TTTT GAOF Members Comments from around the World

   

My name is Nick Ananin and I used to run a small forest management company in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK

I started out as a woodcutter working for the Forestry Commission which is responsible for looking after the state owned forests. This also involved me in a range of work from tree planting to skidding timber to roadside using a Holder A40.

After a few years I decided to learn a bit more about forestry and studied at Aberdeen University before graduating with a degree. I then had a job working as a forester for a company managing forests for private owners. Subsequently I sat further exams and became a Chartered Forester.

Current activities are based on managing forestry estates for owners and providing practical forestry advice. Increasingly the demands for landscape and other planning requirements of modern multipurpose forestry mean I spend more than half the week inside (I now work from home) dealing with the usual mountains of paperwork. In the UK felling is not allowed unless there is a felling licence which I apply for on behalf of the forest owner. I also apply for grants, principally from the Forestry Authority , which help the owner manage the forest to provide the resources and needs of the community.

I am also involved in community woodlands and have designed an award winning gate to improve access for the less able. Whilst I was with my former employer I developed a range of techniques and equipment for planting trees using machines (imported from the USA) on agricultural sites.

I put a lot of voluntary effort into promoting forestry in the North East of Scotland. I am the Regional Secretary of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society and was a director of the Cashel Project - "The Forest for a Thousand Years". I also have set up a cluster group of the Forest Education Initiative in this area.

Currently I am studying an MSc in Electronic Information Management.

If you want further information please e-mail me
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My name is Citlali Cortes. I'm a Mexican student of natural resource management focused in forestry and conservation biology.

I also work as an assistant to a project coordinator at the IMECBIO-Universidad de Guadalajara. This project is financed by the UK's DFID (Department for International Development), their international cooperation agency. The project is focused in agro-forestry development in a protected area in the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve photo in Western Jalisco, West Mexico,

I work with the coordinator of the forestry component of this project. Our work is focused in the only agrarian community ("ejido") that holds a permit to use their forests within the Reserve. (By the way, the BR is part of the Man and Biosphere --MAB-- network of UNESCO. It's an interesting model for conservation, since it allows the inhabitants of the protected area to use their resources in the areas called buffer zones.)
The story of forest use and abuse in Mexico is not limited to the tropical rainforests in the south. Starting with land tenure and ending with wrong management policies, it's a big surprise to see a lot of forests still standing. Fortunately, the trees grow quite well and fast, and therefore we still have second growth forests. There are all types of vegetation in this country, from sub-alpine grasslands and conifer stands to the amazing tropical rain forests. In the ejido where we work, the dominant types of forest are Oak, Oak-Pine, Pine-Oak, Oak-Pine-Fir and Mesophyll Forest (This type of forest is considered as being endangered and is one of the most diverse --it's a beautiful mix of broadleaved species, some of them belonging to the "precious" hardwoods. Mexico is in a zone where two biogeographical kingdoms converge, and this unique type of vegetation has tropical and holarctic elements). The history of forest exploitation in this region goes back to the beginnings of the century; and since then all this region --the South of the State of Jalisco-underwent massive cuts that lacked any basic management and took all the profits away from the "owners" (the agrarian communities). The whole country is quite at a big conflict, since the owners of forests (80% of the Mexican forests belong to agrarian communities, ejidos or comunidades indedgenas) are among the poorest people.. There are many interests converging and struggling in the forests, from drug dealers to cattle ranchers, and this power-struggle is easily seen in the loss of forest land and its subsequent degradation.

I'm very interested in what is called "communal forestry" (forestera comunal) and my experience working in this project has been very interesting and has showed me that there are many elements (past and present) that converge in forests. At least in this part of the world, forests are not only soils, trees and wildlife.

You can e-mail me if you want to discuss annything. Citlali Cortes
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My name is Tim Hunley and I am a woodland owner. This essay is my perception of forestry locally applied in Northeastern Ohio, USA and specifically a property my wife and I recently purchased as an investment and hope to build a house on and make our home. Our property is a 27 acre wooded lot bordered on three sides by similar wooded acreage and one side by rural residential and farm land. Six acres of this is cleared and I intend to use it as a multiple use area and tree nursery with some pine and spruce plantings for screening and asthetics. the remaining 21 acres will be intensively managed as a natural mixed hardwood timber stand to grow high value saw and veneer timber. The current stand is forty to seventy-five years old. Dominant trees are seventy-five feet tall with DBH on better trees 20-24 inches.

Principal commercial species growing here are: Tulip Cherry Red Oak Sugar Maple Red Maple White Ash Beech Basswood Cucumber. Lesser value trees such as Quaking aspen and Big Tooth Aspen will be culled in favor of the above where applicable. Past use of this woods (30 years plus) was maple syrup production. Local timber market is pallet making and blocking. Markets for high quality timber must be located outside this immediate area. Recommended conifer planting in this area is Norway Spruce, however I have had good results planting White Pine on depleted ground where competition is not a factor. Having owned the property for only a short time, I have not yet finalized a management plan. My energy thus far has been devoted to establishing boundary lines, cutting access lanes, clearing grapevines, light initial thinning in criticle areas and some tree planting.

I hope soon to have most of the area in sufficient shape to have it approved as an American Tree Farm thus cutting the taxes in half. These Property taxes are paid annually to the county where-in land is located. Tax rate is assigned by the county and varies by township and land use. Unimproved land is taxed at a higher rate than agricultural. Once it is established that property is in agricultural production (corn,soybeans, hay, managed timber, etc.) the tax rate is reduced to agricultural. A further tax reduction of 50% is provided by having acreage managed for timber production certified as a tree farm under the "American Tree Farm" system. This is accomplished thru application and approval by inspection of a State Service Forester. Re-inspection is required every five years to continue this status. Buildings are considered improvements to the property and are taxed as additions based on square footage under roof. Rates are percentages applied to property values which are assesed by the county. This value varies considerably depending upon where the property is located. At present, taxes here are nominal -- equivalent to the price of about two cords of firewood but can change drastically in the future affecting projected annual increment value of the growing crop. Stumpage timber sales are still taxed by capital gains on an individual income tax (Federal). Doesn't matter how much work you do to improve the land or efforts you put in to grow timber as an agricultural crop. Hope someday this changes. A State Service Forester is available for technical assistance and marketing services upon the request of any landowner. Other free services and assistances are available from the Soil Conservation Service and the Agricultural Extension Service. This area is not yet threatened by urban sprawl or excessive regulation. It is a nice place to grow trees and enjoy.

Additional Notes:
Tim was a student in first pre-forestry class at Youngstown University where he organized the forestry club. He spent two years at the University of Montana School of Forestry and 9 months working as forestry aid for the USFS in Idaho. Tim also owned West Penn Timber Managers (TSI contracting firm) which he operated for four years. He is a Charter member and past president of the Northeast Ohio Forestry Association.

Tim is keen to talk to other woodland owners around the world. You can contact Tim by e-mail .
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My name is Tyson Mirabilis and live at Medford, Southern Oregon, on the west coast USA. In my area there is an ever declining forest industry. Where logging was once king, it is now bleak and abysmal. All government sales have halted and private sales are declining and mills are closing down about 3 times a year. Fortunately for me there are a lot of homeowners with forestland that wish to harvest which has kept me going the last few years. Most of what I see these days are saw logs 12" to 30" average and 10 to 30 loads for an average sale (self loader). Species are mainly Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and Incense cedar. We have a vast array of forest roads so ground skidding is very popular using cats, skidders, tractors etc.. As for me, I am a timber faller (company name Back Nine Timber Felling) for the time being. I also have a direct interest in smaller cable yarders and have a Web Site dedicated to them. If anyone would like to share idea's, please e-mail me
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My name is Don Staples and live at Livingston, Texas, USA. I am a graduate of the University of Missouri, spent some years with Uncle Sam (spent 3 years in US army in Germany, worked with a forestmeister there for a short period as liason with 7th army engineers), went back on the graduate program, and moved on to the penultimate position of forester for the great state of Texas (Yeh haw). For them I was a district forester, at times over as much as 5 counties some 4500 square miles with one program or the other. East Texas was blessed with (in my area) a sub-tropical coastal area that moved into just plain hot piney woods. For the years I was with the service I managed fire control programs, pest control programs, educational, management, and at one time was the state representitive to the South East Texas Resource Conservation and Development Project. In all, what Joseph would call a burro.

18 years ago I started my own consulting business - Staples Forestry. I serve basically the same area, but now on a competitive basis with others of the calling. I serve private, corporate, and some governmental agencies in practical forestry application.

East Texas is basically pine (loblolly, short leaf, and a little long leaf) on the uplands and flats, with hardwoods in the wetter areas and some particular soil types. This was the picture historically in that the southern yellow pines are basically a fire sub-climax species and the eb and floe of fire off the plains of Texas kept the hardwoods burned back to the wet areas, and pine florished. In todays age that pine is encouraged as the high dollar end and is pushing its way into even the wet sites, with bedding, planting, and herbicides. The bottom land hardwood is typical southern species, red and white oaks, ash, hickory, sweet gum, black gum, some tupelo gum, some cypress left. Unfortunetly, no market for the grade hardwood, so most of it goes to sewer lumber and pulp. Or area is represented in the industrial field by Champion, LP, Temple (part of time/life, or used to be), IPCo,and a host of smaller mill operations. We have paper plants, plywood, OSB (although this are closing like bad soup kitchens), dimensional, specialty patterns, and a host of secondary industry. Our market is foreign and domestic, with the export primarily to the Gulf Basin, although some to SA and Japan. We have a 50 some odd member ACF, 120 plus or minus SAF, a host of foresters that are unafilliated, working at every possible phase of land and timber. Conservationists are active, and can be a pain in the butt on some operations for the feds, but so far, the basic Texas property rights and independent spirit have limited their activities to the federal lands.

Any questions just e-mail me? -- Don Staples UIN 4653335 My Ego Stroke: or check out my Web Site
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I thought I'd give some facts on the forestry industry in South Africa.

Basically all forestry activity in SA is from man made plantations, as our indigenous forests are very small, and could never meet local demand. 

Total plantation area in SA as at 1997 was 1,5 million ha's (1,3% of total land area of SA). Of this 52% is softwood (predominantly Pine), while the 48% hardwood is made up of various Eucalypt species, as well as Acacia mearnsii. These plantations are concentrated in the Kwa Zulu Natal and Mpumalanga provinces.

70% of the plantations are privately owned, the other 30% publicly owned. 50% of plantations in SA are owned by two companies, Sappi Forests and Mondi.

Total production from these plantations is 18 641 000 m3/yr Close to 70% of this production goes to pulp, paper and board mills, and most of the rest to sawmills. 

The large mills are again owned by Sappi and Mondi. South Africa's competitive advantage in forestry is seen to be its high growth rates (MAI for clonal Eucalyptus grandis on site quality 1 sites on the N coast of Kwa Zulu Natal = 35t/yr), and thus our areas of expertise would seem to be in clonal research as well as silvicultural practices to maximise growth.

Hope this is of some interest.

Graeme Wild e-mail
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My name is Hiroshi Kawanishi and I am senior staff of Hokkaido prefectual goverment forests in Japan.

I studied forestry at the University of Yamagata in Honsyu which is the central and biggest island of Japan. After graduating from the university, I started out as a crusing worker for a regional office of Hokkaido goverment forests. At that time I was walking around our forests every day, and I was checking up on a condition or a structure of our forests and the growing stock etc. Indeed I went to the forests almost every weekday every month, even in winter I visited using crosscounty-skis. I was able to see a beautiful forest in the silent snow, a light greened forest in spring, a forest with abundant lifes in sunshine of August, and a forest turned red and yellow in fall. It was very exciting and fascinating job for me, but it was to be memories now. 5 years later, I moved to the Head office of Hokkaido goverment forests. Now I sit in front of the computer which rebels sometimes or the desk where papers are stacked on all day, so my buttocks are flat and thinned. My present job is a planning of our forest management.   

Our forest land area is 610,000 hectares which accounts for about 11% of Hokkaido's total forest land areas. Volume of timber harvest is about 450,000 cubic meters per year. Reforestation areas are 950 ha with planting seedlings, and 1,500ha with natural regeneration per year. The rest of our main programs include forest tending, forest protection from damage by insect and wildlife animals, forest road construction, and forest recreation. I have interested in various methods on forestry programs or operations of some public secters in your own countries. The various methods include not only technical ones but also administrative ones.

If anyone could give me some information about forestry in public sector, please e-mail me.

Hiroshi Kawanishi e-mail