Dbl Beard

The guy we (my brothers, my father and myself) bought our land off of was part of Tree Farm Program and has asked us if we would like to join. From what he was saying, a forester comes in and looks at the quality of the trees in your woods and makes recommendations to cut certain trees to improve the quality of the forest at no charge. Another benefit from this program is that it reduces your taxes pretty significantly. Does anyone know or have any experience with this program? Thanks in advance.

yeoman

In which state are you located?

Dbl Beard

I live in West Virginia.

ChuckS

That was a pretty simplified description.I don't know that you'll save that much in taxes, but then I'm from Pennsylvania.
Here are some links:
http://www.treefarmsystem.org/

http://www.forestlandowners.com/

http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/privateforests/states/westvirginia

ChuckS

timbercruiser

I've been working today on a Tree Farm plan on a 7,000 acre tract I manage. I know of no tax breaks associated with the Tree Farm plan. It is basically a silviculture plan for a timber stand of more than 10 acres. You do get a nice sign to put on your property.

derodkey

The concept of a "Tree Farm" can be an official title from astate agency or other organization,or something that is just used among landowners and biologist to describe timber management techniques on a particular piece of land. Whichevermost accurately describesyour place,it islikely somebody has invested someextensive time and effortto inventory the trees anddelineate the forest stands on the property. Like everything else there is a ton of info on the web. If the land has a tree harvest of acouple thousand $ completed every 5 or 15 years, don't worry about the tax implications. Pay the taxes and move on. However, if the amount of money changing hands with a timber harvest is tens of thousands of $, it would be best to seek out a CPA with experience handling farms and silviculture practices. The taxes and the application of the laws can be very, very complicated to make sure you don't pay any more than absolutely you have to.

ostdc

Here in Wisconsin it is called Forest Crop, I believe. If you sign up to have your forest crop land open to hunters(anyone can hunt there) there is a pretty severe tax cut. If you sign up closed to hunters then the tax cut is not as good, but still worth it. But you also have to cut what timber the state guy tells you to cut.
You could do what we do. We cut enough wood off the land each year to pay the taxes. Usually it is about 10 cords of bolts for the sawmill and 10 cords of either pulp for the paper mill or firewood. It takes us about 3 weekends in January to cut that much with the equipment we have.
Brian

Dbl Beard

Well, I've been a tax preparer for several years, so income tax wise I'm pretty knowledgeable about timber and farm sales. Property taxes is where I thought you could save some significant money. From what the guy we bought the property off of said, they tell you what to cut to keep the forest thriving and even payyou a little for your time. However, it doesn't sound likewhat the previous landowner was trying to sell. Thanks for the info guys.

timbercruiser

There are a number of different federal and state programs that can be applied to either agriculture or silviculture. Contacting your local NRCS or county forester is probably the only way you can get specific information about your property.

derodkey

Dbl Beard...if your land is in Missouri, the program you are describing sounds like the Missouri Dept. of Conservation's Forest LandEnhancement Program (FLEP). They provide cost-sharefor you tomanage your forest. If this is what you were thinking of, contact your regional MDC office to get one of the foresters.