Telephone: (936) 327-4506
Fax: (936) 327-5401
E-Mail: dstaples@livingston.net
Management Plans. Basic forest management begins when you look at a tract and say, “I can do something with that!”. If done correctly, forest management never ends. And management can be as complicated as a politicians tax return, or as simple as a sun rise.
Most management plans run several pages in length, some as simple as one page, some as long as 20 or more.
Simple plans may be for nothing more than establishing a plantation on a tract. In depth plans may be for a Stewardship in Practice Plan that will define the tract to the last plant.
The development of any plan is based on the goals, desires and ability of the land owner. Some governmental agencies like to write a plan that may encompass all possible combinations of management activities, cover every possible environmental situations, and create a plan in which the land owner has no interest. A good plan meets the needs of the landowner, develops and explains the reason, method and goals of the plan, and ends. A management plan that is written for life of the owner, or the life of the stand, is wasted effort. Each plan must be reviewed and renewed on fairly regular intervals. While you may be able to predict growth of a plantation from the tables, seeing what it is doing on the ground is even more important. Meeting the changing goals or needs of the land owner is essential in updating management plans, so why write the be all/do all plan when you know that in writing a plan for a living community you have to plan for change, development, or catastrophe?
Each plan is hand crafted to the needs of the owner. The cost of these plans depends on the complexity of the plan. Simple tax plans may run $1.50 per acre for small tracts, while large tract planning may take weeks with a corresponding cost. It all depends on the land, the land owner, the owners goals and the amount of contract work necessary to complete the plan.
As in all activities of Staples Forestry, cost will be established contractually prior to the beginning of the work.