Introduction

1. Why Manage Your Woods?
A Quick Look Back * Where We Are Now * Where We Go from Here

2. How Forests Grow
Tree Strategy * Tree Anatomy * Forest Succession: Sprinters vs. Marathoners * Tree Ranges * Local Forest Conditions * Forest Health

3. Taking a Woodland Inventory
Figuring Out What You Have * Identifying Forest Flora * Identifying Soil Type * Identifying Wildlife * Identifying Terrain and Special Features * Finding Property Lines * Pulling All the Information Together * When to Hire a Forester

4. Establishing Goals
Determining Woodland Goals * Management Options * Timber-Stand Improvement Projects * Timber-Harvest Methods * Guarding against Disaster * Keeping the Most Important Goal in Mind

5. Working with a Forester
What Is a Forester? * Writing the Management Plan

6. Working in the Woods: Landowner Projects
Safety First * Equipment * Making and Maintaining Trails * Controlling Invasive Species * Encouraging Wildlife * Other Woodland Harvests * Planting Trees * Woodlands and Kids

7. The Logging Industry
How a Logger Makes a Living * Classes and Values of Timber * Logging Equipment * Sorting and Milling * Types of Loggers * Market Pressures in the Timber Industry

8. Harvesting Timber
Planning for a Cut * Setting Up a Timber Sale * The Walk-Through * Monitoring the Cut * After the Cut

9. Finances and Legacies
Evaluating a Forest Purchase * Taxes * Insurance * Federal and State Grant Programs * Carbon Sequestration * Legacies

Glossary
Resources
Index