A good harvest plan is fundamental to the success of your long term timber management goals. Well-planned and executed harvests typically determine the overall financial success of timber ownership. Maximizing the amount of money received from a harvest is dependent upon the logger producing the most valuable timber products possible and being able to market those products for the highest amount. Site preparation and regeneration costs along with the future productivity of the site are greatly influenced by how well or how poorly the harvesting operations are carried out.
A typical harvesting plan should address the following topics:
- the owner's management objectives;
- map(s) of the area;
- legal property boundaries;
- description of trees to be removed;
- method of marking trees to be removed;
- method of harvesting;
- placement of haul roads, skid trails and log landings;
- placement and types of stream crossings;
- road and trail drainage structures;
- soil conservation measures, including Best Management Practices, to be used to protect water quality;
- maximum height of stumps;
- slash disposal methods;
- penalties for damaged fences, other man-made structures and residual trees.
Any other requirements concerning the harvesting operation should be incorporated into the plan. These could include identification of buffer strips, limiting logging to certain days of the week, restricting logging in wet weather, special consideration for protection of wildlife habitat, etc. Again, how well the harvesting plan is executed will affect your future success of managing timber.
