Pitfalls of doing a Timber Harvest?

[smstonypoint]

I have had three timber harvests:

1. a ten-acre clear cut of mixed hardwoods and pines in 2001,
2. a first thinning of a 30-acre pine plantation in 2008, and
3. a second thinning of the 30-acre tract and a clear cut of eight acres of mixed hardwoods and pines.

I have used a consulting forester for each harvest. Each harvest has been covered by a contract prepared by the forester and he (or his assistants) has monitored each harvest.

Taxes on timber sales have not been mentioned. In order to calculate your capital gains, you need to know your basis in the timber. A consulting forester can provide that info if needed.

 

[Oaktree]

I will NEVER do it again. After they were done I had major damage to the ground from the harvester making it way through the woodlot. They created new trails throughout the work just from the harvester making multiple passes. The debris left behind was enough to make me sick.

What are the laws in your state regarding timber harvest, and the way land is to be left after the logging is done? Here in N.H. they are quite strict. I've had my property logged twice in the last 40 years, and both times it was satisfactory. Had a several-year supply of firewood both times.
Keep in mind that there's a huge difference between having your land logged, and having a tree service remove some trees. There WILL be somewhat of a mess.

Kind of a moot point here today...we have 3 biomass (ie-wood chip) power plants within 20 miles of here, so everything not sold for logs is chipped. More $ for the landowner, and less mess.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

We've had timber cut on the farm several times. I think people are overly optimistic about what to expect after a cut.

If you expect everything to be gone, you will have to pay them to cut, and clean your land. A normal timber cutter will fell the tree, take the log, and leave the rest lay in place. It is woods after all, not a park. When we had land cleared, and the stumps removed and the tops pushed to the edge of the clearing, we paid them. The tops rot away pretty quick.

 

[dasranger]

When I bought my property ten years ago, I had the local DNR forester come out and we walked the property. I asked her how soon should I schedule a harvest. Her reply was, “ten years ago.”
It took me six years to find someone I thought I could trust. It went well.

 

[ericm979]

And areas of the property are overgrown. So logging would improve the health of the forest and reduce the fire danger.

There's a basic problem in that the ideal work to improve the forest usually means keeping big trees and getting rid of small trees, but small trees have less commercial value (or none at all). If they cut the big trees while doing nothing else you'll end up more overgrown instead of less. The big trees discourage the understory. With them gone the brush and small trees that are left grow faster.

You'll probably need a harvest plan to get the permit and you'll need a forester for that. A consultation from a forester would be a good idea before you get too far into it. CDF may provide some advice for free like ag extension.

 

[ruffdog]

The fire hazard is the number one reason I'm removing all these evergreens. The company brings in a chipper that follows the feller/bundler. The hydro-ax turns any scrap into mulch and levels the ground and the chips.

 

[MossRoad]

The fire hazard is the number one reason I'm removing all these evergreens. The company brings in a chipper that follows the feller/bundler. The hydro-ax turns any scrap into mulch and levels the ground and the chips.

Are you paying them or are they paying you?

 

[ruffdog]

Are you paying them or are they paying you?

Paying them....no money in pine mulch right now.

 

[oosik]

My 80 acres is classified as Open Range Land. My nearest neighbor is a little over 2 1/2 miles away. I had a logger selectively log my property twelve years ago. As far as "property clean up" - grade all ruts smooth - move all limbs/debris into piles. It was a spring time job - smoothing/filling the monster ruts took about four hours and they piled the limbs as the project progressed.

I ended up with about 6 large limb/debris piles - most have rotted down to almost nothing now. A shame - the quail really liked the limb piles. I was going to burn the piles but saw how much the wildlife liked them - so I just let Mother Nature take care of them.

I have no idea what anybody is talking about when they say - "get help from a forester". This little item was never mentioned when I got my permit from the State.

Beside who knows my trees any better than I do. I specifically marked those to cut and the remainder were left. Now, twelve years after the fact, I'm managing my many, many stands of small pines. The result of the logging operation.

Yes, I'm a farmer - my crop just takes a little longer than your garden to reach maturity.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
I have no idea what anybody is talking about when they say - "get help from a forester". This little item was never mentioned when I got my permit from the State.

Beside who knows my trees any better than I do. I specifically marked those to cut and the remainder were left. Now, twelve years after the fact, I'm managing my many, many stands of small pines. The result of the logging operation.<snip>

Well kudos to you. But I daresay many small landowners don't know squat about managing small woodlots. Did you read the posts of those before that did not get a good deal from from their local logger, who often can be basically a thief with a chainsaw and a truck.

Example
My wife, her brother (a medical Doctor with his own profitable practice), and her mother (90 yrs old) had a small parcel in south Mississippi with a barn on it. All of us are in Northern Mississippi or Virginia and none of them wanted to make the trip down to "manage" the land. I normally keep out of THEIR inherited family "belongings" since the MIL seems to resent my "meddling".

But I kept on overhearing phone calls where they were talking about selling the property and the timber because a forester down there had been calling the MIL and bugging her to sell THE TIMBER. Well they were getting close to signing and I finally heard the price they were getting and I blew a hole in the ceiling. He was offering like $2K/acre for the timber alone, saying a lot of the timber had been damaged by a hurricane that went through the area, ta da, ta da, ta da.

Well I popped up Google earth and showed them there was NO DAMAGE. So armed with that info they started a new "discussion" with the logger. He ups it to $3K/acre for the TIMBER which was still marginal in my mind, but remember, I'm trying to keep out of it. I get them to demand a timber contract from him. For some reason the logger only deals with my MIL, won't talk to my BIL the Doctor or my wife the Attorney. Every time either of them tries to contact him he is unavailable.
But he sends a contract AND check for about $3K/acre up to my MIL for her to sign, and then pesters her to sign. She calls my wife. The contract reads that he gets the timber AND LAND. They rolled up the contract and check and sent it back, telling the logger to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. Bare land down there was going for $1K per acre or more.

WE then FINALLY contacted the local state forester, found a reputable logger and got about $5K per acre. Still don't think the MIL trusts me.

In Mississippi and Vermont there are State Foresters supported by tax $$, I've found them to be a good starting point for finding a "for profit" consulting forester who will do a real cruise and monitor the sale from start to finish, usually on a percentage of the sale basis. So the more $$$ you get the more $ he gets.