Other post-harvest activities

This web article explains a variety of ways that foresters, loggers, and landowners can maintain good relations and protect forest health after a timber harvest.

A conscientious forester or timber company will make an effort to use each timber harvest as a way to leverage future work. Word-of-mouth reputations are hard earned and hard kept in the Northeast logging industry.

Here are a few tips for landowners, foresters, and loggers to help each other before and after a timber sale is completed:

- Before the sale, discuss some optional features that a logging crew can install as they complete a timber harvest such as creating an ATV trail, clearings for deer or turkey plots, a woodland pool to attract wildlife, or a firewood processing and storage area. These can be added when the equipment is available and on-site.

- Return to the timber harvest to inspect the seeding and erosion controls if you are in the vicinity.

- Take photos depicting the quality of the work. Post the photographs on an Internet web site, where many people will want to learn about timber harvesting. Keep the photos on hand as evidence of erosion control in towns that are considering regulations in place of voluntary action.

- Post signs promoting the best management practices, with the name of your company and telephone number. Use these to educate forest owners who live in the vicinity and may be contemplating a timber harvest in their own woodlots. These signs will also develop a perception of environmentally responsible logging activity.

- Discuss using the site for timber management education purposes. By working with Cornell Cooperative Extension, the New York Forest Owners Association or other interested groups, you can spread the word about proper resource use. A few people attending a post-harvest woodswalk can learn about your approach and share it with their families and friends.