By improving your forest land, you can make money and increase your land value while improving environmental efforts. Here's how to get started.

Good forestry management requires taking the long view. The best time to begin a management plan for your trees is 20 years ago. The next best time is right now. "Our biggest management problem with much of Missouri's forest land is: there's little or no management at all on most of it," said Doug Enyart, certified consulting forester at Piedmont, Mo. "Most forest landowners could easily double their production with some basic timber stand improvement."

That makes forests potentially much more valuable than they are, Enyart added. "In many rural counties, we put a lot of time and effort into trying to attract small industries when they are surrounded by a potentially valuable (but under-utilized) resource."

Trees occupy some 14 million acres in Missouri (about a third of the state's land area), in tracts ranging in size from the Mark Twain National Forest to small wood lots. And the area in trees is growing. Counting tree plantings made on CRP land, the state has gained nearly a million acres of forest in the past 25 years.

Nearly 85 percent of the trees are privately owned. There is no accurate reporting of the stumpage value or return to the landowner of timber harvested each year, but best guesses put the figure at $34 million to $36 million. As an average return on the 14 million acres of forest land, that's about $2.50 per acre per year.

When you look at the added value of forest products, the figure is more impressive. Once those trees have been turned into boards, barrels and charcoal briquettes, they add $3.4 billion annually and some 35,000 jobs to the state's economy.

If you want to improve the quality and yield of your forest land, where do you start?

"First, decide on your objectives," said Steven LaVal, resource forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation. "The objectives of small, part-time farmers may be different from the objectives of people who own sizeable tracts of forest land."

As an owner of forest lands, you have several options. You can do nothing. You can occasionally do things that generate income or improve the appearance of your property. Or you can actively manage your land to gain several benefits.

Happily, wildlife, recreation and watershed protection can all be compatible with the production of valuable timber trees. It may seem contradictory, but selective logging can keep the woods a happier place for man and animals.

"Exercise basic protection of the stand," LaVal added. "Get livestock out of the woods and protect the stand from fire."

Verlin Beasley seconds LaVal on those points. Back in the 1940s, Beasley and his late father, Earnest, built a "crow's nest" platform in a white oak atop a high ridge on their farm just east of Raymondville, Mo. For several years, the white oak served as a forest fire lookout tower, augmenting towers being built by the Conservation department.

"Cattle can trample the soil around trees and damage roots, especially in wet weather," said Beasley. "Livestock manure also attracts and stimulates the growth of insects that can damage trees. We keep cattle out of our timber."

Beasley manages more than 2,000 acres of pine-hardwood forests owned by him and other family members. He has been in the Tree Farm systems since 1970 and was named Missouri's Outstanding Tree Farmer in 1982. He recalls buying 320 acres in the 1940s for one dollar per acre.

"Some of the land was postoak flats," he said. "We cut out the post-oak and broadcast pine seed by hand with a cyclone seeder. It has been selectively cut since then."

Last fall, Beasley took his third selective harvest from that land and the yield averaged a little more than 5,000 board feet per acre. By comparison, timberland with less intensive management often returns only one crop in 60 years and does good to yield 3,000 board feet of lumber.

"There are a lot of marketable pine left in the tract," observed Beasley. "We didn't cut anything under good log size, and with the stand opened up by this harvest, those trees we left will make fast growth. Within 20 years that land should yield another harvest of about 5,000 board feet per acre.

"Before that we did a thinning of post-sized trees," he added. "I work with a log cutter who understands my management system. He's honest, and he only cuts those trees I have marked."

"Most managed forest land will naturally regenerate itself," said LaVal. "With selective cutting and timber-stand improvement, you can improve the quality fairly quickly. Once the stand is in good-quality condition, you need to plan cuttings with regeneration in mind. For example, strip cutting allows the stand to regenerate quickly.

"And you can set up a rotational harvest plan, where a certain percentage of the trees are harvested each year," he added. "For example, a hardwood stand on a 100-year rotation might have 10 percent cut each year."

Many sources of information exist for landowners interested in improving their timberland.

Private consulting foresters are professionals who work directly with forest owners on a fee basis. They typically conduct timber sales on commission. For appraisals and help with drafting management plans, they usually charge by the hour or by the acre. For more information, contact:

Missouri Consulting Foresters
P.O. Box 7596
Columbia, MO 65201
Telephone: 573/443-3977

MDC's Forestry Division offers free technical assistance with everything from making tree plantings to forestry management to harvesting. MDC also cost shares (usually on a 75:25 ratio) for tree planting, site preparation, timber stand improvement and other practices. See the MDC resource forester in your area or contact:

Missouri Department of Conservation
P. O. Box 180
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Telephone: 573/751-4115

The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers several programs to aid in tree establishment and management. The USDA Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Forest Service manage an incentive program with cost-share assistance for a range of forestry-related practices. Contact your local FSA office.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service administers several forestry-related programs, including cost-share under the Forestry Incentives Program, the Wetland Reserve Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, plus a wide range of technical assistance. For more information, see your local NRCS office or contact:

USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Parkade Center, Suite 250
601 Business Loop 70W
Columbia, MO 65203
Telephone: 573/876-0900