If you cannot answer the following questions and others like them, you may need our help.
- How many & which trees will be cut?
- How much is the timber worth?
- How and when will the logger pay me?
- Will the logger take only the best trees and leave the rest?
- What condition will my woods be in when the logging is completed?
- Will the logger have liability insurance and post a performance bond?
- How do I report this income to the IRS?
The decision to cut and sell timber on your property can have lasting and long term affects on the condition and future quality of your stand. Its a decision that should not be taken lightly, and best executed after careful planning by you and a forester. The trees you decide to cut from the stand, or more importantly, leave in the stand, will have great influence over what kind of trees will be there perpetuating good or bad genetics and good or bad growth potential.
A pig farmer wont stay in business long if he routinely sells his best sows and keeps his runts for the future, and so goes for the forest landowner and his or her trees. Its always helpful to know what and how much of something you have to sell before you sell it and once the trees are cut, its hard to stand them back up. A forester that understands how to decide what trees to mark and cut and what trees to leave for the future, can bring tremendous value to the forest landowner.
Scenic Rivers Farm & Forest Consulting can help you through the process of selling timber from beginning to end, and help you receive the most revenue for your marked standing timber while protecting the value in your woods now and for the future.
A typical scenario we follow when it is determined a stand is ready for a harvest is as follows:
- The forester carefully selects and records the trees that should be cut based on specific criteria and marks the trees to be cut with tree marking paint estimating the volume in board feet if each tree marked.
- At the end of the marking process the forester will tally up all the trees marked and provide a spreadsheet of the trees by species, size, quantity, and volume. This will help the landowner know what is to be sold before the trees are cut and removed.
- The forester can prepare a bid solicitation, sometimes called a prospectus, and send the solicitations to all trained loggers in the area inviting them to bid on the standing timber to be sold.
- The forester can host a showing of the timber to prospective bidders to discuss expectations and answer questions.
- The forester can host a sealed lump sum bid opening of all the bids and advise the landowner if bids are acceptable or not.
- If the bid is satisfactory, then the forester can prepare a timber sale contract between the buyer of the timber and the landowner, determining payment options, logging performance expectations, and general provisions expected from the landowner and the logger.
- Once logging has started on the landowners property, the forester will make periodic visits to the site to make sure expectations are being met and that the process is going well for the landowner and the logger.
- Once logging has ended, the forester will do a final check of the site and communicate with both the landowner and the logger to finalize and close the sale.
Of course, each timber sale is a little different, and landowner and resource needs vary. Please feel free to contact us at Scenic Rivers Farm & Forest to discuss your plans and see if we can help you maximize and maintain value in your woods.
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