Eric Entrekin is the owner and principal consulting forester of Southeast Forestlands. He is a Registered Forester in Mississippi and Alabama and a USDA Technical Service Provider, working exclusively for private landowners across the Pine Belt, east-central Mississippi hill country, the west Alabama Black Belt, the Tombigbee corridor, and the Gulf Coast.
This page exists for one reason: landowners deserve to know who is actually doing the work on their tract, what that person is licensed to do, and which side of the table they sit on.
Credentials
- Registered Forester — Mississippi. Licensed by the Mississippi Board of Registration for Foresters.
- Registered Forester — Alabama. Licensed by the Alabama State Board of Registration for Foresters.
- USDA Technical Service Provider (TSP). Approved to develop forestry management plans and certify practices for NRCS cost-share programs including EQIP and CSP.
- Independent consulting forester. No mill ownership, no buyer relationships paid for by buyers, no procurement quotas — the only client is the landowner.
Services Eric Personally Oversees
- Timber Sale Representation — sealed-bid sales, contract drafting, buyer qualification, harvest oversight.
- Timber Appraisals — defensible valuations for estate, tax, partition, divorce, casualty loss, and donation use.
- Timber Damage Appraisals — casualty-loss work after hurricanes, tornadoes, ice events, wildfire, and timber trespass.
- Forest Management Planning — 10-year written plans, including ATFS- and NRCS-compliant plans.
- Reforestation — site prep prescription, species and stock selection, planting oversight, first-year release.
- Prescribed Burning — burn plan development, season selection, and contractor oversight.
- Drone Mapping and Inspections — boundary verification, stand condition, post-harvest QA, and salvage assessment.
- Independent Landowner Representation — every engagement is on the landowner's side of the contract, every time.
Biography
Eric grew up around working timberland and built Southeast Forestlands as a landowner-only practice. After years inside the procurement and mill side of the industry, the decision to set up an independent consulting practice came from a simple observation: most landowners were leaving meaningful money on the table — not because the timber was bad, but because nobody at the table was working only for them.
The work is unfashionably hands-on. Tracts get walked. Stands get cruised. Bids get opened in front of the landowner. Contracts get rewritten until they actually protect the seller. Harvests get inspected during the operation, not after.
Experience
Southeast Forestlands has represented landowners on tracts ranging from a few dozen acres of inherited family timber to multi-thousand-acre managed forests. Work spans pulpwood-only first thinnings, mature pine sawtimber harvests, hardwood selection sales, longleaf restoration programs, prescribed-burn campaigns, and post-storm salvage operations across Mississippi and Alabama.
Beyond sale representation, Eric writes management plans that NRCS, ATFS, and lending institutions accept, prepares appraisals that hold up under IRS and attorney review, and serves as the landowner's representative when disputes go sideways — boundary, trespass, contract default, or casualty loss.
Counties Served
Mississippi. Lauderdale, Jones, Wayne, Covington, Forrest, Jasper, Clarke, Newton, Neshoba, Kemper, Monroe, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Lowndes, Noxubee, Greene, Marion, Lamar, Pearl River, Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Scott, Smith, Simpson, Copiah, Lincoln, Pike, Walthall, Jefferson Davis, Perry, George, and surrounding counties.
Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Greene, Sumter, Pickens, Marengo, Choctaw, Wilcox, Monroe, Clarke, Washington, Mobile, Baldwin, Hale, Fayette, Lamar, and surrounding west and south Alabama counties.
Trust Signals That Matter to Landowners
- State-licensed. Registration on file with Mississippi and Alabama forester boards.
- Federally approved. USDA NRCS Technical Service Provider for forestry practices.
- Independent. No buyer kickbacks, no mill ownership, no procurement targets to hit.
- One forester, one engagement. The Registered Forester who walks the tract is the same person who runs the bid opening and oversees the harvest.
- Documented. Cruise data, prospectus, contract, bid tally, and final closing statement are delivered in writing on every sale.
Common Questions
Below are the questions landowners ask most often before hiring a consulting forester. If yours isn't here, the fastest answer is a phone call.