New here, & looking for good forest management reading material

[bbrickey]

I stumbled across this site a while back and stuck around to read.  I don't work in the forest industry, but I do woodworking and woodturning.

I'm currently working to save up to buy some rural land and was interested in finding any good reading material on managing/maintaining/harvesting from a private forest.  I figure I'm a couple years away from the purchase, but the more information I can glean now the better my decisions will be when the time comes.

If anyone can recommend a particular book I'd really appreciate it.

Regards,


Brodie Brickey

[Tom]

Welcome to the Forum bbrickey.

When you are managing a forest of any size, you are performing Forester duties.   While I'm not a Forester, my recommendation is for you to retain a consulting Forester if your acreage supports it.  You can also get help from your State's Dept. of Forestry by using the County Forester or Urban Forester.

We have some pretty knowledgeable Foresters on the Forum and they should be along shortly. 

[sprucebunny]

Welcome to the Forum, bbrickey !

It's hard for me to recomend a good book that would deal with your forest types since I'm on the other side of the country and have different forest types.

Two books I enjoyed and found informative are "Positive Impact Forestry" by Thom McEvoy and "Common Sense Forestry" by Hans Morbach. These give you good ideas about the theorys of good forestery practices so you may be able to talk with a forester from a more informed position.

If you look around the web, I'm sure you will find a book that talks more about your regional forsest types.

Good luck on your search for land !

[bbrickey]

Sprucebunny,

I'll take a look at those.

Brodie

[Phorester]

One truth holds for forests everywhere.  The type of soil on a property will determine what species of trees will grow there the best.

If you are looking for "x" forest, for instance a pine forest, hardwood forest, redwood forest, etc., look first at properties that have the type of soil necessary for good growth of the forest you want to own.

A good local forester can point you in the right direction on that.  Find a book that has a chapter on forest soils or at least discusses it somewhere.

[WDH]

Welcome to the forum.  As you educate yourself on the timber types in your area and the kind of sites they grow on, that will help you evaluate any potential property from a forest health standpoint.  In many places when dealing with real estate transactions, the value of the trees is overlooked.  Also, if you are buying rural land, you need a plan to generate cash flow off the property from the assets on the property to pay for the annual ownership cost at a minimum (taxes being one).  That is why buying property with a healthy forest better positions you to be able to generate periodic cash flows from the property either thru harvests or thru use by you as raw material in your woodworking pursuits.  (That means then that you will have to buy a sawmill and you will have to frequent this forum for a very long time  8)).

[Ron Scott]

Consider a subscription to "Sawmill And Woodlot Management".  ;)