The increased affordability and availability of consumer-grade sawmills from domestic and off-shore manufacturers has made single tree extraction for personal use or small commercial sale of specialty products from non-industrial private forestlands (NIPF) more viable and affordable option for forest landowners. Many forest landowners who represent the Greatest Generation or the Baby-boomer generation are embracing forest management as a hobby in retirement, finding an outlet for their disposable income and enjoyment in time spent managing their woods. Recent events and economic pressure has contributed to the resurgence of interest in homesteading and rural economic independence for younger generational demographics as well.
On small tracts < 40 acres especially), single tree harvest has been the predominant management activity. Whether operating under the guidance of an approved forest management plan, or individual judgement and prudence of the landowner, trees are usually individually selected with care and extracted a few at a time at the landowner's convenience and prerogative. Again, expansion and greater access to new and used equipment markets has made low-impact, small equipment much more affordable. Small landowners use such extraction equipment as hydraulic or PTO winches on ATVs, compact track loaders, small bulldozers, old and obsolete small skidders, or three-point attachment mounted logging winches on 4-wheel drive farm tractors. Predominate harvest methods are end-lining or ground-lead cable logging to skid trails or permanent woods roads. Even chainsaws have come down in price with unlicensed copies of professional-grade models readily available from internet vendors.
Small tract logging usually isn't economical for the low-intensity harvest methods usually favored by NIPF owners. Move-in/move-out costs and necessary road work are not often ameloriated by days on site and harvest volume such that small landowners often find it difficult to attract a commercial logger when they do wish to offer stumpage for sale. As a result, NIPF landowners often forgo management entirely or are relegated to DIY harvesting with resulting products usually not entering the commercial wood-supply chain or instead of merchandizing as sawlogs or pulpwood are offered as lower-value products such as firewood more easily produced and marketed to end-consumers in a small-radius with minimal individual return. Landowners would indeed generate greater individual return with less expenditure of their time and money if the stumpage produced from their forest land instead was sent to existing wood-processing industries to be made into a value-added product - dimensional lumber, veneer, paper, etc. - that would have greater overall economic impact, support more jobs and end product be made available to a far-larger economic radius.
"Farm Forestry" or "Private Forestry" has long been a forestry topic, addressed by instructional books, professional articles, federal/state agency programs and university extension services for decades. Whether professional foresters are involved or not in the tree selection process by marking or establishing marking guides to implement a silviculture prescription, these relatively few acres annually affected by hobbyist do not matter much wood extraction and harvest volumes at established reporting levels. Rather instead I would argue is the important of established landowner intent- their forest land is working forestland, distinguishable from other NIPF in that management objectives include timber production as a primary focus. With increased fragmentation of former industrial forestlands by transfer to private ownership, the timber objective of new owners may be of minimal importance, thereby removing available, productive forest acreage from the timber base (wood basket). Most forest biometricians in their quantitative assessment of growing stock and harvest amounts overlook changes landownership and landowner intent, thus the continued. importance of social forestry for the periodic census of forest landowners and their ranking of management objectives to assist in timber availability forecasting. Should circumstances such as mortality, markets or individual economic situations change, these private forestlands may be made available for more significant, commercial-level harvests given compatible landowner attitudes and priorities.
Public/non-profit/private outreach should focus on those landowners interested in managing their forest lands and provide more information to those receptive to forest management. For increased outreach effectiveness, leads may be acquired from logging supply/chainsaw/sawmill merchants, forest landowner organizations, public records of federal/state program recipients, or other sources. Wildlife habitat management-focused landowners, especially game species-interested landowners, may be reached through outdoor expos, sportsman clubs including local or state chapters of national organizations such as the National Deer Association, National Wild Turkey Federation, and many others. Those timber-curious NIPF landowners may be the best untapped resource for a consulting or procurement forester looking to unlock additional working forestlands in their woodbasket and thereby find new stumpage.
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