Information provided by the Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program.
Before you can practice sustainable forestry, you must commit to doing it. What this commitment entails will vary depending on you and your land. But most natural resource professionals agree that a key component to making this commitment is obtaining a written forest management plan for your land.
What exactly is a forest management plan? A forest management plan states your goals for the future of your forest, describes the current conditions of your forest, and includes a list of activities to help you achieve your goals. The complexity of your plan will depend on the size of your land and the intensity of your management. Plans can be simple, including only a list of your goals, a collection of maps, a description of your trees (age, species, condition), and a list of activities; or they can be more in-depth, like a Forest Stewardship Plan, suitable for those of you who are doing a lot of active management (like timber harvesting).
The first step in the development of a forest management plan is to determine your land ownership goals. Goals are general statements about how you want your land to be in the future and do not include a timeline or any specifics of how or when you are going to reach them. Examples of common forest owner goals include:
- I want to have a healthy forest.
- I want to see lots of wildlife.
- I want a peaceful place to retire.
For more information on determining your goals, with real life examples, watch this short video: Management Goals and Objectives. Once your goals are set, you should work with a forester and/or wildlife biologist who can help assess the current condition of your forest and develop a list of activities to help you achieve your goals. You can find your local forester here: https://dof.virginia.gov/ and your local wildlife biologist here: https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/dmap-map.pdf.
You may also want to check these upcoming and recurring educational opportunities for Virginia forest landowners:
Featured Events
Fifteen Minutes in the Forest videos are shown every other Friday at 12:15 on Facebook and YouTube Premiere.
2024 Landowner Woods & Wildlife Conferences
These long-running full-day conferences provide information, tools, and personal contacts to help private woodland owners keep their woods, and the wildlife that live in them, healthy and productive. A variety of topics are offered to appeal to owners of both small and large tracts, and both new and experienced owners.
2024 Woodland Steward Webinar Series: Focus on Silvopasture
This free webinar series will teach you how to establish, manage, and fund silvopasture systems. Established producers will share their experiences.
Learn about the conservation tools available to help you pass your land and your legacy on to the next generation while keeping it intact, in forest and in family ownership.
Landowner Retreats are co-hosted by the Virginia Department of Forestry and Virginia Cooperative Extension. Retreats provide information on hardwood and pine forest management, legacy planning, management planning, and more. They combine classroom, field trip and hands-on activities to teach concepts of sustainable woodland and wildlife management.
Visit the Blue Ridge PRISM website for programs on nonative invasives
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