THE PIONEER CONSULTING GROUP

The Pioneer Consulting Group was formed to provide the benefits of our 50 years of forest management on Pioneer Forest to other landowners whose forests are located in the central and eastern Ozark region of Missouri. We offer free initial consultations on request. Our services include development of management plans, timber marking, marketing, and complete sale administration.

We have used uneven-aged forest management. No other method of forest management has been practiced and studied in Missouri for as long. This system of forest management has allowed us to increase standing volume even as we have harvested two or three times from the same tract. And we still have a forest fit for hunting or just enjoying -- a forest that provides for the wildlife and keeps our streams clean.

Using this technique, landowners can maintain a diverse and multi-aged forest (a forest with three or more age classes: seedlings and saplings growing from the forest floor, understory trees, and larger canopy trees) while continually deriving income from periodic harvests.

Using our knowledge and expertise from 50 years of management on Pioneer Forest, we can tailor a plan suited to your goals for your forest.

Preparing For Your Sale

Let’s say you are considering a timber sale. Every tree on every acre of a scheduled cut is examined to determine whether it will be left or cut. (Some areas may not be part of a harvest due to concerns such as wildife, visual quality, or closeness to a stream.) There are several important and easy to apply principles used in marking trees to cut -- our basic rule is to cut the poorest quality trees, leaving the best to grow and increase in value.

You should always leave the healthiest trees on a site, those expressing the greatest potential for growth and the strongest physical characteristics. They also are species which are best suited to a particular site. For example, a healthy shortleaf pine growing on a south or west-facing slope would be an ideal candidate for a leave tree.

Walking through the woods, the person marking trees is constantly checking individual tree quality, species, and site conditions. The overall objective for a marker is to match the growing stock to a site, giving the leave trees room to grow. Poorer quality trees may be left on site to meet a particular objective, such as den trees for wildlife. Generally, single-tree harvests on Pioneer Forest remove between 12 to15 trees per acre. There are many variables to consider when marking trees, not simply size. These include poor form, vigor, species, individual tree quality, disease, or damage. The general spacing of trees in the forest canopy is important as well. Ideally, you want to release the crowns of the leave trees on at least two sides.

When a marked tree is cut, or several trees together are cut, the closed canopy is broken, leaving a hole or opening. This opening in the canopy provides an opportunnity within the forest for the remaining trees to continue their growth. The gap adds light and reduces competition for space, water, and soil nutrients. The additional sunlight allows seedlings to germinate and permits saplings and understory trees to grow into the newly created space in the forest canopy. This development of small trees into large ones is critical to the method’s success.

Shortleaf pine is generally marked from diameters greater than 8 inches at breast height (dbh) and is scaled in two-foot increments to a six-inch stem diameter. Hardwoods are marked from a 10-inch dbh and are scaled to a 10-inch upper diameter. The board foot volume of each tree to be cut is scaled in this manner allowing the total volume of your sale to be accurately calculated..

The Logging Process

Once sale volume is determined your sale is advertised for bids. You have the right to reject all bids if your minimum bid is not met. Contracts are generally made with loggers or sawmills. Careful sale administration and skid trail layout insures maximum protection of standing trees as logs are hauled out of the woods. Cutting and skidding begin at the bottom of the hill and proceed to the top, resulting in minimal damage to the leave trees and streamside areas. A tractor, horses or mules can be used to pull logs out of the forest, but usually a large machine called a skidder is used. These machines have large rubber tires which allow them to move easily through the forest causing little soil compaction. Long cables are attached to each log and the logs are pulled to the skidder which hauls logs out of the woods to a truck at a log landing for delivery to a sawmill.

The time required to complete a sale varies. Weather, size and number of trees, location, road conditions, and time of year are all factors which determine how long a work crew is involved with any particular sale.  It may take 2-3 weeks to cut a 40-acre area.

Following The Cut

The forest character remains in place. Your harvest will essentially thin the forest. The forest now has an opportunity to grow and produce new seedlings. You should not need to plant or seed. Tree tops and branches will be left in the forest. You may choose to cut these for firewood. Wildlife will also use these for cover and nesting. Within 5-10 years these tops and branches will breakdown into the forest floor.

Economics

You can make more money over time using this system than with other systems of forest management. A look at the history books and market trends indicate an ever-increasing value for timber. Uneven-aged management uses periodic harvests to produce income as timber values increase over time. Compare that with even-aged management which liquidates your forest resource returning only the market price at the time of harvest.

Diameter-limit cuts are also widely seen in the Ozarks and are often incorrectly referred to as "selection cuts". Diameter-limit cuts harvest all trees above a certain size, usually 10-12 inches at breast height. This often robs the landowner of value by cutting trees before they have grown to their most profitable size. Diameter-limit cuts can leave the worst trees to dominate the forest.

For more information on why it makes good financial sense to manage your forest this way see Financial Comparisons.