The Tree Farm system has nothing to do with hunting easements.

The main purpose of the Tree Farm certification program is to promote sustainable forestry. The first 5 years, if I remember correctly, the landowner is under a 'candidate' period. After that, as long as all planned activities have been taking place on time, it may be certified as a Tree Farm. The farm is inspected at any time within 5 years and, once inspected, within 5 years after that time...and continues on that same pattern. If you ever lose your status as a Tree Farm,no property you owncan ever qualify for the certification...again...if I remember correctly.

The main benefit of the program is a warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you know you are doing the right thing in practicing sustainable forestry. All well and good, but there are really no financial benefits to doing such. There may be some companies willing to give a little more money for the wood productsor require that properties be certified as sustainable before they will purchase the wood, but not around here that I know about.

Look into several programs before deciding upon one for sure. The NRCS has several. The best one for you depends on what you want to do with your property (forestry, wildlife, etc.)and what the characteristics of your land are (upland, bottomland,critical habitat for endangered species).I would suggest going to a forestry consultant, especially if you have a larger acreage, Dbl beard. They will help you immensely.

Good luck and if you ever have any questions, feel free to PM me or shoot me an e-mail at [email protected]I'd be happy to help you in any way that I can.

Timber Management is important a good stand of prime timber can yield 100 per acre per year adveraged over 30yrs
Do Not Buy a Piece of Property with Timber Reserve.
States vary in the way they define farms.
Ag. farms typicaly have the best tax breaks ther are also alot of other programs you can get into depending on availability in your state
http://www.doubleaquailplantation.com/south_carolina_bob_white_quail_habitat_restoration .html

We have this in New York. You can save as much as 70% on your tax bill yearly. But, they have requirements such as you must have a minimum of 50 acres, and it must be TOTALLY covered in trees. Open spaces will not count. You can plant trees in the open spaces if you want that to count toward the 50 acres, but it won't count until 5 years have past and the trees are still there growing!!!

You will need a Certified Forester (CF) to come in and survey the land and file your papers with the State. Then when you harvest the required trees, the CF takes like 10% of the profits as compensation. Letting others hunt on the property DOSEN'T affect your tax deduction, at least not in New York.

Virginia is similar, but you can place ag. and forestal lands in ag./forestal use. The minimums are lower than in NY. I save something like 10,000 a year on my property taxes,by having my farm in ag./forestal use. This may be what is being spoken about.

My brother has 100 acres in Louisiana, it is planted in 12 yr old pines and surrounded by hardwoods. He has it listed as a tree farm and gets a tax break on it. I'm not sure how much it is, but I do know it makes his property taxes cheaper.