[AT] Off Topic, Logging property

Grant Brians sales at heirloom-organic.com
Wed Sep 19 11:00:57 PDT 2012


Here in California we have two basic classes of forest - those in areas
where there are controls enforced and those where the controls are not. The
Santa Cruz Mountains near us are one of the areas that are managed forests
that the timber companies only harvest in ways that are sustainable and
everyone involved KNOWS that the plan will be followed. On the other hand,
even though plans are required for any forests, here in my county, there are
people that just indiscriminately cut down the old growth oak and pines and
assume the state's foresters will not catch them or will just admonish them.
I know of one rancher that is a terrible offender like this, but so far the
forester has not been able to prove that the rancher is the one doing the
work because the forester covers an area about the size of Sweden....
     Firewood collection is something that is needed from some of our
forests to assure the larger trees make it to harvest maturity because of
the low precipitation levels of much of California. But at the same time
intelligence is CLEARLY needed to retain the soils (nearly all forest in
California is on hillsides or mountainsides, much of which exceeds 30%
grades and some as much as 75%) and to keep the proper mix of plants to
support wildlife and control erosion. Some states do not require forest
management plans, but thankfully we do - the lack thereof in past times led
to spectacular flood events and property and habitat destruction, we learned
the hard way and with many lawyers and insurance companies involved....
         Grant Brians
         Hollister,California Vegetable, Fruit and Nuts farmer

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]On Behalf Of Mattias Kessen
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 1:47 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Off Topic, Logging property


You Americans never seize to surprise. No offense but is it common to own
forest without a plan and harvest often for firewood. I'm beginning to
question my understanding of the English language and I know little about
modern forest industry here but... I'm surprised. I've always thought
forest to be a long term investment. Once again no offense I'm aware that
our societies are very different and can't be compared therefor (which is
very apparent when you read most Swedish newspapers reporting from USA,
using our standards for you is absurd as the other way around).
I think I've got to pour me another whisky here in the sauna and read more
of Arto Paasilinnas great authorship.

Mattias
Den 17 sep 2012 16:22 skrev "Mark Greer" <markagreer at embarqmail.com>:

> You need to create a "Timber Management Plan". This involves having a
> qualified forester advise/help you develop a plan for your woodlot's
> specific conditions and your specific intentions for it. You will
inventory
> and value trees which have good potential and then develop a plan to help
> them reach that potential at a faster rate. This involves Timber Stand
> Improvement (TSI) work which may include selective thinning around crop
> trees, trimming/removing grape vines, selective harvesting for timber,
> etc., etc. It is an ongoing process but can be financially very much worth
> your while. Your local Ag Extension service would be one place to start
> looking for this information to get started. Pennsylvania DCNR is also a
> good place to start looking for information.
>
> http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/privatelands.aspx
>
> An active Timber Management plan is a must for land owned where you plan
> to sell timber some day. The tax ramifications of not having a documented
> working plan can make it not worth selling timber because you stand to
lose
> so much of a sale to taxes. By inventorying and valuing the trees at the
> time of land purchase and then looking at the difference in value at the
> time of sale, you can count a sale as a capital gain and only owe the
lower
> capital gains tax rate on the difference (the capital gain) vs. just
> selling timber and paying the higher income tax rate on the WHOLE sale.
> Mark
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
>
> Yes, I think I'm going to contact an un-biased forester and create a
> logging
> plan.
>
> Hopefully we will follow the plan and there will be no surprises in the
> family.
>
> Thank you everybody for the information.
>
> Regards,
>
> Will
> SE PA
>
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