Timber and Habitat Plans for 2 Properties: One Hardwoods, One Pines (614)

Properties that are timbered can be managed for both timber value and wildlife! First, a plan for improving the hunting and habitat on 90 acres filled with hardwoods. The second plan is for a property that has mature pines of about 35 years old.
Topics covered: hack and squirt, double girdling, controlling invasive like sweet gum and trifoliate orange, food plot locations, browse monitoring, thinning pines, and more!
The hardwoods on David’s property had been high graded during the past.
David recently purchased the property with the goal of improving habitat for deer and turkey populations. David also wishes to restore quality timber as part of his work but his goals are certainly far to the wildlife side of the timber management continuum.
An issue that can decrease timber stand quality is invasive and/or exotic species. At David’s place the invasive and exotic species Trifoliate orange was thick in the hardwood bottoms.
Today there are many exotic and invasive species that landowners need to watch for. It’s always easier to control these invasive species when they first appear versus when their well established and wide spread. Such invasive species can complete choke out beneficial native species.
A typical pine management plan calls for multiple thinnings until the landowner wishes to harvest all trees as a cash crop and replant more pines. The thinnings, if managed appropriately, generates revenue for the landowner by removing the lowest quality trees and allows the best trees to continue to grow.
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