The Decision to Cut- A Cautionary Tale From Forest Scientists About Diameter-Based Harvests

There's a story that goes something like this:

A guy owns a thriving piece of forestland and it's his pride and joy. It's part personal satisfaction, part personal investment, part personal legacy. His forest is ample and stocked with high-quality trees- valuable, beautiful, the whole works- problem is, the owner has decided that he's OK with some level of harvesting on his land, but he's not really sure which trees should stay or go.

He's had lump-sum cash offers from local loggers and timber buyers that sparkle with dollar signs; he's fielded other offers that seem lucrative but a little less clear about how much they'll pay him for his timber. The landowner's intuition tells him that maybe the lump-sum offer is on the low side and he'd have a better opportunity to track his trees and mill receipts if he opts to sign with the gentleman who offered him the mill-tally sale. Money aside for a moment, each offer the landowner considers seems to be based upon a technique called 'select cut' or 'ten inches and up' or some other reference to cutting all trees of a certain diameter or larger. Well, the landowner feels this language sounds reasonable. Doesn't logic say that the largest volume of wood available to go to the mill should result from the harvest of the largest trees? Indeed it does.

Moreover the operator has represented himself as a professional and appears to have a plan to take down the stems quickly, in accordance with the required or recommended standards to protect water quality. Things look great!

The landowner decides to work with the guy who recommended 'ten inches and up' and payment as a percentage of mill receipts. Contract signed. Logs at the landing. Wood trucked to the mill. A sense of pride for having supported the local forest products business. A lot of people in the area work there. And to boot- checks from the logger start to roll in. All is well.

But let's pause for a moment and ask a necessary question- what has the landowner actually done to his woodland? Is it better off? Or worse? Science suggests that if he owns non-plantation forest and uses diameter-limit cutting, like choosing only trees of a certain size or larger to cut, that he may be degrading the value of his woodland over time.

Another analogy to describe this sort of land-management decision: Imagine a table covered in quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. They represent good-quality large, medium, and small trees, respectively, within a property. Diameter-limit cutting is like taking all of the quarters and some of the dimes during the first harvest, leaving only some dimes, nickels and pennies to grow. A number of rejected stems are left behind because they have defects that mills won't pay much for, if anything at all. The best stems are taken. The worst-quality and smaller trees stay put and are reliable indicators of the probable quality of the future forest. If a second diameter-limit harvest occurs on the property, imagine that the remaining dimes and most of the nickels (on our hypothetical table) are removed- leaving the landowner with only pennies.

Landowners can avoid the pitfalls of vague, overly simplistic, or unscientific harvesting techniques by asking questions of their agent, operator, or offeror. Why have you picked this method of harvest? What methods are you using to select trees? What will comprise my future forest? It is useful to ask questions before any sale because it can take generations for forest restoration to blunt the effects of high-grading.

There are many different scientific methods available to landowners interested in managing their lands for occasional or sustained wood production. A professional forester can help woodland owners find the best paths forward which avoid long-term losses in forest value and productivity.

Scientists within and affiliated with the US Forest Service, the largest forest research agency in the world, have conducted multiple studies examining how diameter-limit cutting and other versions of 'high-grading' degrade forests. They've put some of their findings in a brief publication directed at woodland owners; it's recommended reading for anyone who already has or is considering harvesting timber on private land.

Click here to read 'Diameter-Limit Cutting and Silviculture in Northeastern Forests: A Primer for Landowners, Practitioners, and Policymakers'

Obama + Forest Policy = ?

In the latest issue of The Forestry Source, author Steve Wilent tries to suss out how the incoming President and his picks for Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior will affect forest policy, on-the-ground management, and the pressing environmental issues we face...


From the January 2009 issue of The Forestry Source:




Forest Policy under Obama: Practical or Ideological?

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar Nominated for Secretary of the Interior

by Steve Wilent

In the brief interludes between news stories about the nation’s financial troubles and political corruption in Illinois, by mid-December President-Elect Barack Obama had announced more than half of his appointees to senior cabinet- level positions. Freshman senator Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat and member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was nominated for secretary of the interior. Salazar previously served as executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and as chief legal counsel to Governor Roy Romer. Salazar, a staunch Obama supporter during the campaign, has been an outspoken proponent of developing biofuels and other alternative forms of energy. In a June 2008 speech on energy policy, he said the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the 2008 Farm Bill provide key incentives for biofuels development and production: “Why is this so important? Because cellulosic biofuels have the potential to displace three billion barrels of oil annually, equivalent to 60 percent of our country’s yearly consumption of oil in the transportation sector, without affecting our need for food, feed, or fiber. Three billion barrels of oil a year.” In December, Salazar urged President-Elect Obama to make the nation’s energy infrastructure a priority in the economic stimulus measures Obama has said the new administration will propose. “When Congress reconvenes in January, we must immediately pass a strong economic recovery package that gets our economy back on track in the near-term, while also taking advantage of new opportunities that will drive economic growth down the road,” said Salazar. “Investing in efforts to modernize our energy grid and develop new, clean energy technologies is a great way to accomplish both of these goals. By making these investments, we will create jobs, reduce energy costs for consumers, and lay the foundation for America’s economic future.”

Dave Tenny, president of the National Alliance of Forestland Owners (NAFO), said Salazar would be a good fit with the Interior Department. “NAFO is encouraged by the selection of Senator Salazar. He has already demonstrated his interest in issues that affect forest landowners and has been a leader in the development of renewable fuels and renewable energy. We have every reason to believe that we will be able to work well with him, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves and do just that,” he said. At the time of this writing, the Associated Press reported that Obama has selected former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as secretary of agriculture. Political observers have suggested that, as a whole, some of Obama’s nominees are less ideological than practical, such as Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize–winning physicist and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, for secretary of energy. As of this writing, no nominees for deputy secretary and other subcabinetand agency-level positions had been named; many of these positions may not be filled until well after President Obama takes office. What do we know about Obama’s and his nominees’ stands on issues related to forestry and natural resources? A handful of foresters who have their eyes on the political scene recently offered
their perspectives.


Jay O’Laughlin, 2008 policy chair for the Inland Empire SAF chapter and professor of forest resources at the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources, notes that the Obama transition team has selected several previous Clinton administration officials, such as Carol Browner, former head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, who will serve as assistant to the president for energy and climate change, otherwise known as the energy and environment “czarina.” O’Laughlin, who also directs the college’s Policy Analysis Group, suggests that Obama might select James R. Lyons, who served in the Clinton administration as under secretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment, to serve once again in the same capacity. Mark Rey held the position in the Bush administration. Lyons, currently a lecturer and research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, helped draft the controversial Roadless Area Conservation Rule adopted in the waning days of the Clinton administration in 2001. The so-called Clinton roadless rule was repealed during the Bush administration, but sources within the Obama transition team have indicated that they may support the reinstatement of the rule. “Since the under secretary of agriculture position was created during the Reagan administration, my observation has been that the position has been used as a political football,” said O’Laughlin. “It’s gone from folks who came out of the timber industry to folks who came out of the environmental community, and back again. So if the ball bounces the same way, we can expect someone with an environmental background to take that position. That’s of some concern to us here in Idaho, as it is to every state that has national forests.” O’Laughlin said he is optimistic that the Obama administration will recognize the value of forests in carbon management. “I believe that energy and carbon management have the potential to change the way people view forests and forestry,” he said. “I think they’ll recognize that they don’t need to build a machine to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They already have one— it’s called a tree.”

A Question of Active Management

Paul Adams, professor of forest engineering at Oregon State University and Oregon SAF policy chair, notes that several Obama appointees are from western states, but wonders about the priorities
of a president with roots in urban Chicago. “From a West Coast perspective, so much hinges on whether or not the Obama appointees are going to have sensitivity or even awareness of western concerns,” Adams said. “However, the appointments so far seem to be more moderate than some people expected. That may carry over into the agriculture appointment.” On the other hand, said Adams, former Clinton administration officials may favor passive, rather than active forest management. “Clinton’s appointees had a major impact [on forest management]— some had little interest in active management of federal forests, as shown by their public statements and agency policies,” he said. “It’s definitely on our radar screen.” Marlin Johnson, recently retired as assistant director of forestry for the Forest Service’s Southwestern Region, is now an independent consultant based in New Mexico. He is a member of the board
of directors of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees. “I haven’t heard anything to indicate that an Obama administration will be that much different in public land management than was the Clinton administration,” said Johnson. “I think they are going to get some fresh faces and take a fresh look, but I’m anticipating that they will move back toward a more ‘leave it alone’ approach or a ‘use prescribed fire only’ approach to maintaining good vegetative conditions in forests. For the last eight years, we’ve had a little bit more opportunity to look at what’s best for the land and society in terms of mechanical treatments or prescribed fire or both. I’m sure there are some environmental groups that will be listened to more closely by the coming administration.”


Bill Imbergamo, forest policy director at the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), also views ties to the Clinton administration as noteworthy. “In terms of the appointments we have seen so far, they have been people who tend to take a regulatory approach [to forest management], and many have a history from the Clinton administration, such as Browner, who will apparently have quite a bit of influence with the White House. We don’t know a lot about Nancy Sutley, who was named to head the CEQ,” Imbergamo said. Sutley, who will lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), currently serves as the deputy mayor for energy and environment for the City of Los Angeles.
She previously served as the deputy secretary for policy and intergovernmental relations within the California Environmental Protection Agency and, in the Clinton administration, served in senior positions within the US Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s certainly our hope that we won’t spend the next four to eight years in a reprise of all of the controversies that have occupied us for the last eight years,” said Imbergamo. “Replaying the golden oldies of controversies isn’t going to get the agencies very far, when there’s actually a fair amount of consensus that the biggest problems facing the agency are fire suppression and how it’s paid for, and taking care of a road system that was largely built with timber dollars but now is carrying recreational traffic. If were going to fight over the last 2.8 billion board feet of the timber sale program, well, that’s not a lot to fight over. There are larger, more expensive problems that the agency is facing, and I think all of the constituencies agree that they need to be fixed.”

Brett Smith, government affairs director at AF&PA, said Browner is likely to play a leading role in setting and implementing natural resources policy. “I think what you’ll see is that the people appointed at Energy and Interior will focus on specific tasks within those agencies, leaving Browner as the public face for the administration—as the organizer and coordinator of its climate and energy policies,”
Smith said. “Rather than leaving those policies to individual departments, the White House will have much more of a public role in these areas than we’ve seen with the current administration or even past administrations.” Imbergamo and Nadine Block, also a forest policy director at AF&PA, said they have met with members of the Obama transition team. “I was struck by the transition team’s openness,” said Imbergamo. “They said repeatedly that they are in listening mode, that they can’t move forward with anything concrete about what they plan to do, and that’s understandable. But they showed a willingness to hear what all stakeholders involved in the process have to say.” Block, who served as chair of SAF’s national Forest Policy Committee in 2008 said that AF&PA has highlighted the role forests can play in climate and energy initiatives, as well as in economic recovery.
“Of course, forestry fits with Obama’s focus on green jobs,” Block said. “There’s a lot that we can do, both in terms of the traditional forestry markets as well as new markets, such as biofuels and bioenergy, that can create jobs and help the economy.” SAF Executive Vice-President Michael Goergen said SAF would send information on a range of topics to key members of Obama administration. “Our nation’s forests not only provide solutions to some of our most pressing environmental concerns, but their sustainable management will also contribute to the creation of green jobs and add wealth to our nation,” he said.

Taxes and More Taxes. And Some Help Dealing With Them...

Need some heavy winter reading? This latest publication from USFS Cooperative Forestry offers landowners and timber purveyors some smart hints on paying the right amount of tax to the IRS. This is a very useful collection of information - download it here.

State Foresters Point Presidential Transition Team Toward Plight of US Forests

A few days ago, the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) released a white paper on the group's website (www.stateforesters.org) entitled, 'FOUR ACTIONS TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE FORESTS - 2009 Presidential Transition White Paper.'

A laudable effort to focus the attention of the incoming administration of President-Elect Obama on the precarious future of America's forests, NASF's appeal uses candor and good reputation to effectively make the salient point- "We are currently experiencing unsustainable losses of forestlands and the benefits they provide to Americans." While of little surprise to many resource managers and organizations who carefully track loss and change of forests and other natural systems over time, the statement carries significant weight when made by the State Foresters. The big question is - will we see any significant movement on this critical item, or will it be squashed by the economic crisis? The coming months should reveal whether the new administration intends to address the paper's major issues:

• Rapid loss of forestlands to development
• Insect and disease outbreaks
• Impacts of large-scale wildfires
• Loss of forest industry and working forestlands

Seeking an integrated federal response to thwart long-lasting effects of these critical problems, the State Foresters offer 'FOUR REQUESTED ACTIONS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION':

1. FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE FORESTS
2. TARGETED FEDERAL FUNDING
3. FIRE SUPPRESSION FUNDING FIX
4. FOREST ENERGY AND CLIMATE INITIATIVES

Read the NASF White Paper here.

"Managing Your Woodlot" - The Complete Nine Part Series - available FREE on DVD

Finally re-released on DVD, this classic nine-part series covers the basics


Developed through cooperative efforts of the USDA Forest Service, West Virginia University Extension, and the West Virginia Division of Forestry, the DVD is a series of video tutorials for landowners, teachers and others interested in environmentally responsible woodlot management. Originally produced during the VHS tape era and endorsed by NWOA, this product discusses a range of useful topics:

1. HOW IT GROWS
2. BUILDING ROADS
3. HELPING IT GROW
4. HARVESTING AND RENEWING IT
5. SELLING TIMBER
6. BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
7. BEING A GOOD FOREST STEWARD
8. WATER IN THE FOREST
9. THE CHANGING FOREST - ECOLOGY AND SILVICULTURE

NWOA is offering this resource for FREE to interested landowners, educators, and others until the supply is exhausted. NWOA only asks that groups or individuals requesting copies of the DVD pay for the cost of postage.
Interested? Call us at 703.255.2700 or email us - info@woodlandowners.org

Attention Woodland Owners! What can BCAP do for you?

The 2008 Farm Bill includes some exciting support for U.S. renewable energy initiatives. How does this matter to you? Well, imagine direct payments to help you get your low-grade wood to someone who'll pay for it. Read the details of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program by clicking the link below:


BCAP SUMMARY

The Southeast Watershed Forum introduces the "Community Resource Mapper"

Maps - especially those created and printed from resources online - just keep popping up and we've found another. A Cooperative Project between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Southeast Watershed Forum, NBII, Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership, and the Land Trust Alliance, the Community Resource Mapper allows community activists and planners to :

• Compare land cover data and protected lands to create tools for comprehensive planning


• Combine state wildlife action plans with protected lands to identify critical areas for protection


• Illustrate the connection between land protection and water quality


• Create your own maps on a county, watershed, or state level!


• Best of all ---- FREE!

COMMUNITY RESOURCE MAPPER

Send that CARBON to market!

In our quest to keep you informed, NWOA will continue to post useful links to educational internet resources for tech-savvy woodland owners. Here's a link to 'Carbon Trading: A Primer for Forest Landowners' sponsored by the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry and the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources.

Carbon Trading: A Primer...

2008: Your Woodland, Your Objectives

The New Year brings growth and change to your woodland- and what are your plans?
Whether you own forest or field- or both- probability says that you became a woodland owner (and stay a woodland owner) because the land brings you some sort of satisfaction. That said, 'satisfaction' can mean the incredible sight of morning turkeys scratching around the edge of a field as seen from your porch, the felling and splitting of firewood that smells so good when burned, or the delight your children or grandchildren take in roaming around your 'Hundred Acre Wood.'

Some owners let the land 'do its thing,' and others want to get into every aspect of managing and manipulating a woodland over time. Both approaches are reasonable, and both are personal. Managing your woodland more intensively demands some serious deliberation- Just what are you asking your land to do, or produce, or create? And if you know just what you'd like to have your land do, does it actually have the potential or characteristics necessary to achieve those things?

Depending on your situation, you may scratch your head, buckle down, and push through these ideas solo or try to succeed with the complexity of additional family members or advisors at your side. Either way, the future of your forest lays at the end of your ball-point pen because forest management plans (also called stewardship plans), timber sale contracts (correctly administered), cost-share programs, and myriad, optional independent contractors all require legal agreements and written payment checks.

Don't get discouraged! You're in charge and you can control confusion and costs simply by planning ahead...which starts with clearly defining your woodland management objectives.

Here are some keywords to get your mind calibrated:

Forest, Tree, Bush, Soil, Water, Sky, Air, Wood, Fire, Insect, Weed, Crop, Stream, Log, Timber, Woodstove, Turkey, Deer, Bear, Edge, Perch, Seed,
Pine Cone, Taxes, Field, Food, Mushroom, Acorn, Bandsaw, Songbird, Crafting, Treehouse, Leaf Layer, Dirt, Trails, Stand, Boundary Line, Blaze, Pin,
Invasive Species, Friends, Family, Estate Plan, Native, Forester, Tractor,
Fence, Road, Contract...and so the list continues.

Grab a piece of paper and pencil, or saddle up to the nearest computer keyboard, and begin to scribble out a rough list of things you 'want' and 'need' from your land. It's OK to loosen up and let words flow- as you write your brain will start percolating things that hadn't previously occurred to you.

Once you've listed a pile of ideas on paper (or screen), go back and try to rank the ideas with a number according to how important they seem to you as a woodland owner. Pull the top five closer for more attention but don't scuttle the rest! You never know which ideas might be good to come back to once you've thought a bit longer about managing your forest and field.

Some common woodland management objectives are:

• Maintenance and/or expansion of habitat for particular wildlife species
• Timber production
• Construction of forest roads
• Construction of recreation trails
• Maintenance of scenic views or existing landscape characteristics
• Remove or minimize the impact of invasive species
• Provide for maximum biological diversity
• Ensure the integrity of all long-term (multi-generational) ownership goals through careful estate planning
• Firewood production

If your objectives are somewhat similar to these and even include some of the keywords listed above, you're on-track toward woodland management. Writing a management plan which describes and implements the techniques necessary to achieve your objectives can be a complex process, but resources abound to help you get it accomplished.

Later: What do I do with these objectives, anyway?

Get Your Hands Dirty: Building & Maintaining Forest Roads...

Managing your woodland for a suite of objectives will require your active participation in a number of subject areas, some of which you'll engage with ease and others that will challenge your brain and (yikes!) your budget.

Depending on background and personality, some folks quickly master tree identification techniques while floundering with how to negotiate a contract with a forester, mill, logger, or all three. Another landowner readily excels at handling his personal forestry tax situation but winces at having to properly consider the seeming complexity of BMP (Best Management Practices) application within his property.

To many private landowners, the idea of building a road in the forest is sobering, if not down-right intimidating, and rightly so. Road building often conjures up visions of criss-crossing scars in the soil, regulators in orange vests, and mile-high pieces of excavation equipment relocating piles of earth.

Your forest road, however, needs none of these specters. Forest roads can be planned, managed, and implemented with careful commitment and smart contracts.

Fret not! Oregon State offers help once again- Click Below

"FOREST ROAD CONTRACTING, CONSTRUCTION, AND MAINTENANCE FOR SMALL FOREST WOODLAND OWNERS"

This resource is a publication of the Forest Research Laboratory, College of Forestry, Oregon State University.