Forest Management Services
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What is Forest Management?

Forest management services include any task that attempts to meet a landowner’s needs and goals associated with their land. These goals can relate to any aspect of the land and its uses, including

  • Economic
  • Legal
  • Social
  • Administrative
  • Etc. 

Generally, forest management services are focused on preventing and handling issues that threaten those goals. It can look like changing the structure and composition of the forest to make way for regeneration after years of logging. It can look like addressing natural disturbances as they come, such as pests, downed trees from severe winds, lightning, etc., 

The objective of forest management can be peeled back to conversion, utilization, or some combination of both. The most common tactics wrapped up in this service include planting/replanting new species, building and maintaining roads and paths, or good old timber extraction. 

There are a lot of reasons landowners might consider forest management services, such as 

  • Aesthetics 
  • Supporting recreational activities
  • Supporting wildlife and biodiversity of the forest
  • Timber and other wood products
  • More

Recently, burning (prescribed burning) has become a common strategy in forest management as it helps reduce the competition for resources and the vulnerability of the forest to disease, infestation, wildfires, and droughts. Other ways people manage forests include managing vegetation, restoring certain ecosystems, reducing hazards, and maintaining the forest’s health. 

Caskin Development, Ready To Take On ANY Challenge

Some contractors arrive, tell you how it will be, and give you the option of yes or no. It’s becoming increasingly common for contractors to flake, not show up, or gauge the price at every possible turn. We don’t work that way.

Forest management is what we’ll do for you, but it’s still your forest. And we understand that no two management strategies will look the same. This service will drastically vary in intensity depending on your goals, preferences, and the conditions of your land. It can mean leaving the forest (mostly) alone to do its thing, and it could mean using highly involved silvicultural practices. 

If you are looking to meet increased economic or ecological criteria, we will help you get there. 

Areas We Serve

This graphic is not a limit. We often work outside of these areas. Please reach out if the location of your land development project is a concern.

Benefits of Active Forest Management 

Forest management services have become increasingly common worldwide—and for good reason. Not only can they provide great economic benefits for landowners, but they can also dramatically improve wildlife, biodiversity, and ecosystems. 

Some of the most common benefits of forest management include

  • Enhanced water quality
  • Reduced risk of wildfires, disease, and intrusion of invasive species
  • Offsets air pollution
  • Creating places for recreational activities
  • Benefitting urban spaces
  • Improve fertility in the soil
  • Helps support wildlife
  • Increases the size of forests
  • Introduces more renewable and sustainable products into the market
  • Keeps landowners owning profitable, useful land

Similar to farmers, it’s not uncommon for landowners to sell off chunks of land that aren’t economic. With active forest management, fewer landowners will have to take that route. 

For Planted & Natural Forests

Most forests fit into one of two categories: planted or natural. Planted forests, also called plantations, are deliberately placed and started by people. They usually consist of similar-aged trees and one crop, also called a monocrop. On the other hand, natural forests tend to have trees of varying ages and more diversity in species. 

Forest management for natural forests tends to focus on supporting the existing species and is less intense. Planted forests are more aggressively managed to support the lack of diversity—something that can make them much more vulnerable than natural forests. 

Our focus with forest management services and forest stewardship is ensuring that your forest can meet the needs of all the people, animals, and plants that rely on it. 

When To Book Forest Management Services  

We need more forest management. It’s something that does good for everyone directly and indirectly involved. 

But it’s best to plan for earlier rather than later. If you are looking into forest management services to help prevent wildfires, we recommend that you make the leap well before fire season begins. And keep in mind that these services, especially less-intensive types, take time to settle and do their job. 

Some forest management plans span decades, so while there may not be a rush on the job (depending on your goals), it’s always better to start sooner rather than later. 

How Forest Management Works

There are three stages of forest management services, such as

  • Planning
  • Choosing Your Method
  • Active Management 

Each one is explained below.

Planning Forest Management

Forest management can be labeled as any act that helps landowners and other stakeholders meet their goals. They can be sustainability, ecological, or economic goals. And it can be done through improving the forest's security, improving the ecosystem's health, and supporting the production of any related goods.

It is absolutely vital in commercial forestry. Not only because forests help clean air, maintain water quality, and house most wildlife but also because they can easily be abused and made ineffective. 

So, before you embark on your new path, we recommend that you sit down and make informed decisions about what you want. That way, you can communicate that information and other details to any participants in this process—you’d be surprised at how useful that is alone. You can also collect any necessary legal, administrative, or legislative data. 

As far as content, forest management plans can either be extensive and detailed or general. Landowners organize tasks and priorities in detailed plans that will help solve current problems. While general forest management plans usually consist of documentation of long-term decisions that help clarify the desired direction. 

Choose Your Method

The most common ways people perform forest management include

  • Timber Harvesting can involve clear-cutting, selective logging (only removing certain sizes or species of trees), collecting shelterwood, and seed tree cutting, which simply means leaving the remnants of clear-cutting to reseed an area. 
  • Timber Thinning reduces competition for shared resources, slowing down the production of all trees and allowing the species left behind to become stronger. Timber thinning can mean removing a percentage of trees, a predetermined amount of one species, or both. 
  • Prescribed Burning is often used to reduce the risk of wildfires, allowing the growth of less-dominant forest layers that wildlife feeds on. Understand that this method needs to be handled with extreme care. 
  • Reforestation can happen naturally or artificially and is often an endless cycle. Natural reforestation involves letting the leftovers of clear-cutting do their thing (also called seed tree cutting).  Artificial reforestation is the most expensive because it includes intentional seeding, allowing landowners to decide the exact species and amounts that grow. 
  • Forest Succession happens when a natural disaster severely impacts a forest and can reset the growth of any vegetation age. 

Active Forest Management

Commercial forest management is similar to but not synonymous with active forest management. It basically means you are always doing something to support your forest, even if the actions are minimal. Active forest management is a great approach to help unhealthy forests lacking diversity. 

It can look like extending your harvest rotations to allow for larger trees, increasing the amount of younger trees to fill the gaps, and adding structural complexity enhancements (copying the effect of natural disturbances, which creates unique spacing and arrangement). 

In other words, active forest management involves taking more incremental steps to create diversity.

FAQ

What is forest management?

Forest management is human intervention in a forested landscape to support the landowner's goals, generally classified as economic, legal, social, or administrative. 

What are forest management services?

Forest management services are those that take the planning, execution, and maintenance of a forest off the landowner’s hands. They can include everything from developing forest management plans to getting their hands dirty and making that plan a reality. 

Is this the same as forest property management?

They are very similar, but the goals of forest property management differ slightly. For example, forest management can be done for any reason, whether that be to improve timber output, support wildlife populations, or improve recreational viability. When you zoom in on the “property management” part, you’ll notice that those efforts are often geared toward property value and aesthetics. 

What’s included in forest management services?

Some of the tasks filed with forest management services include timber thinning, timber harvesting, reforestation, replanting efforts, and addressing any issues that come up in between. 

What’s the intention behind forest management services?

Ultimately, your provider is going to be focused on meeting your goals the most effectively and within your budget. These services are great, too, because forest management is great. Not only does forest management improve wildlife quality, but it also supports water quality and sustainability of wood products.

Why does prescribed burning help prevent wildfires?

When the growth layers are too crowded, it basically ensures every plant is touching another, giving the fire incredibly easy access to spread. By occasionally participating in prescribed burning, you create a bit more space between the layers of growth. It minimizes that access drastically, as well as limiting a wildfire's access to available fuel. 

We’ll Make Forest Management Work For You
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info@caskindevelopment.com | 229.524.1264 | 3247 OLD JAKIN RD, DONALSONVILLE, GA 39845
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