Page 16 - North Carolina Forestry Association - Fall 2019

MEMBER CONTRIBUTION: BY MICHAEL C. THOMPSON, RF
10 Major Goals
of Forest Management: ‘Know Where You’re Going’
I wrote the following list of major goals based on my experience in land management, combined with textbook knowledge. If the goals can be attained, you should be in good shape from a timber management standpoint.
1 Manage the forest to achieve the landowner’s objectives
within economic, legal and biological constraints.
2 Regulate timber harvest to provide a long-term sustained yield of desired products and
value from the forest, without impairing the natural productivity of the soil.
3 Maintain fully-stocked stands at all stages of their development, from seedlings up to mature trees.
4 Through regular timber harvest, create a generally even distribution of age/size classes for each major
forest type in the forest, ranging from seedlings up to mature trees.
6 Minimize damage to or loss of soil, from which all tree
growth begins.
7 Provide for other forest products, services or benefits, such as clean water, wildlife, aesthetics,
grazing, wilderness and recreation.
8 Provide adequate year-round access throughout the forest property.
9 Protect forest resources from
loss due to fire, insects, disease, weather, theft and encroachments.
10 Conduct the final harvest at maturity.
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5 For each stand, grow the tree species that will yield
the maximum volume growth and/or monetary return to the land- owner, or will otherwise achieve desired objectives.