Sustainable logging

[Tinkerer]

I know this may require more details and be difficult to answer. In the back (and sometimes front!) of my mind, there is this vision of purchasing maybe 500 acres of mature forested land in WV (maybe) and sustainably logging it, milling, drying, and bringing the lumber to market. Is this a reasonable dream? 

What would be a reasonable amount of acres to sustainably produce 60k salary? Anyone doing this? Any resources to further study? 

[Texas Ranger]

Running Texas numbers, you would need a working wife and a second job.

[mike_belben]

If you bought the land cheap enough and did multiple uses, yes, it can be done absolutely for certain.  

Just selling logs off it, youll be depleting the one crop of your lifetime very quickly and probably ruining it for the next lifetime.

  A diameter limit cut removes the fastest, most robust growing stock for max cash now. With every successive DLC, the stand moves to a higher and higher stocking of trees that are slow growing and may never achieve harvest size because theyre literally just about dead.  13" diameter at 150 years old, that sorta thing.   If you buy a mature forest thats had 4 generations of DLC cutting then its one big pile of mostly stalled wood and is probably mostly low grade.. Youd be looking at a volume sawing operation with low margin.  Can you swing buying the land, a serious sawmill, loader, skidder etc etc?  Not without lotto.  Anything young and fast growing within a high graded mature forest will be twisty or shade tolerant and low value. 


Now weve got to recognize that theres a huge difference in acres, and in equipment required,  to make a living in pallet wood compared to finished, delivered, curly figured epoxy tables for the rich.  That could be as little as an alaskan mill and a serious woodshop plus talent and a market.. Willingness to travel, to do custom for fussy customers, to install etc.

   Theres a huge difference in how many loads of veneer per acre vs how many loads of crosstie per acre come out of a forest.  And in how much labor youll do to hit that same money figure in each one.  


And theres a huge difference in what the land will cost you with an even aged high value forest that grew up uncut from pasture, vs a forest where every earl, terry and jerry ray have cut over.  The locals all know where the prime tract is to try buying timber from.  Only a person with money has resisted this long, and they arent selling cheap to non-kin. When it goes for sale, it goes on the internet looking for ted turner bidding. 


The cheapest land is a clearcut. An abused one thats got a junkyard on it or an old rock quarry or powerline and bunch of fallen down trailer shacks to clean up, garbage everywhere, briar fields.  A clearcut also produces the best timber crop for the generation that gets it after you expire.   

If you insist on owning all the acres, come up with a plan where you can making a living from a lot of clearcut.   I say this because 500 acres of good timber is corporate priced and theyve got debt leveraged portfolios at almost zero interest to bid with, itll break a common man.  You will be up to your ears to pay for a large, good forest in the lumber boom, stock boom era.  the temptation to harvest it short sightedly will be very very high.  


You can grow a lot of animals to sell on 100 acres of sunshine with mild winters and good rain.  

[Tinkerer]

Thank you Texas Ranger. Yeah, kinda figured it would have to be a specific market and wouldn't work in all areas. 

Mike, sounds like you've done some research on this? It's something that I feel would be a way to grow the family stronger and closer. Less of the world and its constructs as well as good, hard, and honest work. You gave me lots to chew on! An option would be less logging and more woodworking like you said. Bring the tree into completed projects. And, hey, my kids would love to have animals around. 

[mike_belben]

When youre raising a young family ya just gotta do the best ya can with whatever comes along, as it comes along. 

Dont worry about the acreage number or the annual income.  Worry about how many hours a day you are available to your family and still putting good food on the table, while minimizing debts.  Homesteading is scaleable.   Keep expenses low.  Its much harder to make money the further you get from the interstate. 

[Tacotodd]

Yes it's easier, but more rewarding further away (for most people ;), and obviously Mike you're one of the ones like I'm saying it's more rewarding for, & me too)!

[Southside]

Running Texas numbers, you would need a working wife and a second job.

How about just getting a second wife with a job instead?  :D
Now Roxie is gonna kill me...

[barbender]

That outside the box thinking is what Iike about you, Southside!😂😂

[mike_belben]

itd be a lot more efficient if you just get a wife with a lot of land already. 

[Ron Wenrich]

I think a lot depends on what you're starting with in the timber stand.  Most land has been cut and the only sustainable part is to keep the timber buyer in business.  The forestry part is usually ignored.  You will need a decent timber inventory and appraisal to know what you are starting with, and then plan from there.

Mike has described diameter limit cuts, but I don't view them very often as a long term strategy for sustainable forest mgmt.  It does have a place and at a certain time.  I've seen some successful 2 or 3 aged stands in hardwoods.  I tend to think that's more by accident than on purpose.  

You'll have to develop your forest by putting in access in the form of roads of some type.  That will be an investment of time and capital.  It can be done on a gradual basis.  But, one of the things you're going to have to deal with is small diameter trees of low value.  You can make firewood or you can turn low value into higher value in the form of flooring.  More work, more income.  In any milling project, you have to be able to develop a market.  Without a market, you won't be very successful.

Other aspects to look at are the non-timber products you can get.  With a large land area like you're talking, there are always hunting leases.  There are sidelines like shitake mushrooms, or ginseng.  Again, it all depends on markets.  We have lots of guys that make maple syrup.  Some reading:  https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/VT_Publications/02t3.pdf

There are some people doing what you are thinking about .   Look up Spring Green Timber Growers and see what he's doing in Wisconsin.  http://springgreentimbergrowers.com/    Another source is the Menominee Indian tribe:  https://www.mtewood.com

I whole-heartedly agree that you'll need a second income, especially to get things off the ground.

[mike_belben]

Yes, if i was not clear.. I was trying to describe how diameter limit cuts are a common harvest practice and in time tend to leave a forest that is not productive or high quality.. Its just woody and green.

The big forest a common man today can somehow afford is 70% firewood because before we were born, the mills got the best and the land collected the rest.  Outside of the woodstove belt, pulp is the only real market for this material.  Here where i live in tennessee a landowner will get 50/50 on sawlogs and as low as 5 or 10% on pulp revenue if they let whoever shows up log it off.  You need big iron to make it in pulp cutting.


A mature forest that has never been mismanaged is one that the nature conservancy organizations have tremendous systems of influence in place for, to snatch up with guaranteed loans that get them right out from under even the big timber bidding and timo organizations. We just dont get a crack at those mythical woodlots that would make an easy living.

[Kodiakmac]

A walk through my bush can be kind of depressing -  tree diseases have made all my cutting and product decisions for me.  Ash, beech, birch; big tooth aspen, butternut, are all getting hammered by one pest or another.  And the pileated woodpeckers are ruining my white cedar and porcupines are working on the hemlock.

The market for ash logs is not very good; beech is only a bit better; birch is pretty decent; but (understandably) high trucking costs really take the shine off the cheque.

So it's firewood, firewood, firewood with the dead and dying ash and the beech and birch. And my theory on firewood goes like this: you're either getting paid for your wood, or paid for your time ... but you're bloody well not getting paid for both.

Thankfully, I do have a decent local market for white cedar logs and posts.  I think I'll get my chainsaw mill going and try to get a raw plank market going for basswood and butternut.

[PoginyHill]

My father has been a professional forester for 60+years. He's had 300+ acres of woodland under his management for at least 50 yrs. During that time he's been active in timber stand improvement with commercial cuts and his own cutting of firewood and some timber. He could tell you that he has generated a decent annual return on his initial investment. The problem is that he'd have to sell the property in order to realize a lot of that gain. The income from material coming off the property is not enough to live on.

Personally, I own enough land to play on and ensure I never get bored. It is a hobby, not an income. I prefer that over golfing.

[Ron Wenrich]

Most landowners are passive landowners.  The trees are part of the landscape.  It is nearly impossible to get them to do improvement cuts unless there is a monetary incentive.  They end up falling for diameter limit cuts, and high grading.  I've seen it done by foresters that should have known better, as well as landowners that should have known better.

[Clark]

Before you click on the link to Spring Green I can summarize what he says over his 572 pages of...copy:

Harvest from your own property and produce the highest value item you can from each piece. 

It's basically what you want to do and I think he makes a case that it can be done on higher value hardwood sites. His message tends to turn into a diatribe with barbs thrown at "traditional forestry", some of which are well deserved. The outcome of his method, which he thinks everyone should adopt, is that markets would be saturated and there would be no profit in the higher value items due to competition. 

As others have stated, I think it can be done but getting off the ground will take at least 10 years. If you add in other non-timber income streams from the property, which is very possible in WV, I think you would be ahead financially. Not that there isn't money in timber but it takes decades whereas ginseng, ramps, etc can take several years.

Clark

[beenthere]

The Spring Green operation was started by Jim Birkemeier's father Bill (passed Dec. '21). Bill was an electrical engineering professor at UW-Madison. Just a very down to earth guy to know.

Bill's hobby was cutting his farm wood lot and gradually adding more and more equipment to saw, dry, machine, and turn out products for the farm. 
This operation was taken over by son Jim. A lot of volunteers and friends helped move and expand into what it is today. Riding the "earth day" movement seemed to be a sensible way to gain support and fame. 
Jim has done pretty well figuring out what "sells".  

[Ron Wenrich]

If I'm not mistaken, Jim also tried some sort of co-op movement in Wisconsin.  Organizing landowners is like herding cats.

[DMcCoy]

There is a guy here in Oregon who does exactly that.  Property was inherited from his father and they horse log it.  Runs a small sawmill and like someone else mentioned - getting maximum value off every piece sold.   The guys dad was a state or commercial forester.  His view of properly thinned was 2' gap from limb tip to limb tip- no overlapping branches(!), it is really something to see, amazing forest!  They also do not replant but allow succession reforestation.  

[mike_belben]

the future of this planet is food.  the population is exploding... with sickness from 70 years of industrial processed food.  as the awakening that the doctor cant cure you but the garden can continues to grow, it will become easier and easier for homesteaders to make it by selling food 3 seasons per year rather than trees one time every few decades.  especially with this inflation.  you buy your land once either in cash or a fixed rate mortgage.  the cost of food goes up continually so your pay raises are built in.  

there is nothing wrong with a clearcut if that is what the wood lot needs.  converting the most clapped out parts of it to croppable land is not easy but once its done, the income production becomes annual and will stay that way as long as you continue to replenish the soil instead of just reaping it off continually like big corn.

homesteading isnt really a way to make money.. its a way to stay home.  and its costs what it costs.  it is much easier to start with a chunk of money than to "pay as you go" off the land.  meaning sell your house in the hamptons and buy everything you need with that nest egg for the startup in WV.  dont think you can just move out to the woods with nothing and make a mortgage payment.  thats a road to ruin for many.  when he have money, we dont make the leanest decisions with it.  thats a skill you gain only when all the money is long gone, and its a critical skill in homesteading.  

  but if you are on the road to ruin in a city environment anyways, hey why not enjoy a better brand of ruin out in the country with your family?  its working pretty well for me even when we owe our own checking account.  life happens, make the best of it.  its not about the money.

[barbender]

Sustainable forestry...the phrase us so loaded with agenda I can hardly stand it. What it really means I think is that the public never sees a clearcut. Does that make it sustainable?

[wisconsitom]

I believe in sustainable forestry, as I'm sure do most readers of this thread.

But there's a lot in what the two guys ahead of me just wrote.

Not sure what we're gonna do...complicated picture.

[Ron Wenrich]

Sustainable forestry isn't really loaded with agenda.  You're free to do with your property whatever you like, within reason.  If you want to clearcut and grow crops, that's fine.  Lots of guys did that years ago when corn prices were high.  But, now they're not. 

When I worked a woodlot, I worked to improve the next growing cycle.  I have a choice to either carry trees that won't be worth anything in 20 yrs or to carry trees that will increase in value in 20 yrs.  I want to keep my stand density to where trees have room for crown expansion, but not so low that I have degradation in quality due to epicormic branching. 

There is a point you have to make room for the next generation in the stand.  Lots of leeway there.  I can do small clearcuts in the stand, I can do a seed tree or a shelterwood application, or I can clearcut the entire stand.  I can do nothing.  What I envision the next stand to be would be dependent on the application.  

I remember one of the local loggers doing a 14 mile clearcut ahead of a strip mine.  When they were done, they reclaimed that area by planting trees and putting soil back on.  To me, that's sustainable.  To clearcut and grow houses, not so much.

[Old Greenhorn]

A walk through my bush can be kind of depressing -  tree diseases have made all my cutting and product decisions for me.  Ash, beech, birch; big tooth aspen, butternut, are all getting hammered by one pest or another.  And the pileated woodpeckers are ruining my white cedar and porcupines are working on the hemlock.

The market for ash logs is not very good; beech is only a bit better; birch is pretty decent; but (understandably) high trucking costs really take the shine off the cheque.

So it's firewood, firewood, firewood with the dead and dying ash and the beech and birch. And my theory on firewood goes like this: you're either getting paid for your wood, or paid for your time ... but you're bloody well not getting paid for both.

Thankfully, I do have a decent local market for white cedar logs and posts.  I think I'll get my chainsaw mill going and try to get a raw plank market going for basswood and butternut.

Yeah, I get it. Do what you can with what you've got, where you are. Have you considered tapping into the mushroom growers in you area? It may not be a market for you but then again, maybe it is. It's not something most folks with woodlots think of, but growing mushrooms on logs is a fast growing trend. You will have to do some looking to find these folks and get tapped in, but they seem to have a hard time finding log suppliers. Stepping over that line and getting the network started might work out for you. I did it just about a year ago and it took some work, but I keep getting orders coming from all directions. Those small trees that will never amount to anything can turn into cash. Mushroom growers want Beech, any Oak, and a few other species in 'bolts' 4-8" diameter and 36-48" long. (pecker poles are great for this) I get 5 bucks a bolt now. DO the math, it's not bad, around 800 bucks for a cord. Yeah, there is a lot of research and 'touchy feely' involved to get started with these folks, but cash is cash. You also have to put in a lot more labor to get the wood out because you can't skid or use a grapple, but again, cash is cash, do the numbers.
 I will just say, I picked it up as a 'side thing' to fill time and now it is taking over with orders. They even came up and followed me through the woods one day to make a video as part of a project. This is not a released video, so don['t tell anybody about it, but just between me and you, here is a part they shot while I was trying to catch my breath during a cutting day.
Sustainably Sourcing Shiitake Logs - An interview with Tom Lindtveit - YouTube 

[Ianab]

"Sustainable" basically means you can keep doing what you are doing indefinitely. 

So clear cutting and building a parking lot, certainly not "sustainable".

Poor management might allow a forest to still exist, but if the tree quality drops off, so does your return, so again not "sustainable". Not as bad as the example above, as a forest still exists, but it's not economically viable any more. It could be "fixed" with some time and effort of course. 

What most people consider sustainable is careful management, where you remove the same (or maybe less) material than is growing each year (or decade, or.. ) There is no "endpoint" to the operation, This can include clear cutting, providing you have the forest type (or plantation) that's conducive to that. The point is if you project forward say 100 years, will the operation still be viable?

99% of forestry in NZ is plantation grown, so naturally it's clear cut and replanted. Some of the pine forests are on their 5th rotation, and with the improved seed stock over the years and better management they produce more now than the early rotations. They are clear cuts, but maybe 1/25th of the forest each year, with the planting crew following the logging crew around the various blocks.  This has been going on for 100 years, and is still viable, hence the "Sustainable Timber" stickers on NZ grown Pine. 

There are some small areas of privately owned native forest under "sustainable management plans", but the local one I'm familiar with is about 1,000 acres, and the harvest plan is approx 5 trees a year. (See the 400 years to regrow thing). But with milling on site and even paying for helicopter extraction of the lumber) he was probably clearing $10,000 per tree. 

From the point of view of "how many acres?" Are you selling standing trees, or are you value adding. The SpringGreen example exemplifies that. You could sell one standing tree for say $100? Or you could process that tree into an installed hardwood floor, making say $1,000 in profit. Do that each week, and you have your income, from ~50 tree harvested a year, needing maybe 100 acres? If you are selling standing timber you need to harvest  10X as many, so maybe 1,000 acres? You need some more precise numbers on log value and growth rates for your location, but you get the idea. 

[mike_belben]

Sustainable has to consider ecological and economical.  Nature decided american chestnut and ash were on borrowed time.  

With the cost of land today, a poor quality forest is not economically sustainable, and thus is also on borrowed time. 

[Ianab]

With the cost of land today, a poor quality forest is not economically sustainable, and thus is also on borrowed time. 

Agreed. 

The cost of land in NZ is even higher  , so if you aren't producing a return, then it's just a very expensive hobby. 

[Kodiakmac]

This is not a released video, so don['t tell anybody about it, but just between me and you, here is a part they shot while I was trying to catch my breath during a cutting day.

Thanks for this, OG.

[Quercusrubrum]

I have a lot of interesting info on the subject here: https://thetimberlandinvestor.com/what-is-the-most-sustainable-way-to-harvest-timber/

Bottom line: It depends. The "average" growth rate in the United States is .6 cords/acre, but not all cords are created equal, obviously. paradoxically, as a lot of forestry companies become more "sustainable" by increasing growth rates, the economics of the property get worse because average stem size drops because the forests are younger/faster growing.

For any landowner, I'd argue the most important thing is a good business model. If you are only growing 250 Board feet per acre, make sure you are getting the most for each board foot with entrepreneurial creativity.

[Ianab]

For any landowner, I'd argue the most important thing is a good business model. If you are only growing 250 Board feet per acre, make sure you are getting the most for each board foot with entrepreneurial creativity.

True. Most of the "management" you can do is in the first few years of a trees growth. The thinning / pruning / weed control etc. Once you have a stand of healthy / straight / potentially valuable 10-20 year old trees, there isn't a lot more to do management wise. Just sit back and wait for them to grow. 

But as you suggest there is no "one size fits all" plan. 

[Den-Den]

""Sustainable" basically means you can keep doing what you are doing indefinitely."

That makes sense to me.  It does not say anything about what you can take away while being "sustainable".  If you buy property that is mostly junk wood, it can still be "sustainable" as junk wood although the income may barely pay taxes.  Clear cut and re-plant is also sustainable but there is virtually no income between clear cuts to pay taxes with.  Making a sustainable forestry plan that is also economically sustainable may require outside income or winning a lottery to get started.

[Ron Wenrich]

It depends on your view of what you mean by sustainable.  If you're looking at a per tree vs per acre vs stand, your mgmt can take on more variety.  Clearcutting are in the mix at the stand level.  You're just not clearcutting the entire stand, just compartments. 

Sustainable at the stand level takes in trees in all size and age classes.  Generally speaking, you can't have that in all areas, as you will have to make room for reproduction.  I've also used basal area in the analysis of sustainable forests.  You would want about the same BA for poletimber, small sawtimber, and large sawtimber.  For regeneration, you would need about 1/2 acre or better clearing to get the kind of regeneration you would want.

The question of making a depleted stand sustainable depends on what you're working with.  Poletimber and sawtimber aren't the only trees on the woodlot.  There may be sufficient reproduction of a desirable species present.  If not, than planting would be in line. 

I once remember talking to a Canadian forester who worked with building models of mgmt for British Columbian forests.  They were working on 400 yr rotations.  You can do that on public lands.   But, they were working through all the stages of forest successions going from pioneer to climax.  Sustainable forestry at that perspective gives all sorts of different mgmt options.  For the normal private landowner, anything past 20 yrs is probably too much. 

[Prizl tha Chizl]

 Re the Spring Green approach.

I've worked with Jim a bit and have seen the insides of his (now sold) operation. He worked hard for years on land he didn't have to pay for, building up tooling and manufacturing processes over decades, and made a decent living. It took a lot of trial and error to find out not only "what sells" but also "how to sell it," and first, "how to make it." I believe some version of his approach could work with just about any woods, from junk to gem, but not necessarily for every person, or even in any place.

Spring Green is already an art/tourist location close enough to pull big city bucks out to the country. There are a few similar spots in WV (Elkins comes to mind, or in the panhandle,) but it really helped him having a marketplace that was already built and just waiting for something like his business to come along.

Also, while value added forest products do get you way more income out of each tree, they almost always involve way more equipment and skill than just selling logs. Jim had to not only get good at low impact harvesting, but also milling, drying, processing, installing and finishing flooring, various kinds of woodworking, as well as business management and sales. Think about what you'd enjoy doing. Jim told me his greatest profit per board foot was coming from his CNC Christmas tree ornaments. Good money, but how many hours of your life do you wanna spend sawing and selling those?

It also takes someone who's incredibly motivated to be successful, isn't easily discouraged by setbacks, and can stay focused on the long term. Does this describe you?  I'm solid for the second two, and trying to find it in me for the first one.  And it probably takes a bit of luck, too, (how did old greenhorn fall into that mushroom log business, anyways?)

No matter what, you're right to be thinking about your family in the equation. I've let a lot of good opportunities go by the wayside in order to get to be a part of my kids lives, and I don't regret a single one of them. But I do wish Id spent more time figuring out how to turn our woods into an income before the kids came along. Like others have said, it's awful hard to build a business from scratch and pay the mortgage and feed the family at the same time. I'd love to hear from other folks that are making it work and how, for encouragement, if nothing else.

[Old Greenhorn]

.......  And it probably takes a bit of luck, too, (how did old greenhorn fall into that mushroom log business, anyways?)
....

I can speak to this a little, lest folks think I 'fell into it'. When I had my first business back in the last century (age 25) I had a mentor who gave me some good guidance. He taught me to make every contact I could and even if I couldn't use their skills or info, save it for when I was ready. Never let knowledge slide by without making note and filing it away.
 With that in mind I had taken a siliviculture class in preparation for my retirement business to gain some more knowledge. Part of that class was a tour of a model forest with lots of BMP examples spread around. There was also an active mushroom grow operation and the instructor explained how it worked. As an aside she mentioned that 'mushroom folks' have a hard time finding logs because they generally don't interface with 'logger types', being from somewhat different 'cultures'. She suggested that mushroom logging could provide a good side income for someone willing to put in the work, but it would require some marketing to develop clients and care to understand the log handling requirements.
 I filed that info away and as time went on I did more reading and talking to folks 'on both sides of the aisle' collecting more info and experience. After a few years, I had room in my business and some time, to give it a shot. At first it looked like a flop, then I got one order, then another. Nobody I could find was taking logs like I was so I had to figure out my harvesting methods and streamline the labor as much as I could. Within 8 months I was overloaded with orders and had a couple of "If you can get this XXXX [species], I will buy it all" types of orders. I cut over 1,100 logs that year and put in a ton of sweat. It is a very labor intensive undertaking.
 This year I am trying to taper the market to where I do orders between my other work and I don't look for the 'big hit orders'. I am folding this into my other income streams and looking for balance between them all. NEVER put all your eggs in one basket. Times change, markets flip, interest dies, and if you don't have another product or service to move your focus to, you are in trouble. I was not ever looking to make a lot of money. I was looking to have some enjoyable work and pull in extra bucks to pay taxes and bills.
 Some might say I 'got lucky', but in this case I don't think luck played any role at all. I was just paying attention at the right time. YMMV

[Prizl tha Chizl]

Sorry greenhorn, I never meant to imply that i thought you hadn't had to work hard at it, just that "luck" or "coincidence" sometimes spell a part of peoples success stories- obviously not in your case- a bad guess on my part. Thanks for giving the background story, as well as the advice that comes with it.

[Old Greenhorn]

Nah, no problem, all good. I used to think folks 'got lucky' too (and sometimes, they actually did) but most times it was a 'bit more' than luck. When I was young I would remark about this guy or that one that 'lucked into a good deal' and my Dad had an expression which I cannot remember that put it in the perspective of "Yeah, he mortgaged everything he had and worked 95 hour weeks for 5 years just to get it started and now it looks like he can pay off his debts, so I guess it was all luck." Kind of like 30 years of work to become an overnight success.

 I think it might be mostly sweat, smarts, and drive. But the luck can help that along once in a while. In my first business ( a machine shop ) I picked up my largest client because I just happened to be in a friend's office when he got a call asking for help. He couldn't help them, but he said "There's a young guy standing in my office right now who is pretty sharp and may be able to pull it off for you." Then he handed me the phone and the rest was a 6 year story of constant work. I fully admit, THAT was luck. :D ;D

[beenthere]

Sorry greenhorn, I never meant to imply that i thought you hadn't had to work hard at it, just that "luck" or "coincidence" sometimes spell a part of peoples success stories- obviously not in your case- a bad guess on my part. Thanks for giving the background story, as well as the advice that comes with it.

The Jim you mentioned near Spring Green, had his "start" being the son of the man who started with a WM mill before Jim went off to learn Forestry. His father had the land, the ideas to log, saw, dry and mill wood for his home at the farm. 
Jim picked up on what his father started. Knew the man as an Electrical Engineering prof at the UW Madison. Jim did well expanding with what he had to begin with. Promoting some ideas that fit with a new generation and getting volunteers involved expanded the "business".  Just my take. 

[ppine]

We are all in favor of sustainable forestry.  But that does not mean on every acre all the time. It means that the annual allowable cut is in line with the annual growth rate.  That means clear cutting is okay as long as the total acreage in production divided by the rotation age is not exceeded in any one year.

Buying forest land and making a living off of it is difficult if you have to pay a mortgage on it.  Ranching is the same way.  If you are gifted the land because it is in the family you have a chance.  Agriculture is a marginal economic exercise, no matter if it is forestry, farming or ranching.  Paying a mortgage often means operations don't pencil out. 

[AndyVT]

I inherited 50 acres of mixed woodland from my folks and have been working it for the last 30 years.
 It had been clearcut 75-100 years ago for sheep grazing and has come back as mostly even aged trees.
My management plan has been to slowly remove the poor quality trees and release the better timber.
Since I do my own cutting and skidding and sell directly to mills, I get some income from it.
I recently updated my plan which calls for regeneration cuts on about half the acreage. 
This will hopefully allow for new growth to start and let the better quality trees prosper.
With only 50 acres I don't expect to get rich but I do get a sustainable harvest of sawlogs, pulp and firewood fo the long term. 

[ppine]

To reiterate about clearcutting being sustainable. 
On a small woodlot probably not. 

In the West we mostly think about public forest land.  As an example, a Ranger District on a National Forest has 300,000 acres.  The rotation age is 60 years.  That means you can clear cut 5,000 acres a year and it will be sustainable. That is the total acreage of merchantable timber divided by the rotation age. 300,000 divided by 60 years.