I know this is a broad question but I need general ideas for now. I am looking at buying a property (100 acres - 88 acres forest/12 acres farm) and would like to know what I could get per acre for wood: pulp, firewood, lumber. The land was last cut in 1948. There is hemlock. pine. spruce and eatern red oak on the property - average size is 12-18" across.
The property is slightly out of price/mortgage range, but if I could sell wood off of property - silverculture - on a yearly basis, it may make the difference.
Best havet the property evaluated. Otherwise it's just a guessing game.
We've got some 68 acres near Caledonea. No intentions of loging but hope to leave as is. Do have some very nice lumber quality trees but every year they become better quality.
I agree with egon... for a small fee, you can get a forester to do a 'ballpark' survey of the forest and give you an estimate of timber value. It is highly dependent on the density of each species of tree. Hemlocks are not worth nearly as much as white pine. Oaks are valuable if they are timber or vaneer quality, but most are not.
I can tell you right off, that $5000 an acre per year is absolutely not possible. We have 98 acres of which about 90 is forest. Mine was last harvested about 1960. I hired a forester to write a management plan (about $800) and then to manage a timber harvest. We clear-cut a few acres for pasture and crop fields and then thinned 20% of the trees from the rest of the forest. We cleared roughly $20k. The forester says that you can do that about once every 7-10 years. A good forester is worth every penny!!
In our case, I chose to keep the firewood. The timber cutter will pay you about $10-$15 a cord for it. It costs him about $30 a cord to 'yard' it and he gets about $40 from a firewood dealer. That nets you about $10 a cord. We don't burn wood right now, so I decided to go into the firewood business. It will be lots of work cutting & splitting because I don't own a firewood processor. But seasoned firewood is going for $185 a cord around here. So my 120 cord is worth in excess of $20k once I've invested my own labor (which is free, right? [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] ).
My father in law has 250 acres, with (guessing) roughly 100 acres fields and 60 planted specifically with pines for Bowater. That leaves roughly 90 acres remaining? use 100 for easy math [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
none the less, they sold the timber on a "selective" basis...although it seems they took 80% and destroyed 10% leaving 10%.
Upshot, they got about $117,000 gross. The forrester dude took 10% as I recall for his efforts (which were non-existent AFTER he got his $$... never saw his hiney again [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img] but that's a different story)
Seems the mix was roughly 1/2 hardwoods & 1/2 pine. thankfully, they did this right before our pine beetle took over and RAVAGED the pine trees. Was amazing seeing a dead pine tree on edge of my yard in spring and by summer, they progressed all the way across the yard [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] .
Seems to me, most of this growth was at least 50 years old.
Thank you for the replies thus far. While $5000 is out of range $1000 to $2000 appears to be in the neighbourhood. I spoke with a forest tech yesterday, based on the general info I gave them they low-balled at a $1000 per acre. They charge $30 per hour to cruise lot - can do 90 acres in three hours and can delivery a plan. They will oversee cutting (silver culture) on an hour basis.
The property has a crossroad as a border on two sides so this will help with harveting. I would prefer select cutting rather than clear cutting.
Also thought of firewood sales as well, although my first priority is to get my own wood first - outdoor furnace etc.
Will keep you posted.
PS: also planned on small band saw operation; more for interest, supplying my own lumber to offset cost of material and quality and to sell material as cash is required.
If you want good quality lumber you pay for it dearly here.
Richard, if I read your post correctly, your father in law grossed a little over $1000 an acre, but took out 90% of the trees. That means he couldn't harvest again for 30-40 years. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.
My management plan has 'long-term value of the timber ' as it's first goal. My forester got 10% of the gross as his fee for managing the timber harvest. He marked every tree that got cut, tracked exactly what the cutter trucked out, and made sure that the boundry markings were clear for the cutter. (here in Maine, cutting someone elses timber is VERY bad). He then spent time with me showing me what things I can do to maximize the value of the trees that were left. He even arranged for a wildlife biologist from UMaine to come and walk the northwest corner (a deer wintering yard) and tell us what to cut and what to leave. This year, I will go through the 'tree farm' process and get it certified as using 'sustainable forestry'. While I will pay for the foresters time and efforts, in the long run it is well worth it. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]
Good to know other App. owners out there. My wife has a 11 year old 15.2 hands. I would prefer something that actually does a little work. Something that just doesn't blink and look pretty.
Hopefully we can come to terms with owners on selling price.
You seemed to have found a better forrester than my father in law did...HOWEVER, I'll have to admit, that prior to the forrester being hired, the highest bid for the timber was like $65,000 or something like that. So even with all his shortcomings (and there were more than 1) he did net them out a larger figure.
Still somewhat a sore memory for me with all that happened though.
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