A Forest Management Partnership Guide for Florida Landowners
Start your sound management with a five-year management plan.
- What do you want? Define your objectives. Describe your short- and long-term goals.
- What does your land look like? Describe the characteristics of your property: Do you have any maps of the property? What land or water features does it have? Are there roads or fences? What are the particular zoning requirements and history of uses?
- What's on the land? Describe resources and how you might use them: Do you see timber trees or wildlife habitat? Are there any historic features or bodies of water?
- How will you manage what you have to accomplish what you want? Outline basic steps to accomplish your short- and long-term goals.
Identify your management needs and opportunities
- Identify elements to develop and nurture
- Identify untapped assets and resources
- Identify pests (Southern pine beetle, etc.)
- Identify plant diseases (rusts, cankers, root rots, etc.)
- Identify invasive non-native species (kudzu, melaleuca, etc.)
- Identify hydrology issues (maintaining clean water and watershed)
- Identify fire-fuel brush and old timber for removal
- Identify ongoing revenue opportunities
Identify your management options
- Prescribed fire and conservation
- Harvesting and reforestation
- Best Management Practices
- State and federal cost-share incentive programs
- Tax incentives
Sustainable Forestry
Sustainable forestry means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the land to meet the needs of future generations. Sustainable forestry is accomplished by practicing a stewardship ethic that integrates the reforestation, managing, growing, nurturing and harvesting of trees for useful products with the conservation of soil, air and water quality, wildlife and fish habitat, and aesthetics.
(based on definition adopted by the international Earth Summit, Rio de Janiero, 1992)
Related Internet Links
Documents on this page are available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Format (PDF). Adobe Reader software can be downloaded for free from Adobe.
© Copyright 2006
Adam H. Putnam, Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
James R. Karels, Director, Florida Forest Service
3125 Conner Boulevard, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650 Tel: (850) 488-4274
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