OUTDOOR CORNER: HOW TO CARRY OUT A PLAN FOR LAND

* Landowners sometimes need assistance in reaching their goals.

Almost all landowners have some form of management plan for their woodlands.

Often it is not written down but is an idea filed away in their minds. You might say, "I want an income from my land now and sometime in the future (timber sale)." That is a plan.

"I want to hunt deer on my land (or turkey, or squirrels, or whatever)." Keeping forested land for wildlife habitat and hunting is a plan of management.

"I enjoy looking out at that forested hillside and want to be able to do so for some time into the future." That is a plan for that particular forested area.

A management plan is nothing more than a set of ideas. These ideas can be followed to the letter or loosely used as a guideline depending on what the landowner wants. Plans almost always change as circumstances change. When managing your land you need to manage it in a way that your own personal goals are met.

If you would like to take a plan from an idea to a written set of guidelines there are many individuals who are willing to help, or by attending educational seminars and tours you may be able to do this yourself. As discussed in a previous article, the first order of business is to determine what you want from your land (income, wildlife, aesthetics, watershed protection, and/or recreation). You may have one or a number of interests that are of importance to you.

Once it has been determined what is of most interest to you for your forested acres there are a few more questions to answer:

Do you want to do the work yourself? Some landowners have the equipment and knowledge that makes it possible for them to do their own forest management work (logging, thinning, planting, or whatever). If landowners have the time, this type of work can be rewarding and satisfying.

Do you want to do the work all at once or do you want to spread it out over a period of years? You may want to designate management units which can be as little as one year or it can be as many as 20.

Do you want someone else to do the work for you? If you are not going to be able to do the work yourself, there are individuals who specialize in one or more aspects of forest management. A forester can help in the planning stages if you desire. He or she can also help with the marketing of trees that you might decide to sell. Loggers are available to help you with the harvest of trees.

Others may be able to cut tree tops and low quality trees into firewood and there are contract crews available who can do timber stand improvement work (TSI). TSI can include the thinning of stands that are too dense for good growth or it can be the removal of undesirable trees that are taking space which may be interfering with the growth of better trees. Cost-share is usually available through the several programs that can help with the expenses of a number of management practices for forestry and wildlife.

Once it is determined what your goals are and how you want to go about accomplishing them, a land manager (usually a forester or wildlife biologist) can help with an inventory of your forest and/or wildlife resource. That is, the land manager determines what is growing on your land. This can include the condition of the forest for tree growth, wildlife habitat, or any of a variety of information that is required to write a plan designed to meet your needs.

Following a determination of your interests and an inventory of your forest or wildlife resource, you and your land manager can sit down and develop a plan of management that, if followed, should help you to reach your goals for your land.

On Oct. 7 a woods walk tour will be held on a farm in western Cape Girardeau County, north of Lake Girardeau. On Oct. 14 another tour will be held on a farm on the Bollinger and Wayne county lines just north of Highway 34. These tours are being held for individuals who want to learn more about forest management. For more information on these tours, contact your local University of Missouri Outreach and Extension office at (573) 243-3581. Please call for a reservation.

Come, learn more about it.

Joe Garvey is a district forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation.