Management Activities Provided by PFC
Prochnau Forest Consultants, LLC
Harvest Unit Planning:
- Gather ortho photos, aerial photos, topographic maps, water type maps, resource maps, site class maps, survey information, etc.
- Determine preliminary harvest unit boundaries.
- Research legal access, physical access, and road use fees.
- Verify haul routes and road maintenance requirements.
- Check on additional restrictions such as shoreline management act, watershed analysis plan, threatened and endangered species, state environmental policy act, habitat conservation plan etc.
Harvest Unit Design and Layout:
- Identify logging system - ground system, cable system, or combinations.
- Identify harvest restrictions due to Forest Practice Rules. (Riparian management zones, wetland management zones, wildlife reserve trees, green recruitment trees, unstable slopes, etc.)
- Mark all harvest unit boundaries with paint and flagging.
- Mark or identify required leave trees.
- Mark riparian and wetland management zones boundaries and selective cut trees as allowed and/or economical.
Road System Design and Layout:
- Identify any new road construction, landing construction, or rock pit development as needed.
- Identify and size culverts and bridges.
- Flag and paint proposed road location.
- Finalize haul route to public road system.
- Determine if right-of-ways are needed.
- Identify potential rock sources.
Permitting:
- Apply for Forest Practice Application.
- Apply for Forest Tax Reporting Account Number if needed.
- Apply for various Small Landowner programs where appropriate.
- Road Maintenance and Abandonment Plan.
- Secure Hydraulics Permit if needed.
- Secure Operational Permits.
- Secure County Permits.
- Secure Environmental Permits.
- Secure Joint Aquatic Resource Permit if needed.
- Secure Shoreline Permits if needed.
- Secure Moratorium Form if needed.
- Secure Right of Way Permits if needed.
Valuations:
- Determine acreage within proposed harvest unit.
- Cruise the timber within the proposed harvest unit to determine grade and sort.
- Research market to determine current selling prices of logs.
Contracting:
- Prepare and execute contracts for road construction, harvest operations, reforestation and silviculture with licensed and bonded contractors.
Log Marketing:
- Contact export facilities, log mill and buyers of specialty products and secure log price quotes.
- Calculate haul costs to various log destinations.
- Determine highest net return.
- Secure log purchase agreements.
Compliance:
- Supervise forest operations to ensure contract compliance.
- Monitor road construction, harvest operations, reforestation and silviculture contractors.
- Use unannounced spot visits.
- Randomly check load tickets to actual load.
- Check on bucking, limbing and sorting with regards to log delivery.
- Check accuracy of log sorts against scale receipts and log buyers.
Log Accountability:
- Ensure that logger is branding logs and correctly filling out and distributing load tickets.
- Collect completed ticket books from loader operator.
- Prepare and maintain a ledger identifying log volumes and sorts sold to various vendors on a unit by unit basis.
- Check scaled volumes against log receipts, and truck tickets.
Distribution of Funds:
- Establish a trust account for log and other revenues derived from harvest activity.
- Make payments to loggers and other contractors from trust account.
- Make excise tax and B&O tax payments from trust account.
- Prepare and maintain a balance sheet to include all cash flows from log receipts, payments to contractors and miscellaneous costs.
- Provide copy of balance sheet to landowner on monthly basis or any time upon request.
- Distribute funds to landowner maintaining a balance for expected future costs.
- Distribute funds to timber managers (Prochnau Forest Consultants) corresponding to landowner distribution and agreed management rate.
Reforestation:
- Determine size, number and species of trees to plant.
- Order trees and arrange for pick-up and delivery to site.
Update Inventory Data:
- Create Timber Stand Map after harvest and reforestation is completed
- Prepare summary list of stand ages and timber data corresponding to stand map.