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Interviewing a consulting forester

Started by danreed76, August 30, 2017, 03:13:05 PM

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danreed76

I had the county forester out the other day for a "landowner visit"; really was a good visit and very educational, I thought.  He answered all of my questions very thoroughly and made several recommendations, among them was that it's likely time to thin (or select cut) our hardwoods and clear cut (which I was hoping to avoid) most of our pine and re-plant as the pine stands had been unattended too long.  What he wouldn't (or couldn't based on his position) make recommendations on was consulting foresters other than to use a registered forester.

So the search begins for a consulting forester.  We're in the Chattahoochee region of Georgia.  Any recommendations?  Specific questions to ask?  Pitfalls to look out for?
Woodmizer LT40 Hydraulic with resaw attachment |  Kubota MX5200  | (late)1947 8N that I can't seem to let go.


Texas Ranger

Time in business, references and resumee
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

mike_belben

Disclaimer, i have never hired a consulting forester. 

I assume the primary reason that you need one is to market your timber for best dollar and in my experience that does require a lot of local market knowledge.  Are you having the forester estimate the footage and trying to find a buyer for stumpage sale or is the forester needed to mark out what trees to keep or cull for a logger to do on a split payment?


I have no stumpage sale experience but i have logged and sold my own timber and driven quite a few loads to quite a few mills.  There is definitely a lot to know for getting best dollar on sawlogs because each mill is gonna have different orders for different product.  Some will deal in ties, some in staves, others in grade lumber.. One quality or species youll do good on and something else at same place youll get beat up.  The greatest value i personally could buy would be a cheat sheet on exactly what species, grades and lengths to bring to each place for best pay.  Its taken me a lot of not so good checks to figure out on my own.   
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Ron Wenrich

Make sure you and the consultant are on the same page as to what a thinning should be.  Some consultants do good cultural work, some thin with the dollar in mind.  What your future forest looks like will depend on the current cutting cycle.

I would contact several consultants and not take the first one you talk to.  Give them all a chance to sell their services.
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Claybraker

Mine asked me a lot of question. what did I want, what were my objectives for the land. If you interview one that's more concerned with the volume of the sale, you are done with that interview.

danreed76

Thanks for the link, Texas Ranger.  That definitely helps.

Quote from: mike_belben on August 30, 2017, 11:54:58 PM
Are you having the forester estimate the footage and trying to find a buyer for stumpage sale or is the forester needed to mark out what trees to keep or cull for a logger to do on a split payment?
I guess overall, yes... I want to establish and execute a management plan, but need to have someone on my team to broker/manage the process.  I know very well that I have neither the expertise or time to do it myself.

Quote from: Claybraker on August 31, 2017, 02:03:53 PM
Mine asked me a lot of question. what did I want, what were my objectives for the land.

That's what I'm shooting for.  Not necessarily the biggest sale, but the best result for the land and our uses for it. 

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on August 31, 2017, 11:12:54 AM
Make sure you and the consultant are on the same page as to what a thinning should be.  Some consultants do good cultural work, some thin with the dollar in mind.  What your future forest looks like will depend on the current cutting cycle.
That's what I need to really dig into next is what our thinning should look like.  There's some places we'd like to establish "silvo-pasture", so I'm trying to take that into account.


Woodmizer LT40 Hydraulic with resaw attachment |  Kubota MX5200  | (late)1947 8N that I can't seem to let go.

BaldBob

Quote from: Claybraker on August 31, 2017, 02:03:53 PM
Mine asked me a lot of question. what did I want, what were my objectives for the land. If you interview one that's more concerned with the volume of the sale, you are done with that interview.

This is absolutely key. If a consultant starts out telling you what you should do before he/she (there are some pretty good female forestry consultants out there) completely understands your goals and objectives, he/she is not the consultant for you.

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