VARDAMAN VIRTUAL FORESTRY COMPANY

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WHY YOUR PINE PLANTATION IS UNIQUE; HOW TO MAKE IT SERVE YOUR PURPOSES

Pine plantations cover millions of acres of southeastern United States and have long been familiar sights to travelers on the highways. Except for differences in tree height, they appear be quite uniform, but that’s not true at all. Although pine-plantation "DNA" wasn’t created by sexual reproduction, but it may be as variable as some that is. Here’s why.

Whether we are appraising a plantation for purchase by Pine Plantation Management Company (PPMC) or responding to a landowner asking for suggestions how to manage it, our first step is to measure several factors on at least ten and maybe 40 well-distributed 1/40-acre sample plots in it. We map the location of each plot and record its data separately. We tally trees by one-inch DBH classes in all of them and measure total heights of three dominant and two co-dominant trees in half of them. We also classify the trees as either pulpwood- or sawtimber-quality and record hardwood component.

The differences between plots only 220 feet apart can be large and important. One plot may contain five trees and the next one 15 trees. Even in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) plantations established on relatively-flat, cleared land, SI-25 sometimes ranges from 73.9 to 93.3, so that PPMC will pay twice as much for one as for the other. The percentage of pulpwood-quality stems can be 30 on one and five on its neighbor. Hardwood component often varies from zero to 30% and may be 100% in low portions of the tract. These differences are due to major biological characteristics and occur in most plantations.

They may be magnified by ice-storm damage, attacks by fusiform rust or pine tipmoth, or the presence of volunteer seedlings that germinated soon after planting. In some CRP plantations, we have even found two ages on each plot; because survival of the first trees planted was insufficient to qualify for the subsidy, the owner planted additional trees between the original rows the following spring.

Once we have these data, differences between plots in one section and those in another may show that there are actually two plantations that must be treated separately. But assuming that this is not the case, we enter the averages into PTAEDA2V, our computerized growth-and-yield model, and begin testing all possible scenarios. A landowner whose objective is simply to earn the highest RRR (real rate of return) always has several: clearcut now, thin now and clearcut in 8-12 years, fertilize after thinning, or sell out completely. PTAEDA2V will predict timber flows under all practical alternatives, and a stumpage-price schedule and a $30 pocket calculator are all we need to demonstrate the investment alternatives.

The situation is more complicated, and thus the need for the procedure is greater, if the landowner entered his plantation in the second CRP sign-up. The prime objectives of this program were not erosion control, but improvement of the environment and wildlife habitat. The continued flow of annual payments from the government requires that the stand be thinned to, but not below, a specified density by a certain time. On-the-ground approval of thinning plans and inspections of compliance are usually handled by foresters of the state government, and wide discretion seems to be allowed.

PTAEDA2V is an ideal tool at such times. In addition to predicting volumes of timber for cash-flow analysis, it will produce maps of the average stand both at present and after cutting under any scenario with the location, quality, and size of each tree shown to scale. Furthermore, it enables the owner to issue clear, detailed instructions about which trees should be removed. Therefore, the effect of the thinning plan can be visualized and approved in advance and its execution checked later.

The landowner may find that the specs are so burdensome that he will do well to forfeit the government payments and go his own way. But the big opportunity in using PTAEDA2V is to design a thinning program that will meet government specs while still earning the highest possible RRR.

Our issue of January 1998 contained several of these stand maps. If you didn’t save your copy, call us to replace it. We’d appreciate the chance to discuss the specific situation in your plantation.