Timber Management Plan

March 15, 2022 |Timber and Forestry

At Texas Farm Credit, we understand timberland and how to help you create and achieve your goals for your property. Not only do we have team members that have forestry expertise, we also know the many vendors, consultants and resources available to you in the industry today. Upon knowing your goals for the property, we can match your resources that can best help you get where you want to go.

Let’s say you purchase a property with a timber loan. There are so many variables to consider. Wildlife management, infrastructure improvements, and building a home are just a few variables to think through. To start, we can help you find a forestry consultant that can create a detailed plan of management activities. Forestry consultants can provide keen insights to explore your land’s potential in economically viable ways. Let’s walk through some things to be aware of.

Getting an inventory of your timber is a must. You can have a forestry consultant conduct an inventory of your timber so you understand how much value you have.

Management activities could include improvements to timber growth such as fertilization, competition control and harvesting operations that thin out poor performing timber and left the best stock behind.

You may be interested in managing wildlife. That could include creating openings within the forest to plant food plots designed specific to the type of wildlife you wish to promote, such as deer or other species. Wildlife management may also include understory burning throughout your forest. This promotes better browsing vegetation for wildlife and also improves the aesthetics of the property.

There could also be infrastructure needs for your property, such as internal road systems, gate entrances, electrical resources, drinking water, septic systems, small lakes or ponds.

Maybe you wish to construct a home or a barn. Not only can we match you with builders to do so, we can have loan products that can provide the monies to do so.

We are always here for you and glad to visit with you on your property over time to ensure that you are achieving your goals/dreams. We love our forest industry and care so very much about helping our customers to be a successful part of it!

Frequently Asked Questions

A management plan takes into account your land objectives and sets a timeline to meet those objectives. Whether your objective is to maximize revenue, create a habitat for wildlife, or conserve water, the plan will address that. Often, the plan includes a timber inventory, management practices such as fertilization, and harvest.

What you have below is OK for a sales tax exemption, but what I find more people ask about is a timber exemption for the ad valorem property tax. To get this, you apply for the exemption with the Central Appraisal District in the county where the property is located. This will reduce the valuation of the land based on it’s productivity value rather than it’s market value. This reduction in valuation will result in lower property taxes due annually.