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Why a Management Plan?

Why a Management Plan?. Management Plans. The best tool for protecting your woodlot today and enhancing your woodlot in the future is a management plan. How a plan can help. Prevent hasty decisions Identify value of resources Communication medium Yourself, in the future Family Foresters

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Why a Management Plan?

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  1. Why a Management Plan? New York Forest Owners Association

  2. Management Plans • The best tool for protecting your woodlot today and enhancing your woodlot in the future is a management plan. New York Forest Owners Association

  3. How a plan can help • Prevent hasty decisions • Identify value of resources • Communication medium • Yourself, in the future • Family • Foresters • Loggers • Motivation • Money (i.e. 480a) New York Forest Owners Association

  4. Example 1 • “I’m a logger, and your woods looks like it needs to be cut for the health of the trees. How about if I cut it now, while I am working in the area?” New York Forest Owners Association

  5. Check your plan New York Forest Owners Association

  6. Example 2 • “I’m a logger, and I want to cut your 40 acres of timber. Here is a check for $20,000.” New York Forest Owners Association

  7. Check your plan New York Forest Owners Association

  8. Example 3 • Emerald ash borer is headed my way. How vulnerable am I to it? New York Forest Owners Association

  9. Check your plan New York Forest Owners Association

  10. Developing a Forest Management Plan 1. Know what you want – goals 2. Physical property • Boundaries; description • Inventory – trees, water, wildlife • History 3. Assess your resources 4. Work with a forester 5. Activity plan

  11. Resources and Realism • How much time do you have to work in your woodlot? • How much money can you spend on your woodlot? • Do you have the necessary equipment and training?

  12. Fun and Flexibility • Don’t expect to make a living • Don’t turn it into a job • Revisit goals occasionally • Expect interests to change over time

  13. Goals • Why do you own the land? Recreation, wildlife, income, timber, aesthetics, water, preservation. Assign a relative importance for your goals. • Long range planning • Family? Inheritance? Trust? Conservation Easement? • Web resources and courses to assist you

  14. More on Goals Most goals are not mutually exclusive – can have your cake and eat it too Example – improve wildlife habitat via a timber harvest But some goals will exclude other options so you need to prioritize

  15. Inventory Boundaries Survey map Tax map - deed Aerial/satellite photos Physical evidence – hedgerows, fences, old trees, stone walls etc Permanently mark your boundary – posted signs, paint, blaze Walk you boundaries

  16. Inventory Water Resources Lake, pond, stream, ephemeral stream, vernal pools, springs Wildlife What species are you trying to promote? What habitat is required? Often changes throughout the year – breeding etc Food, cover, reproduction Increase the number of species by increasing your horizontal(landscape) and vertical diversity(site specific) Soils Sand, silt, clay – loam humus layer productivity drainage

  17. Tree inventory • Stands – relatively uniform in species composition or age and can be managed as a single unit • Hardwood? Softwood? Soils? Wet or dry? Age? Site Productivity? Past Practices? Map above was created by a landowner

  18. Site productivity • Based on tree height indices • Soil surveys – google web soil survey or visit your county SWCD • Poor, fair, good, excellent – keep it simple

  19. Stocking • Three size classes are recognized: (1) Seedling-Sapling [1"- 3"], (2) Pole [4"-11"] and (3) Sawtimber [12" and up]. • Three categories are used for the level of stocking: (1)Understocked, (2) Well-stocked, and (3) Overstocked. • An understocked stand would lose growth by not having enough stems to utilize the growing potential of the site adequately. An overstocked stand has too many stems in competition, and a corresponding reduction in the growth rate. A well-stocked stand represents a somewhat ideal density for realizing the growth potential on a site.

  20. Be aware of • General forest health – insects and disease • Rare and endangered plant and animal species • Historical and archeological areas of significance • Access – present roads, lanes and paths and future desires. Erosion potential • Wetlands – state and fed

  21. Work with a forester • Property description • Stand descriptions with a forest stand map • Activity recommendations • Timber prescriptions • Wildlife enhancement • Recreation – trails • Invasives? • Other gov’t assistance?

  22. Stewplan

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