Green Horizons

Landowners have many reasons for conducting a timber sale. A properly conducted sale can improve the growth of the remaining trees, benefit wildlife and generate income. A recent survey of forest landowners in Macon County, Missouri, sheds some interesting insight into landowner objectives when selling timber.

Roughly 19 percent of landowners surveyed had a timber sale in the past five years.

Selling timber was most popular with landowners who had a strong agricultural background. Absentee landowners, or those who bought property for recreational reasons, were less likely to have a sale.

There was not necessarily one single reason landowners had in selling their timber; in fact, some had several. Seventy-four percent said they wanted to sell mature trees before the trees died. This was followed by improving the growth of remaining trees (59 percent) and benefiting wildlife (45 percent).

Liquidating the timber resource to pay for purchasing the property was cited by 20 percent of those surveyed. Fourteen percent sold their timber just prior to selling the land.

Finally, selling timber to clear the land for more pasture or crop acres was only cited by 11 percent of the respondents.

It is apparent that many landowners are interested in improving their forested resources through the sale of timber. However, assistance from a professional forester in many cases is absent in the sale’s process. The Macon County survey reflects a disturbing, long-standing statewide fact: professional foresters are involved in fewer than 12 percent of the timber sales occurring on private forestland.

This begs the question, "Who is managing the forest?" In many cases, the decisions on which trees to cut and which ones to leave are made by the individual running the chain saw: the logger. Loggers are not an inherently bad lot. In fact, more loggers every year are taking the time to learn about forestry and professional harvesting techniques through the Missouri Forest Products Association’s Professional Timber Harvester program.

However, professional foresters work for the landowner and not for the sawmill. Marking trees to be harvested, estimating volume, and determining income potential before the sale are all valuable services that help landowners get the most value from the their timber