Timber Stand Improvement Incentives for Master Loggers
The New England Forestry Foundation is offering Master Logger Certified companies reimbursement for 70% of the costs of timber stand improvement practices that favor valuable timber species and increase their growth rates. Funding is provided by the USDA Advancing Markets for Producers program. The priority is timberlands owned and managed by Master Logger Certified companies, but they may also apply for projects on land owned by their clients. All reimbursement must pass through the landowner.
Timber stand improvement (TSI) practices include harvests with some merchantable wood (e.g., early commercial thinning, crop tree release, or beech control) and practices which don’t involve logging equipment (e.g., pre-commercial thinning, herbicide beech control, or planting). NEFF wants to support practices on which the landowner would otherwise lose money. Reimbursement will take place after the practices have been implemented.