APPARENTLY because timber is not a principal source of

APPARENTLY because timber is not a principal source of income, many people do not pay much attention to the marketing of their timber once it is ready to sell, nor to the management of their woodlands while the trees are growing. In selling timber, too many owners will take the first or second deal offered them. One result is that many landowners do not receive nearly the price for the timber that they could or the cutter is allowed to cut or leave what he wants leaving the woodland in such a mess it will take many decades for the forest to recover.

Professor S. Todd Lowry of Washington and Lee University had his economics class interview 114 landowners in Rockbridge County who had made timber sales. The interview data pointed out a general factor that landowners approached timber sales with a high degree of ignorance of the market value of timber, the amount of timber they had and the type or quality of their timber.

It has been customary in this area to sell timber on a percent basis—usually 50-50—or so much a thousand board foot. A timber . owner has little control over this type of sale. It is left up to the cutter which trees are to be cut. . Some owners may say, “I sold my timber on a 16 inch diameter limit,’ but, how many owners ever check the cutters activities? And maybe some of the trees over 16 inches should be left while others under 16 inches should be cut.

And is the timber owner sure he got paid for all of the logs? How is the owner sure the cutter is taking all of the logs in the tree? What about that extra eight foot log in the tree top that was left or that log that was left in the woods because it was too hard to get out? If the cutter leaves a few logs, he has not lost much but the landowner ends up with logs rotting in his woods and no money to show for them.

If the cutter has bought the timber before the cutting has started, the landowner has his money; if whether it be pulpwood, sawtimber or veneer may make the difference between receiving $500 or $5,000 for the same tract. Many shrewd businessmen are lost when it comes to selling timber simply the cutter chooses to leave a few logs, it’s his loss, not the landowners. Many landowners do-not ^view their timber as a profitable crop. When they permit their trees to be cut they are often willing to accept less—as long as it is “something”—than they could receive by following set timber selling procedures.

THE first step in selling timber is to know' what and how much you have for sale; if you do not know, a forester should be consulted for this information. Second, you need to know the different buyers that might be interested in your particular type of timber; each of these buyers should be contacted.