deadline to inspect the work. Received check two weeks later. No further obligations required.

 

I have done WHIP contracts for mast trees. They took a bit of work but in many cases the per tree payment was better than what the tree would have brought in to us sold as pulp. We also got money to do an enhanced management plan a few years back. I think that was called FLEP. That was pretty good. The government paid us to do our plan that we had to do every 10 years to be enrolled in current use.

 

Forestry management practices and plans. Hmmm.

Believe it or not, I visited a college last week to ask about enrolling in a 2 year course in forestry!

Timely.

 

I was once told by a forester that I should have went to school for it. We were touring my woods and talking for a while during an evaluation and I guess I had impressed him with my general knowledge and interest of forestry? I think I would have enjoyed a career in it, but not sure there's much money to be made here unless working for ODNR. Most in these parts forego a forester when harvesting timber unfortunately.

Are you going to enroll??

 

I'm pretty involved with managing our property. We have 25+ acres in Chapter 61A (agriculture) and 42+ acres in Chapter 61 (Forestry). The 61A requires me to file how much my land produced the previous year, what crops were grown, etc. This has to be submitted each year before October 1st. The Chapter 61 Forestry is submitted every 10 years. I worked with a forester to determine what I wanted to do on the property, a plan was created, approved by the state and filed with the town. The tax savings, especially with the forestry portion, are amazing.
We just finished a 4-part contract with the NCRS over a 3 year period. There were two parts that dealt with invasive plants; one required mechanical removal followed by a chemical follow-up, the other was less involved and required 2 chemical applications.
Another part was boundary marking where I blazed and/or hung signs on trees along our border. They allow so much per foot of boundary marked.
The last part involved crop tree release which in my case was to thin around the sugar maples since we tap them. We had the forester mark the trees to be removed and I actually worked with a Game of Logging trainer and ended up hosting 4 or so chainsaw training classes on the property. The NCRS paid a portion to remove the trees and I had the majority of them cut for free and many people benefitted from the training; win-win!
The NCRS program is a cost share as well, but by combining the 4 projects and being able to do two of them myself I ended up breaking even or maybe a little ahead or behind, but not by much. I loved the program and they liked the work I did. I am meeting with them again at the end of October to hopefully come up with some more projects.
The forestry part of my property is a registered tree farm with the American Tree Farm organization. I am a graduate of the U-Mass Keystone Project which was an awesome experience: About the Keystone Project | UMass Amherst The Massachusetts Keystone Project I was recommended for the program from my State Service Forester because of my enthusiasm for the improvements I wanted for our forest. I am a member of the Massachusetts Forest Alliance as well. I would have loved to become a forester but the options weren't as known to me when I was younger and now it's a little late for a career change.

 

Awesome! It would be very neat to have the GOL do training! It sounds as if your experiences have been very good. I agree wholeheartedly on the tax savings. It is very much worth it to participate.

What invasives are you dealing with? I have Ailanthus trees, Privet, Barberry and a little olive to deal with. Oh and of course the danged vines. I just repainted some boundary trees the other day. I need to order some more tape. It is not required, but I like to string flag tape along the borders also for extra visibility. It will usually last about 2-3 years before it starts to rot and fall to the ground. There is fence around my borders, but it was built in the 40's and has been neglected badly, so marking boundaries is necessary.

 

We have Barberry, Multiflora Rose, Bittersweet, and some Buckthorn. The mechanical removal portion was done with a forestry mower. That area was incredibly tall; well over 6 feet. It was the densest stuff the guy had ever mowed. He actually brought in an excavator for some of the work.
Some of the area:

Mower:



View from the mower when he started:

 

Haven't made up my mind yet....what major...also considering accounting/business administration/economics type courses.

Or maybe, nothing at all!

 

Oh my! The things I would do with that machine!! Got one big patch of privet I have been bush hogging, but that machine would be much more productive.

I vote for a double major of forestry & surveying. Can stay busy all the time doing surveying, and you could advertise the two services. If doing a land survey and it has good timber on it, can offer forestry services. Also, could perform boundary survey and marking along with forester services!

 

My farm has a forest management plan...

I got my Forest Management Plan from a USDA-NRCS Equip Cost Share program and am happy I did. I use several different foresters, from having an excellent relationship with my State Regional Forester, but also a forester from a paper mill nearby, as well as my contracted forester. Between the three we have a pretty good plan for my farm.

Now my farm is part of the National Tree Farm System, and part of the Forest Stewardship Council which has higher restrictions then the American Tree Farm System. I am NOT however enrolled in Maine Tree Growth which is a tax reduction measure to encourage tree growth in Maine. Part of that is because it places a huge financial burden on my town, and this town is very rural, has very few people, and I am a pretty big landowner...it would really hurt others. It also has severe limitations on future use including building because it is NOT a tax shelter, it is a way to promote proper tree growth. So to me the rules are too restrictive. BUT that is just me.

This week I am actually hosting a County Wide Forestry Walk on my farm, and while I was resistant at first to the idea because I feel some land clearing of forest to put into field seems to be selling my forestry soul, my regional forester assured me that this is reality here in Maine. I am selecting certain acreage (in this case a 30 acre, 10 acre, and 8 acre plot) to make new fields by sound reasoning. Other landowners want to hear how I derived the reasons I did.

One thing I have not been clear on here is that not all of my land will be field...nor could it, nor could I ever do so at my current rate of clearing (15 acres per year). I feel bad because I have NEVER clear cut, I have always watched out for my second growth, remaining trees, culls, etc and always practiced great forestry. I will continue to do that on other parts of my land, but over the next few years will concentrate on logging these 48 acres off. So when you hear of what I am doing, or see nasty forestry pictures, please remember that these are taken in sacrificial areas where every tree will be removed. Other areas...no those will be properly managed. So I am committed to proper forestry practices; just not on the current 48 acres I am clearing off.

As a side note; we are equally committed to proper farming too by trying to eliminate erosion, grow vigorous crops, and comply with comprehensive nutrient management plans.

But please do not think we have it all together because Katie and I do not, we get some things wrong, but are slowly working to improve things. We try and do one big project per year and are doing okay I think.

 

Awesome! I am one of the people who goes on those type of tours. Gracious of you to host one! The forester I have been dealing with currently (private) to get a plan established is hinting around on how difficult it can be to keep an uneven aged stand. Right now, most acreage is full of stock from saplings on up to the low side of 30" dbh. I think those hints are meaning there may need to be some clear cutting in the future. I don't really jive with that either, but I am not an expert. I like an uneven aged stand. It looks like its supposed to? Before we humans came along, most forests were even aged due to old growth canopies throwing shade. Clear cutting in my mind is an open invitation for invasives to thrive if you don't stay on top of them. He is suggesting that some clear cutting is the way to keep the stands in Oaks and hickory, which is what I want. I think that the beech will end up taking over as most of the tract is in its second successional stage right now. Some has already moved to third and I have a few small areas that are in first succession.

All very interesting, but also confusing as to which choices to make. I'm managing for timber production, wildlife, and aesthetics, in that order (or at least trying to). Timber production is important because it's the main revenue generator for the property. Idea being, use the monies from harvests to finance ongoing improvement projects and equipment. I have a proposal plan on my desk for review, but have not had a chance to take a good look at it yet. This is a new forester for me, my last one up and retired on me! He managed my last harvest and I was beyond satisfied with his work. I will bounce this proposed plan off of the county forester for his input and see what he thinks before moving forwards.

 

Because of the grant I had to pick a forester from a list, I asked for help in getting a good one but they are not allowed to say. So I scrolled through 3 pages of names and picked the only woman on the list...not being sexiest...it was the only difference in any of the other 100 people. Sad way to chose, but actually ended up with a really good forester.

I was not 100% happy with her though. I have a gravel pit that grew back into trees and in this area she did not even walk through it, the area being a mess. I try to give her slack, but jeesh this is what I am paying you for, to address what is on my farm for wood. Another area (18 acres) she did not recommend cutting even though it was a mess. She later told me it was not something a logger would cut, but said it definitely needed a thinning. It was just that no logger would go in there as the removal rate was not worth doing, but would be for a landowner-logger like me. The last thing I disliked was that she put down low numbers on the timber. When I said I would never have a logger come in and cut my wood off for that little money she said she kept the price down so that "if I did cut it off, I would be happy with how much more money I got". I told her I paid her for accurate numbers, not to be surprised. She admitted though that few people cut their own wood anymore like I do.

I still think she is one of the best foresters in Maine...I honestly do...other foresters admit she is, but the point is there is no way another person can have the same forestry vision as you. Just no way. So its likely there will be some issues with the forestry plan, but it is a plan, not an execution order. Things change as no one can predict the future.

I will caution you on this though...anyone...I always cut the cull wood figuring that in the end I would always have good saw logs to sell, but it did not work out that way. We have a lot of over-mature forest and was not very healthy. This coincided with a market that is bust, so now we have tons of logs that need to be cut for VERY little money. Myself, I see this spreading to other areas of the country. Paper making started in New England and is now all but dead, and it was blamed on aging mills. It is only a matter of time before it spreads west I believe.

 

When you get your forestry plan done, let me know. I have a computer program I set up that took the foresters management plan and broke it down into more usable information. Taking into account growth, harvest, windthrow and rot, I can chart how much my woodlot grows or losses in wood over time. This is based on the whole forest, wood by species, and wood by individual stand.

As an example, Stand 5 is only 4 acres and has 80 cord of wood, of which 9.5% is White Pine pulp, 9,5% White Pine Logs, 50% fir, 12.5% hardwood pulp (firewood), 12.5% hardwood logs, 3% hemlock pulp and 3% hemlock logs.

Based on Maine's growth rate of 1 cord per acre per year, I can take those percentages and calculate how much growth I will get out of each species in this stand. In the case of Fir, it is half a cord per year. Since wood does not grow in Maine in Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov or December that growth is divided by the 7 remaining months, or .071 cords of fir growth per month. But then we must deduct for winthrow and rot, roughly 3% of the total cordage per acre per year. I just deduct that by each month (12 times). So in the end we get some growth on some months, some loss for rot and blowdowns every month, but have one more thing to calculate...harvest.

Now lets say I go in and cut 10 cords of Fir. I had 50% of 80 cords total, so I had 40 cords of Fir, but now harvested 10, so I have 30 cords left. In my computer program I would go to the block for September 2017 and put down 10 cords in the Fir harvest column. Using Excel it automatically subtracts that from my forest inventory so I know exactly how much wood I have left. In this way my Forestry Plan is always up to date...on growth, rot and windthrow, and even harvesting. This is for every stand on my wood lot and for every species; I just used Fir in Stand 5 as a single example.

But I can and did go farther then that. I put a per cord value to each cord of wood so now I know up to the month, what my woodlot is worth. It is actually astounding. I can take these figures to the bank, or just keep them for my records as to how much my net worth is. No one else is keeping track of this because they just use sad numbers like averages per acre like $800, but a load of wood is worth that. And what value you give that cord of wood is up to you, I put the price I get for it because I cut my own wood, but someone else might put down what they would get if a logger cut the wood for them, so it is very customizable.

I have been doing this for 3 years now and would say it is very accurate. I have cut 600 cord of hardwood here in the last two years and it shows on the charts. It does not take a lot of work to maintain, yet keeps my forestry plan up to date and relative to how I manage it, so it really works. This is another aspect I am bringing up on my forestry walk this coming week.