Woodland Management – Plan not Panic
When walking through the woods as a Forester for The Nature Conservancy in Indiana my senses are being flooded by the forest; past, present and future. Details that may be lost to many but allow me to draw on the experience gained by walking 10 of thousands of acres in Indiana. Experience gained by reviewing hundreds of management plans from past foresters, seeing properties I manage, and my predecessors have managed, grow, respond and develop.
The past is remembered by noticing old fence lines, the condition and deterioration of old stumps, tops and logs, an old two-track road, old skidder trail or lack thereof, forest habitat, condition and structure transitions. These along with the biodiversity of the understory, overstory and midstory provide clues and evidence as to how the property has been managed and how it was used.
The present assaults my senses with bird songs and frog calls, butterflies, flowers, leaves, bark, twigs, buds, invasive plants, native plants, insects and disease signs and symptoms. All being identified and cataloged to feel and understand the forest. The feel of deep soil under boots and leaf litter condition. Moisture in the ground and air, dry ridge to deep cool ravine. Water in the creeks and condition of the streambanks and stream bed. Overwhelming at times and frustrating at others when a noticed song or flowering plant escapes my knowledge.
The future has many paths. Landowner goals and objectives, ecological health and resilience, forest conditions that can be achieved, maintained or developed and what management activities are required to make it happen. Future invasive plants and insects, trends in timber markets, forest health and even climate change.
In gathering all this information, I see trends and conditions that are repeated across the landscape and through time. Some are good and some are not so good. Fortunately, our forests are resilient and most problems of the past can be addressed with good planning and time.
Too often I see properties that are recovering from bad decisions in the past. Maybe all the high-quality trees have been harvested leaving a degraded forest condition to persist, but not meet needs of local birds, plants and wildlife. Altered composition and structure of the forest can make what looks like a natural forest not so natural, not so healthy and not so productive.
I often see landowners making tradeoffs. They believe cutting some trees is okay, but don’t want an opening in the forest or only want a few trees cut per acre. By putting restrictions on the forest that pertain to how we feel instead of forest health and productivity we often leave the forest in a degraded condition. For example, harvesting 6-8 trees per acres sounds like less disturbance and better for the forest than harvesting more trees per acre. The number of trees per acre harvested should never be the goal as it is arbitrary and does not reflect the condition of the forest. To make harvesting a few trees per acre economical you must be the best trees per acre. That means no poor formed or damaged trees are removed. It is like leaving the weeds in your garden and harvesting the first and best vegetables and then walking away. You are happy in the short term, but your garden is not healthy or in good shape. The decision on what trees and how many to harvest should be made by a professional forester looking at individual trees and the condition of the forest to decide what is ready to harvest and what can grow, what trees are healthy and which ones are unhealthy and need to go. Sometimes an opening is the best thing you can do for a forest, to fix the problems of the past and define a bright future.
In high school economics I learned that if it is a good deal today, it will be a good deal tomorrow. This applies to selling timber. If someone offers you money for your trees, that offer should still be good if you take the time to hire a forester, mark a sustainable timber harvest and conduct a sealed bid sale knowing the number of trees, volume by species and grade of the timber you are selling. If someone is offering you cash for your trees and you don’t know what they are worth, how much volume by species, quality of the timber or have an estimate of what those trees are worth, you are being taken.
Harvest timber for the future, not for today. In times of economic stress, like this pandemic, or personal or family economic stress landowners often turn to their woods for money. Trees take a long time to grow and develop. If we make a bad decision and harvest timber at the wrong time and don’t get a fair price for the trees, we may never get a second chance. A bad timber harvest can degrade the forest for decades and limit the potential for future income from timber harvesting. Timber is a renewable resource if managed correctly. Done properly, landowners can have valuable and regular timber harvests that benefit their family and improves the health and quality of the forest.
The best and easiest way to ensure you are getting a fair price for your timber and managing for the future is to work with a professional forester to develop a management plan for your property. They will consider the past, present and future of your woodland. Inventory the trees and develop a plan that meets your goals and protects the forest. Having a plan and working with a forester is the best way to ensure that you are getting a fair price for your timber, making good decisions and sustainably managing the forest to fix the problems of the past, enjoy your woods in the present and look forward to future benefits. As a landowner a good place to start is with your Indiana Department of Natural Resources District Forester. There is one for every county and you can find yours at https://www.in.gov/dnr/forestry/4750.htm . You can find professional foresters through the Indiana Forestry & Woodland Owners Association at https://www.findindianaforester.org/ . Remember, plan not panic.
Dan Shaver is the Project Director for The Nature Conservancy’s Brown County Hills Project and President of the Woodland Steward Institute in Indiana. He has a Forestry degree from Purdue University and is a licensed pesticide applicator.