Forest Stewardship – The careful and responsible management of forestland entrusted to one’s care to ensure the health and long-term viability of forest resources.
Planning for Success – Forest Management Planning
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin. A slight revision to this famous quote would be, “By failing to plan, you are planning to fail,” and for practicing good forest resources management this can be especially true. Good forest resource management is a long-term endeavor because trees take many years to grow to maturity, oftentimes longer than most human lifetimes. Following a good management plan can help landowners assure success and avoid making management mistakes that can negatively affect their forestland for years.
Forest landowners should seek out help from forestry professionals who are educated and trained to know how trees and forests grow, and what effect each forest management practice will have on the forest. With this education, applied to the forest landowner’s management goals and objectives, a professional forester can develop a management plan that can help the landowner meet their individual goals and objectives while avoiding many pitfalls.
A forest management plan can come in many sizes, but the best plan will consider the landowner’s entire property and provide recommendations for each different forested area. This is often called a “Tract Plan,” this plan describes the current site conditions for all areas within the property ownership and recommendations for how to manage the different parcels or stands to meet the landowner’s objectives. Examples of Tract Plans are Forest Stewardship Plans, Forestry Conservation Activity Plans (CAP106), Tree Farm Plans, and Land Use Plans.
Another type of plan is called a “Stand or Practice Plan.” These are usually smaller plans that address only one parcel or stand within a larger property. These plans usually address and recommend practices for only one specific objective, like reforesting a stand that was recently harvested. Examples of stand plans are Pre-harvest Plans, Reforestation Plans, and Cost-Share Plans.
When landowners LEARN about forests and forest practices, make a PLAN to meet their forest management goals and objectives, then ACT on their management plan recommendations, they will know what to expect, how the forest should react to the management practices, and have a vision of what forest management success will be for them.
Understand your options when choosing a forest management plan.
Get started planning for your forestland.
Landowners should also consider tax planning when setting a plan for their forestland.
Additional Resources
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VDOF foresters can assist you with your forestland, contact your local VDOF forester.
For more information or questions, e-mail us or use our contact form.