Alachua County Forever Timber Harvesting Business Plan June 28, 2011

1. Alachua County Forever Timber Harvesting Business Plan June 28, 2011

2. Purpose of the Plan • Articulate timber harvesting principles • Describe common harvest practices • Recommend sound business practices • Identify timber stands to harvest, estimate their product classes, economic value, and projected harvest schedule

3. Part of a Stewardship Strategy “To acquire, protect and manage environmentally significant lands, to protect water quality and wildlife habitat, and provide areas for low-impact, resource-based recreation.” Kristin Grace Larry Korhnak Mac Stone

4. Part of a Stewardship Strategy • Non-native Invasive Control • Planting Natives • Forestry • Prescribed Fire • Solid Waste Removal • Map Making • Coordinating Volunteers • Grant Writing • Infrastructure Development

5. Part of a Stewardship Strategy Basic Ingredients Required: • People • Materials • Partnerships Results (since FY08) • $380,049 offset • $610,648 partner • $990,697 total

6. People

10. Benefits of Thinning • Enhance habitat • Enhance species diversity • Restore hydrology • Reduce wildfire impact • Enhance recreational opportunities • Enhance aesthetic values Before Thinning After Thinning

11. Benefits of Thinning • Enhance economic value of stand • Provide supplemental revenue

13. Lake Alto Preserve

14. LAP Timber Harvest

15. Barr Hammock

16. Phifer Flatwoods Preserve

17. Mill Creek

18. Stand Thinning Schedule

19. Timber Commodity Prices

20. Estimated Revenue Projection

21. Salvage Cuts • Depending on the management objectives for the stand, salvage cutting may be recommended in some instances following a catastrophic disturbance. • These events change the fuel load and structure of the forest that historically would have been able to recover over long periods of time. • Today, fragmented landscapes require our intervention if the resource values are to be maintained – or if the economic values of the stand or our neighbor’s stands are to be protected. • Salvage cuts would NOT be conducted in a hardwood forest that was damaged by a windstorm. The ecology of this climax-type forest allows that system to recover from a natural disturbance without removing dead and downed wood.     • It is important for the County to have at the ready, a contractor which can rapidly respond to calls for salvage cuts and take advantage of any market for this distressed wood.

22. Policy Directives • The Board of County Commissioners recognizes that: • The Board of County Commissioners recognizes that a well-managed forest contributes to the community’s quality of life by protecting and enhancing wildlife habitats, protecting water resources and providing natural areas suitable for resource-based recreation. • The Board of County Commissioners recognizes that harvesting certain stands of timber can be one of the tools to manage a forest. • The Board of County Commissioners recognizes that timber harvested is a commodity, has economic value subject to market forces, and directs that it should be sold at market value. • The Board of County Commissioners recognizes it is beneficial for the County to re-invest the harvest revenue to manage the Alachua County Forever portfolio of preserves and directs that these timber funds supplement existing core funding to plan for, provide and enhance the sites’ capital improvements. • The Board of County Commissioners recognizes that this initial Business Plan will be amended to address available economic opportunities, changes in market dynamics or timber stand age, or to adapt to operations that alter stand composition, Acts of God including beetle outbreaks, windstorm and wildfire. The Board therefore directs staff to revise this Plan as necessary to reflect these changes. Those revisions will be described in the annual workplans for the portfolio and incorporated in the revision to this Plan. Normal market variations affecting stand choice and revenue receipts do not merit revisions to this Plan.