The Rural Voice, 2000-10, Page 34Call before you cut
It's estimated 80-90 per cent of the woodlots that are logged in southern
Ontario are not marked before the loggers move in. Those woodlot
owners may be costing themselves millions of dollars.
By Keith Roulston
30 THE RURAL VOICE
Here's a sure-fire way to save yourself $500 or so
when you're selling logs from your woodlot: don't
hire someone to mark and estimate the volume of
the trees to be sold. Of course that $500 saving could look
pretty small compared to the loss in the money you don't
get from your bush because somebody offered you less
than the bush was worth — and you didn't even know it.
Joe Watson, co-ordinator with the Grey County Forest
Stewardship Network tells of the bush he heard about
where the owner was offered, and accepted, $40,000 to
$50,000 for the trees in his bush. The logging company
then took out about $250,000 worth of lumber.
Over and over again similar stories are told, though
figures often aren't as extreme. Still, with an estimated 80-
90 per cent of logs in southern Ontario being sold without
being marked, the possible losses for farmers and woodlot
owners are staggering.
"I wish we could reach people before the loggers get to
them," laments Victor Roland, president of the Huron Perth
Woodlot Association. He's discouraged because when his
group holds field days, as they will October 14 at Roger
and Elaine Cook's farm near Stratford, the turnout is often
small and there are usually the same faces.
It's not that loggers are totally to blame for taking
advantage of farmers, says Roland. "I've never seen a
logger who wouldn't co-operate if the farmer is concerned
about his woodlot."
And generally, he says, some of the worst woodlot
managers are "production" farmers, farmers who depend
mostly on their fields and animals for a living. Often these
farmers don't think about their woodlot at all until
somebody drives up the lane and says "I want to buy your
trees," he says. Non -farmers who own wooded property are
often better stewards of their woodlots because they must
have a management plan in place in order to qualify for a
property tax rebate. Farmers already have a lower tax rate
on farmland. "There's no incentive for production farmers
to think about their woodlot that much," Roland says.
Until, that is, times get tough on the farm, as it has the
past couple of years with low commodity prices and
weather problems. Suddenly somebody offers $30,000 or
$40,000 for the woodlot and a farmer discovers he's got a
pot of gold at the back of the farm.
But sometimes it's also the farmer who is the instigator
and wants to maximize the size of that pot of gold by
cutting as many trees as possible while hardwood prices
With hardwood prices at all-time highs, it's tempting to
maximize the short-term return from your woodlot but
a little restraint could make you more money in the
long run.