Question 1

Should I sell timber without a forester?

Accepted Answer

You can — landowners do it every year. The question is whether you'll know if the offer in front of you is competitive. Without a cruise and competing bids, you usually won't.

Question 2

What is a consulting forester?

Accepted Answer

A consulting forester is a Registered Forester who works for the landowner — not the mill, logger, or timber buyer. They cruise timber, market sales, write management plans, and oversee work on the ground.

Question 3

What is the difference between a consulting forester and a timber buyer?

Accepted Answer

A timber buyer is trying to buy your timber. A consulting forester represents the landowner who is selling it. Different sides of the same transaction.

Question 4

How much is my timber worth?

Accepted Answer

Timber value depends on species, volume, product class (pulpwood, chip-n-saw, sawtimber, pole, hardwood grade), stand condition, tract access, logging conditions, current regional stumpage, and timing. A timber cruise or on-the-ground field inspection is required before any reliable value opinion — no honest forester can answer this from a phone call alone.

Question 5

What is a timber cruise?

Accepted Answer

A field measurement of the merchantable timber on a tract — sample plots, tree counts, product calls, and condition notes. The cruise is what makes any price conversation grounded instead of guessed.

Question 6

What is a sealed-bid timber sale?

Accepted Answer

Multiple qualified buyers submit written bids on the same timber, under the same written terms, in the same time window. Bids are opened together. It puts the market in competition for your timber.

Question 7

How long does a timber sale take?

Accepted Answer

Typically 2–6 months from first walk to closeout — cruise, sealed-bid window, contract, harvest, and final inspection. Weather and market timing move the schedule.

Question 8

Should I thin or clear-cut?

Accepted Answer

It depends on stand age, stocking, product class, and your goals for the tract. A first thinning is often the right move in young pine; a final harvest may be right in older or declining stands. Field conditions decide.

Question 9

What is chip-n-saw?

Accepted Answer

An intermediate pine product class — smaller than sawtimber, larger than pulpwood — milled into dimensional lumber on chip-n-saw lines. Usually a major value driver in second thinnings.

Question 10

What is pine sawtimber?

Accepted Answer

Larger-diameter pine cut into structural lumber. Typically the highest-value pine product class on most southern tracts.

Question 11

What is pulpwood?

Accepted Answer

Smaller-diameter wood — pine or hardwood — that goes to pulp and paper or OSB mills. Usually the lowest stumpage class but a meaningful share of first-thinning volume.

Question 12

What are forestry BMPs?

Accepted Answer

Best Management Practices — state-recommended practices that protect water quality during logging, road building, and site work. Required in any seller-protective timber contract.

Question 13

What are SMZs?

Accepted Answer

Streamside Management Zones — buffer areas along streams and drainages where harvesting is restricted to protect water quality and channel stability.

Question 14

Do I need a forest management plan?

Accepted Answer

If you want ATFS certification, an NRCS cost-share program, or a documented plan for the next generation — yes. For casual ownership, it depends on your goals.

Question 15

Can you help with inherited land?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Inherited timberland is one of the most common reasons landowners call. A timber appraisal at date of death is often the first practical step for basis purposes — talk to your CPA about the timing.

Question 16

Can you help absentee landowners?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Many of our landowners live out of state. We coordinate walks, cruises, sales, and harvest oversight remotely with regular reporting.

Question 17

What size tract is usually worth evaluating?

Accepted Answer

Stand quality and access matter more than acres. As a rough guide, pine plantations from ~20 acres up and merchantable hardwood tracts from ~40 acres up are usually worth a look. Smaller tracts can still work, especially combined with nearby activity.

Question 18

Do you work for mills or landowners?

Accepted Answer

Only landowners. Southeast Forestlands does not buy timber and does not work on contract for any mill or timber buyer.

Question 19

Do you serve Alabama landowners?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Eric Entrekin holds an Alabama Registered Forester license and Southeast Forestlands works regularly across western and southern Alabama.

Question 20

Do you help with reforestation?

Accepted Answer

Yes — site prep, species selection, planting oversight, and first-year release in Mississippi and Alabama.

Question 21

Do you help with prescribed burning?

Accepted Answer

Yes — burn planning and contractor coordination. The certified burn boss runs the day-of operation.

Question 22

Do you help with timber trespass?

Accepted Answer

Yes — written appraisals of damage from cut-line crossings, salvage situations, and casualty losses.

Question 23

Should I get a timber appraisal before selling land?

Accepted Answer

Often yes. Standing timber is a significant share of land value and frequently mispriced when bundled into a land sale.

Question 24

What happens after I call Southeast Forestlands?

Accepted Answer

A short phone conversation about the tract and your goals. If it's a fit, we schedule a walk — usually within a couple of weeks depending on travel — and go from there.

Question 25

How do I prepare for a timber sale?

Accepted Answer

Have your deed, boundary information, and any prior cruise or management plan ready. We'll handle the rest in the walk and cruise.

Forestry Questions — Plain-Spoken Answers for Landowners

Independent representation. Transparent results.