Southern Maine Forestry Services

SMFS Services

Timber Sale Administration

This is where the rubber meets the road in forestry. We sell to buyers who have solid reputations, sell by sealed bid or negotiate to bring the optimal price, and monitor loggers’ performance to assure that the work meets our standards. We also handle all of the record-keeping, reporting, administration, and delivery of proceeds.

Forestry Consulting:

We conduct a thorough inspection of the property, and present our documented findings to the client to come up with specific courses of action. Other consulting services include timber investment counseling, expert opinions regarding timber trespass, and property reclassification under Maine’s Tree Growth Law.

Land Management Services:

Timber stand improvement, weeding, pruning, thinning and brush control; pre timber sale lot preparation including selecting and marking trees, and road and trail layout; plantation management of Christmas trees and landscape stock, from planting and herbicide application to pruning, brush control, and marketing.

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L.D. 2594: An Act Regarding Forest Practices

We believe that Jonathan Carter’s latest forestry referendum proposal is extreme, and would have a negative impact on forestry in Maine.

The proposal says that those in the Tree Growth Tax Program may not harvest any more per year than the average annual growth of the forest in the last 10 years, but does not take into account the current or future state of the forest; requires a permit for every clearcut, with standards that are impossible to meet; and calls for the removal of rulemaking authority from the Maine Forest Service, giving it instead to a new state agency board of selected representatives, none of whom are landowners.

The impacts this proposal would have include reducing harvest levels of land in Tree Growth from 50-70%; requiring landowners to harvest their land every year to capture any of the value of the timber; owners needing to leave the Tree Growth Program to harvest their land then not being able to afford the taxes, opening potential for the land to be sold and developed; a ban on clearcutting due to impossible standards; and landowners needing to high-grade, reducing the productivity of their land. In fact owners of parcels of less then several hundred acres will not be able to attract timber buyers for the small volumes that can be harvested annually.

This kind of referendum is extreme, political, and ignores the science of forestry. It is not what this state needs.

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TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: Having a Plan and Keeping Accurate Records

There are two important factors in forest land management that are often overlooked by owners: a business plan, and keeping good financial records. A written business plan is important in identifying an owner’s goals. While these may be very clear in one’s mind, putting it on paper can help identify whether the goals are feasible, whether the timberland will make money for the owner, and whether the business will perform as expected. A written plan can also help owners change the course of their business if necessary. Sometimes an idea looks much different on paper than it does in one’s mind.

In addition to a written business plan, keeping accurate and detailed financial records is crucial for landowners. These records have a long term effect on both taxes and decisions regarding management of the land. The Internal Revenue Code identifies three types of land owners: investment; passive business or trade; and active business or trade. The difference in classification has a large impact on the deductions available to an owner. For an owner to benefit from federal income tax laws, formal records of forestland owner’s involvement are a necessity. The same records used to figure tax benefits can help forest managers make decisions regarding the management of the land. It is by far to a tax payer’s advantage to be considered an active trade or business when it comes to deducting expenses incurred.

Records don’t need to be complicated to be effective. Each financial transaction made should be written down, with the date, a description of the activity, the part of the property involved, the type of activity, time of both the owner and hired labor, and any other expense or revenue information. An activity log describing each activity can be quite useful for recording this information. Very active landowners may want to use an electronic format of some kind (spreadsheet, or other computer program) to maintain their records. Investing the relatively small amount of time to keep accurate records initially can save much time and frustration in the long run.

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