Pro foresty tips

By this point in my life I've worked in a number of different forestry and silvicultural settings. Not as a manager/owner to be sure - but working very closely with them. I have two tips for anyone thinking of forest management . Because I'm feeling generous but not too generous.

1) This is not a field for those wishing to pursue a quick profit or unwilling to immerse themselves completely. It takes a large knowledge base, long term strategy, diverse skill sets, and patience.

2) Forests can be hard to see for all the trees. In large tracks of forest you will get lost especially if the terrain is all hills and ridges and valleys and washes and so on and so on and so on. There's just enough land that you will almost certainly not be able to keep every detail of all your terrain in your head. Especially in the beginning.

So one thing which I have seen done often and to great success is to fell tree's in a very specific X marks the spot patter where the X is instantly recognizable from a good distance, generally done on hillsides which will be visible from your approach. This was one can transfer that X onto a good Topography map and make notes around it for what the long term strategy of succession will be there.

Anyway, I'm not an expert, But I have defiantly spent a good deal of time working with some. Hope this helps someone in someway.

From my experience most cuts are replanted with individual species. In the PNW it's Doug Fir exclusively. I know that's what the next harvest wants in 30, 50 or 100 years but shouldn't they plant what they tore out? Replants should match the original geographic makeup, or create plots to supplement it. Some hemlock, pacific yew, cedar, maple and alder?

I help sell doug fir, easily 10-15 million board feet a year and I don't see it as wrong, though I know we're asking for some trees to be cut that don't need to be.