A common misconception among most people is that in order to be a responsible steward of the land that you must replant following a timber harvest.  Like most things in life, there is no definitive answer.

Here are things to consider:

1)Nature always finds a way and every stand of hardwood timber has the ability to regenerate on its own.  Hardwood stands will regenerate on its own suing a combination of three methods- coppice regeneration (stump sprouts), advanced regeneration (seedling sprouts), and from the seed bank in the soil duff.  It will regrow!

2)A stand naturally regenerate is more diverse than a cultivated stand of pine.  This diversity means there is less chance of a catastrophic financial loss due to insects or disease.

3)On certain soils, pine will  out-grow hardwoods.

4)Quality hardwood timber will always be worth more at the end of its rotation, than pine.

5)Planting pine is prudent if the previous stand was comprised of merchantable pine timber -0r- if the previous hardwood stand was comprised of a poor mix of species and inferior genetic stock.

These are just a few things to consider when you sell and manage timber.  What is best for you depends on your objectives, your property, regional timber markets, and sometimes the law.

A consulting forester can better assist in this decision making process.

Contact us and see what we can do for you!

Nathan Green                                                                                                                    Consulting Forester                                                                                               forestrypro556@gmail.com