Making a forest management plan or "What to do with your woodlot"

[tradergordo]

(broken link removed)
from Steve Nix
Even if you own as little as two acres and have or want trees, you could benefit from a forest plan. In this newsletter, I help you evaluate your forest and provide an excellent video produced by West Virginia University's Extension Forestry section. This nine part video tutorial, called "Managing Your Woodlot", walks you through the basic steps of woodlot tree management.

(broken link removed)

There are millions of backyard woods owners in the United States. Most of them own less than 10 acres of trees and are completely unaware of the potential of their woodlot - and have created no forest management plan. This report is based on a USFS publication called "Backyard Woods, Bring Your Vision to Life" and simply explains a forest master plan.
This forest plan will help you focus on what is most important to you and your family. It will help you organize the work so that it is manageable and fits your budget and available time. Even if you don't map it or compose a plan, it would be to your advantage to read the feature and make mental notes on things you can do to improve your little piece of this Earth.

Let me also suggest you look at this excellent video produced by West Virginia University's Extension Forestry section. The nine part video tutorial, called (broken link removed), walks you through the basic steps of woodlot tree management.

From the National Arbor Day Foundation: Make a Master Plan (pdf)

The National Arbor Day Foundation - Backyard Woods Series

 

[babalu87]

Thanks!

Once I get caught up from the Gypsy Moth kill , I'll have a plan

 

[Martin Strand III]

I have about 12 acres of woodlot here in northern MI consisting mostly of beech, ash, sugar maple, black cherry, ironwood and a little birch. I went through this question about 4 years ago when I built wanting not to pay for firewood. I read all the resources I could find and came up with a simple plan, if followed, should be ecological, stimulate growth in healthy trees by reducing competition for soil nutrients and sunlight not to mention keep me in firewood for the rest of my days and then some.

For those who don't want to go through the above websites, here's my endless firewood plan for the trees over 4" diameter at chest height:

1. Remove non-rotten downed trees and limbs; leave the rest that's fallen to decompose
2. Fell, buck and split (FBS) scarred, damaged, "V" notched or crooked trees
3. FBS old "Wolf" trees (very old large trees past their prime)
4. Walk your woodlot in an organized grid pattern marking the best straight healthy trees 20 - 30 feet apart (to give crown room) you wish to keep but harvest later
5. FBS other trees over 4" diameter or so (ignore the smaller ones) in the space between the marked prime trees

If you need wood chips for your garden or around the house, chip the limbs; otherwise bunch the small stuff and leave on the woodlot floor for fauna cover. For smaller crowded stands of young trees 1 - 3" in diameter, I thin using 4. above.

Be careful out there!

Aye,
Marty

 

[Cearbhaill]

Thank you!!

I only have two acres wooded and was wondering what criteria to use to decide which trees to sacrifice. I don't want to denude my property, but a tree here and there would certainly help with wood acquisition problems.

 

[Eric Johnson]

A good rule of thumb when trying to determine which trees to cut is that if the crowns are touching, the trees are too close together. This isn't always obvious by looking at the stems, but it gives you a good basis for selection.

Also, if you plan on eventually having a commercial timber harvest done, you should try to favor the trees with the highest commercial value. In Marty's example, that would be the straight and sound black cherry, sugar maple and birch--in that order. Beech is basically a weed tree with very little commercial value and a tendency to propagate uninvited, but it provides beechnuts for wildlife and is excellent firewood.

On the woodlot that I work on, which sounds pretty similar to Marty's, I take out as much beech as possible, and will leave damaged (though not deformed) cherry and maple as potential seed sources. Deer will eat cherry seedlings, which figures since they're the most valuable species, but will ignore beech. For that reason, among others, we like to encourage hunting.

Everyone has a different goal for their woodlot, and you can tailor your management plan to reflect your longterm desires. Fortunately for us, firewood production is an important part of almost any woodlot management effort. When in doubt, hiring a forester to help craft a plan is a good investment.

 

[Henz]

ok, you sound pretty well educated in this area, I have 50 acres and if I were to give an estimate, I would say that 60% of it is White pine and hemlock. These trees are big. The rest is a mixture of scrub cherry, hard/soft maple, oak, beech and birch.. IT was logged about 10 years ago and the undergrowth is all hardwood of mixed varitey..Alot of the basile or undergrowth even within the hamlock/pine is mixed hardwood but due to always being in the shade has not grown. I would like to manage it for hardwood and firewood..What should be my plan of action?

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm not a forester but I do work with foresters and loggers, so forest management is always on the menu.

You need to open up the areas where you want to the hardwood to take off, namely by removing the big softwoods that are shading them and competing for water, air and other resources. But I would try to keep some of the best pine and hemlock, preferably in groups. It's usually good to have a nice mix of species and timber types on any woodlot. And the pine can be valuable, depending on the condition of the trees and your local markets. Then you might want to identify the species you're trying to favor, probably the hard maple, oak and birch, and start removing the others. So if you've got a soft maple growing next to a hard maple, take the soft maple. This assumes that the trees are in about the same condition. A beautiful soft maple should take precedence over a crummy hard maple. It's largely a matter of common sense. Take out any trees that obviously have no future as sawtimber--they're just depriving the good trees of resources. Take out most of the beech, unless you want it to eventually dominate the stand.

Hopefully your hardwood is big enough to use for firewood. Otherwise, cut back the pine and leave the hardwood to get better established.

I would contact a local sawmill that handles pine (Ward Lumber in Jay, maybe?), and see if they would be interested in buying yours on the stump. Cut a deal where you get some roads and free forestry advice on how best to manage for hardwood. As I said, if you tell them what you want, they can tailor a management strategy to help you accomplish it. If you think you have some real value in the softwoods, hire an independent consultant forester to take a look.

 

[Henz]

actually I have had a forester look at it but he only got to about 1/2..anywyas, thats basically what I have throught too so I guess I know enough to go right at it

 

[mikeathens]

I have a FMP on my 85 acres - this opens the door to the Ohio Forest Tax Law (OFTL) which, once the land is certified "forest land", you get 50% off of your non-homesite property taxes. The state service forester helps in developing the plan. Mine focused on wildlife habitat and aesthetics, with some emphasis on crop tree release and grape-vine control.

To sweeten the pot even more, by having a FMP, I was able to get a 50% cost share on tree seedling purchases - my wife and I planted 3000 trees this past spring (1000 black walnut, 300 white pine, 1000 white oak, and 700 red oak), saving us $900.

Not enough? Having a FMP has allowed me to be granted EQUIP funding for grapevine control and exotic invasive woody plants (autumn olive) that has the potential to shade my seedlings. I'm getting paid to cut grapevine

There are tremendous opportunities out there for conservation-minded property owners. I would encourage everyone to see what their state and fed. govt. has to offer.

 

[JustWood]

I have a FMP on my 85 acres - this opens the door to the Ohio Forest Tax Law (OFTL) which, once the land is certified "forest land", you get 50% off of your non-homesite property taxes. The state service forester helps in developing the plan. Mine focused on wildlife habitat and aesthetics, with some emphasis on crop tree release and grape-vine control.

To sweeten the pot even more, by having a FMP, I was able to get a 50% cost share on tree seedling purchases - my wife and I planted 3000 trees this past spring (1000 black walnut, 300 white pine, 1000 white oak, and 700 red oak), saving us $900.

Not enough? Having a FMP has allowed me to be granted EQUIP funding for grapevine control and exotic invasive woody plants (autumn olive) that has the potential to shade my seedlings. I'm getting paid to cut grapevine

There are tremendous opportunities out there for conservation-minded property owners. I would encourage everyone to see what their state and fed. govt. has to offer.

Make sure you read the fine print before signing into any program.Wouldn't hurt to have an attorney check it out also.
I had some unsolicited interveenment by the state on my property where I am agressively managing for a timber crop in 20 years.I won't go into details but it was not pleasant. For a few months I thought I owned property in a Communist state. For an unknown reason the whole matter was dropped and haven't heard a word in almost a year.

 

[Martin Strand III]

Mike:

In MI one needs (I believe) 50 acres to qualify for FMP which means this advantage is available to fewer rather than more property owners. Though I can't take advantage of this, for those who can, bravo.

Aye,
Marty

 

[Martin Strand III]

Woops. Change State Advantage Tax Benefits for FMP above.

Aye,
Marty

 

[Eric Johnson]

In NYS it's called 480a. Nice tax break if you can live with the conditions. In Wisconsin, for example, you have to allow hunting, and you have to get a management plan put together and abide by it. You also have to pay a share of any timber sale revenue to the state. But it motivates a lot of people to manage their property who otherwise wouldn't.

 

[mikeathens]

In Ohio, the "OFTL", or Ohio Forest Tax Law, simply means you manage your property for the purpose set in your FMP (Forest Management Plan). The state can come in and direct you to cut, if it's "time", but at that point, you can opt out of the program and just go back to paying your taxes in full. It doesn't give anyone the right to trespass, hunt, log, etc. etc. It only means that YOU, the property owner, must keep boundaries marked and complete certain "projects" within a given time frame (plant seedlings, manage grape vine, etc). Sounds like some states are more invasive than Ohio. I have never heard of the state requiring logging, either. I guess the republican/conservative stronghold that I call home isn't as bad as I thought...

 

[Eric Johnson]

If there's logging prescribed in your management plan, which generally there is, then it has to be done. In Wisconsin (which is the only program I know many details about), you can opt out of the program, but then you have to pay back all the taxes you saved. If you sell the land to someone who wants to opt out (say, because they want to develop it), then the new owner has to pay the back taxes. Participation in the program is basically a contract for a set period, such as 15 years. At the end of that period, you can opt out with no penalty or re-enroll for another block of time. So it's not for everyone, but it does work well for people who want to keep a managed forest for the long term, but don't want the tax burden.

 

[mikeathens]

Ohio's definitely different, then. You don't have to pay the taxes back...