Buying land, who do I contact for selling some of the trees?

[optycal]

Hello, newbie question here--be gentle!

I'm buying 7 acres of beautiful wooded land in Western Washington state. We'd like to sell some of the trees on the property, but not ALL of them. (We plan on replanting, of course, once the house is on the property and we're moved in.)

We don't know where to go to start this process. My internet searches have come up with useless info, dead links, and people who don't answer their emails. PLEASE, can someone help me do this right? We do NOT want to destroy this property or get screwed over by dishonest people.

Thank you for your time!

[SwampDonkey]

Welcome to the FF ma'am. 

Are you looking to clear a building lot and sell those trees, or to thin out the whole 7 acres? If it's a lot clearing job it may be a difficult sale, but not always the case.  Depends on their value as a species and size. It may not be looked at as a logging job. A lot may look at it as a job too small, where as a land clearing outfit may compensate for some kind of stumpage credit against the land clearing bill. You might start with your state forester or find out from large private owners if their is such a thing as a woodlot owner association in the area, who may help draw lines between the dots. In my area here in NB, most all trees have value but on a house site job they will be mostly valued as pulpwood and with a small volume like that worth a small sum compared to the lot clearing costs.

It still surprises me at times that a lot of people in rural NB don't know about their local forest products marketing board. It would be rare that a family member didn't cut wood or have it harvested and marketed through a marketing board. They've been around for 30 years in NB.

I think years ago, Jeff (the forum boss) had a buddy selling oak logs on a house lot that were worth quite a bit to the buyer. You just never know.

[Jeff]

Yup, Donk, that was a topic titled "Never Assume"

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,4567.0.html

I'm buying 7 acres of beautiful wooded land

optycal, what are your reasons for wanting to alter the above statement that you made? You talk about replanting after you build, this might be a stupid question on my part, but have you given considerable thought into putting the effort into preserving and incorporating the mature trees into your building plans?  Those mature trees may add more to the landscaping value of the home site than you could ever achieve in your life time by trying to replant.

For the most part anytime you are talking about selling "a few trees" the odds increase significantly of finding a buyer. What species and size and approximate number of trees are you wanting to cut?

[Texas Ranger]

A "few trees" could well cause more damage to the residual stand/land, than they are worth.

[bill m]

Depending on what is on the land you could be looking at some nice money.If it has the right size trees 5 or 6 trees harvested per acre at 1m bd. ft. per tree could add up. You need a good state or consulting forester to start. Tell him what you would like the end results to be and he will tell you if it can be done with that you have. As for replanting around the house site that may be your best option. Most of the time forest trees do not do well after they have been worked around.

[Mooseherder]

Another avenue you may consider if you will need any Lumber for future projects.
It may be a good time to hire a Sawyer, especially if you're not happy about the dollar amount that is offered for your trees.
7 acres is a lot of room for special projects.
Also, Do you have any Firewood needs?

[Jeff]

Most of the time forest trees do not do well after they have been worked around.

I would agree if they were given no forethought or consideration, but seriously disagree otherwise.  How else other then at great expense or waiting a lifetime could you incorporate mature desirable trees into the landscape? If care is taken, forest trees will thrive.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, I've seen perfectly healthy red maple or aspen trees get treated with no respect around building lots with earth moving activities and kill them stone dead within a couple years. Smothered roots and destroyed root area usually the cause.

[optycal]

Thanks everybody! I'll try to answer all the questions as best I can. Thanks for your patience.

Our land is narrow(219 ft. north to south) and long (east to west), with a stream running dead center north / south. It gives us two nearly equal pieces to build on. We really only need about 1/2 - 1 acre of the front half (far east side) for our house and garden. We'd like to keep the land surrounded by trees, as we value our privacy (planning on Leyland Cypress all around) and keep an overall forested feel once all is said and done.

The suggestion to sell the trees came after our septic designer did the perc test and planned out our drain field. Because of the shape of the land and the laws in our area, he said our well would have to be kinda far from our original plan (almost center of the property, in the area we never planned to touch in the first place!) There are a LOT of trees in the way. He said we could get someone in there to clear that part of the land for us and make some money off of the deal in the process.

We do NOT want the land completely stripped. The land is beautiful, which is why we bought it, but we need to make some changes to get our house in there. The eventual plan is to replant and let everything grow back, giving the wild critters their land back, too.

The far west piece (on the far side of the stream) is backed up to a piece of property which appears to have been forested already. We are considering allowing the back piece to be cleared and then replanting as well--but we don't know a lot about this stuff.

We're open to suggestions, and we really would like someone in the know to come and look at the property for us. We're hesitant to do any of this though. Like I said, we love the land and how it looks, but we also know we need to make some changes to get our home set up. Time is not a friend, we have about 4 months to get everything done.

Firewood needs? Yes, definitely. We have a woodstove to heat the house and to cook on should the power go out. However, I'm not sure how much wood we should keep from the property and how much to sell. Again, I really need someone to come and guide us on this!

I should say that the money from the sale of the trees will go directly into planting more trees on the property in areas that won't be detrimental to our house, animals, or well.

[optycal]

I should add here that we aren't interested in "value" as far as house and land value goes. We are not planning on ever selling the land. My kids and I prefer the "natural" look as opposed to the generic landscaped look. That means once we're in, we're replanting what we've taken, and we're letting nature take her course to regrow where she sees fit (as long as it doesn't hurt the house and well!)

We have put a lot of thought into how to set up the house without disturbing the trees, unfortunately, the shape of the property and the regulations in our area have made it impossible to work around them =(  So, I'm hoping to find a way to take, but also give back, if that makes any sense!

[optycal]

I'm not sure how helpful this will be, but I uploaded a photo to my profile. It was taken a few days ago when the septic designer was digging his holes. This was take standing about 50 feet away from the south edge of the property, looking north-west. You can see a few of the smallest trees in the background. The others on the property are much bigger, but I think they're the same species (though, admittedly, I'm not an expert on trees.)

[SwampDonkey]

I brought it out front here to see. 




This link helps explain photos on the forum.

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,23851.0.html

[optycal]

Heh, thanks. I looked all over that upload page to try and get the picture on the post. I'm in the middle of mom duty though and kept getting distracted from the PC. THANK YOU for putting the picture on the thread for me. I hope it's at least a little helpful in answering some questions. I have other pictures of the land, but they're all concentrating on the cleared area we originally planned on placing the house on, not the forest!

[Tom]

Living in the woods is nothing like living in a park.  I'm of a different mind than some when it comes to landscaping a smaller living lot or small acreage  homesite.  What a great place to rear children! 

Can't you just see your children having the run of the woods, finding the wild plants they can eat, chasing one another through the trees on paths that you, your husband and they groom?  They might grow up hunting squirrels or turkey or deer and putting a blessing of Thanksgiving on the table.   They will be the favored "friend" at school and all whom they know will want to camp "out back" and sleep in the tent, telling ghost stories over a camp fire and cooking hot dogs, hamburgers or some special stew.

Once sawed down, the options are diminished.   Being a sawyer, I'm not against taking a tree down, if it's for good purpose, but, one of my favorite sayings is, "They store real good on the stump."   So, Don't get in a hurry. 

[optycal]

Absolutely, Tom! We feel the same way, which is why we don't want to destroy the land and take ALL the trees. We'd cleared about 1/2 and acre by hand which was primarily brush and stickers. We were hoping it would be a good location for the house, well and septic. The septic designer said no, though =( We can put the house up there, but the well and drain field have to go down into the woods. That's when he mentioned our option of selling the trees that had to come down.

We don't plan on using that back half, but if selling the trees can help us keep the front half "alive" then we're willing to sacrifice it to do so (with plans to replant the back half in the future.) One step at a time though!

We need some trees taken from the front half, and we're thinking about options for the back half. The kids have already started planning their fort <3

[Mooseherder]

Can you fire the septic man?

[SwampDonkey]

  I was thinking the same. The septic guy needs to know whose boss-woman.

[Jeff]

When septic designers start giving advice on selling trees its definitely time to start taking anything else he has to say with a grain of salt.  The simple truth is that you are clearing a building site and the odds of you having the "right stuff" for any kind of equitable timber harvest are quite remote. There is always the exception like the link I posted earlier, but they are just that, the exception. Odds are that you are going to have to pay to have the trees cut down and removed. 

The Probabilities:
You won't have enough volume to make it economically feasible for a logger to move in equipment to harvest and transport the wood

The trees you will want to have removed are not the ones that would have any value.

From the descriptions you give, there could be environmental limitations due to the presence of a stream on the property

and the list goes on

[Ron Scott]

You need to have a professional forester look at your property and access the timber values in relationship to your home site . On the other hand the septic designer may have been around long enough with experience to know that your trees may have some value.

Contact the local conservation district forester, DNR service forester, extension forester, or a professional consulting forester to look at your timber and advise you on how best to meet yout timber management objectives in relation to your home site. A professional consulting forester may be contacted at www.acf-foresters.org to see if there is one near you. There are several in the state of Washington. The forester can also access the favored tree species to retain in your landscape.

[thecfarm]

Yes,this professional forester will cost money,but you have to live there for how many years and look and live with the outcome of a good job compared to something that you do not like the looks of.Takes years for the woods to heal themselves after a bad job.Just tell him the same things you said on here.He'll get it just about the way you want it done.
With a small lot like that,you may not make a dime on the wood. Takes time and money to move equipment. I would still kinda watch the process to make sure it is done the way you want. Some damage will happen just about no matter what.But it should not look like a bomb went off either.