Veneer Logs

Contact your local forester

Ellis Walentine

>Your subject line tells me that you feel you have veneer quality trees in with your 100 acres of hardwoods. Veneer-quality trees always have high value, but you need to contact your local forester to see who is buying veneer logs in your area. For the less-than-veneer-quality logs, you probably have a large local (within 100 miles) mill that will come out and make you an offer for the timber trees. Generally, a chat with your local forester will produce a short list of suspects.

Good luck with the enterprise...

Ellis Walentine, Host

Re: Contact your local forester

C.W.Stivison

>Before you sell your be sure to get at least 3 different bids. You be surprized at the differences.

ditto Forester

bill tindall, E. TN.

>many states have forestry departments that aid land owners in selling timber. At the least they should be able to supply a list of loggers in your area. Note, loggers have all the knowledge and the land owner may have almost none. Sound like an opportunity to be taken advantage of? And there is more to it than what is the best price for the boundary of timber- what size trees will be left for the next generation to harvest, will the skid road areas be restored, how much forest will be devastated during logging by felling and skidding, and the list goes on.

But, keep in mind that a growing forest is better than money in the bank. Not only does lumber increase in price over the years but each year you grow more of it. On the other hand, a mature forest starts loosing money. Only your forester will know, you hope. Good luck

Selective Harvesting

Gary B. in Central NY

>Try to find one that you can use as a consultant for a fee. Many times, more money can be had then people realize by selective cuttings now, then every 10 years or so, versus a more aggressive cutting. My old roomate was a consultant (going for a phd in forestry now) He was really big on sustainable logging, both from the ecological and economic standpoint. good luck

Re: Veneer Logs

Dale Lenz

>Yes, a State forester is a great starting place. Maybe prior to he/she showing up on your tract of land you might want to do a Google search on "selling your timber" How to sell my timber" etc.

Good luck, and GET A CONTRACT!

Dale Lenz, forester

Good luck

Re: Veneer Logs

Barry Irby

>I want to Second much of what you ahve been told here. Your local forester is a great resource. Work with them. Get a list of buyers from them and have them "cruise" the timeber and givee you ideas. Aslo have them give you list fo timber conslutants in your area. Have the consutalnt set up a bid and also assess the tember and advise you how to prodeed. I had some years ago and the best I could do was $77,000. The consultant got me $135,000. I was happy to pay them their commission.

They can also give you advice on whether its time to cut it and how, and how to replant and manage it. It is absolutely true that you have very little knowledge (probably) and there is much to know. Any item of which could cost you a fortune.

Re: Veneer Logs

John Cotten

>Paul,

Gary B. is right on the mark. First of all, what state are you in? I was formerly the Director of Value Added Woods for the State of Kentucky, part of my job was to work with landowners to maximize the value of their timber.

With a 100 acres, it is worth paying a fee to have a professional come can cruise your timber to get a real value of what you have growing. Just because you have large trees, it is no indication of the valualbe trees. Big does does not always mean high quality. A cruising report with give you an approximate inventory of the timber you have, quantity, quality, species, grade, and logging conditions (easy, steep, flat, water shed issues, etc..) the logger will take into consideration when they are making a bid on your timber. A consultant can also give you directions on the best way to manage for timber for specific goals, whether it is moneitary, wildlife management, asthetic, recreation, or a combination of these.

Once you have this information, you can decide whether you want the forestry consultant to manage your timber sale for you. I highly suggest this. In most circumstances a good consultant can get you best value for your timber. This can mean from a few thousand to tens of thousands depending on what you have and prevailing market conditions. A good consultant will hold an auction and will advertise the sale to the best potential buyers. Additonally, they will know how to run the sale, contract it, and make sure the ground is reclaimated properly. Some states have some very strict laws regarding reclaimation, water quality and watershed protection, labor issues, and logging requirements. Here in Kentucky loggers are required to have master logger certification before they can legally run a logging sit, and one has to be on site all of the time logging is taking place.

A good consultant will also advise you if this is the best time to sell, he or she may recommend to wait to you can get best value unless you need to money right away.

Please post your state. I have a list of forest consultants around the US and can you in touch with your state chapter of professional forest consultants. If you are here in Kentucky, I can recommend several who I know, who will do a great job for you.

Good Luck

John Cotten

Re: Veneer Logs

Mike-in-Michigan

>I am assuming you are in Albany area of New York (since your email is Albany College of Pharmacy -- amazing what google can do). I am with Mr. Cotten, contact your state chapter of forestry consultants. Think of them like Real Estate Agents .. they cost a bit, but can get you much much more than their commissions back in your sale. My dad & grandfather sold off large amounts of timber, and wooded property from the 70's to 90's .. well over 500 acres worth and they sold it in small lots and replanted, etc.

They used several forestry consultant services to evaluate and recommend plans to keep the wooded areas soundly managed, keep the trees growing, etc.. My mom ended up selling off the rest of the property when my dad died, and still got a very tidy sum because it was wooded, not overgrown or destroyed by bad logging - a rarity in SW Michigan. You need to maintain your property value also so keep in mind how much those trees enhance it's value.

Unfortunately the buyer sold it off a couple of years ago and now it's a high-end housing development(what a shame), wish I could have bought it my self but such is life.

Re: Veneer Logs

Tom Stockton

>We just went through this process on about 15 of our 42 acres, it was all softwoods 2nd growth douglas fir, pine, white fir and red cedar. In california we had to file a timber harvest plan with the state so you need a forester to do this. We talked to a logger friend about foresters and got a couple of names he recomended and choose one, I think one of things that sold us on him was that he kept reminding us that it was our property and we had complete control over the operation. He charged us 16% of the proceds after the amount he paid the logger. In our area of CA only one company was purchasing all the timber we had, so it wasn't that competetive but we got a good price. The next and most important part was finding a logger, the forester had one guy he worked with look at it and we had an old acquaintance who was a logger look at it, we went with the person we knew after looking at a job he had just ffinished. He took very good care of our property and did a good job of clean up, although there is more to do on a seperate contract. The forester took care of making sure he had all the neccesary licenses and insurance in place and came by weekly to check up.

Our logger used a small crew usually only a feller and a skidder and loader operater which for us was nice as the logging wasn't as intense as we thought. it was a fairly long process but well worth it our forest is much healthier and fire hazard is greatly reduced. We are using the money to put in a alternative energy system probably hydro combined with solar.

What someone said abou tree size is correct we had some monster pines that were 3' across and 150' tall but when you looked at the end of the log the growth rings were 3/8" wide definatly second growth. A couple of years ago they were heli logging an area down the road and the douglas firs that were coming out were huge I saw one truck that just had one log on it a number with just two, those logs would go for a very nice premium over second growth.

Tom