white-tailed deer on remote camera survey

native warm season grasses—Augusta County

Services

FORESTRY
Forest Stewardship Management Plans
- Before getting started on a logging operation or management activity, it is often advisable to have a Forest Stewardship Management Plan written for the property. The primary purpose of this Plan is to provide a management blueprint or "master plan" for the forestland with information from which to base present and future management objectives. A fundamental and precursory step to preparing this Plan entails defining the landowner’s multiple-use goals and objectives for the property — their vision for it. Once these goals are clearly established, the Plan will provide detailed recommendations and methods for achieving the desired results. VFWG can write stewardship plans that focus on sustainable forestry and wildlife management.
Timber Sales and Appraisals
- When a landowner wishes to sell timber or determine its value, VFWG can appraise the standing timber to assess both its merchantable quantity and marketable value. If selling the timber is the objective, we can clearcut or selectively mark the timber and sell it by sealed-bid or negotiated sale. Generally, the 8-10% commission we charge for handling all aspects of a timber sale (from start to finish) is more than covered by an enhanced value because it is being handled by a professional forester.
Timber Stand Improvement
- Timber stand improvement (TSI) is a pre-commercial thinning method used to improve the growth and composition of immature hardwood stands that have little or no commercial value. Typically, it focuses on the removal of inferior trees that hinder the growth of more desirable (oak, yellow poplar and ash) “crop trees” - superior trees that have assumed dominant crown positions. By favoring the largest and most valuable trees, TSI expedites the development of a more vigorous and valuable stand for the future. Since TSI is not inexpensive, it should be practiced on the most productive sites where the composition can be significantly altered to favor the most desirable species. VFWG can mark stands for timber stand improvement and implement the harvest.
Conservation Easements
- With ten years of experience running a local government conservation easement program, VFWG can consult with landowners about the pros and cons of conservation easements, prepare and draft Deeds of Easement, provide advice about the Virginia Land Conservation Tax Credit, and locate outside sources of easement funding. We also prepare baseline documentation reports that are necessary when a property is first placed under easement. These reports record information about a property (with maps, photographs and other documentation) at the time it goes under easement so future easement holders and landowners have a baseline from which to assess changes to make sure they adhere to the terms and conditions of the deed easement.
GPS/GIS Mapping
- A detailed map is an essential part of a sound land stewardship plan. VFWG offers advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services to our clients utilizing the latest technology and aerial imagery. We can develop GIS layer databases, map timber types and land cover, wildlife habitat, riparian buffers and other natural resource management uses.
Wetland and Stream Management
- The importance of water quality is a fundamental part of our land ethic at VFWG, and we strive to preserve and enhance aquatic resources on our projects. With a principal on the board of the Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Protection Foundation and years of experience dealing with stream and wetland management, VFWG offers a multidisciplinary approach to meet a variety of complex water resource issues. We offer mapping services, stream and wetland health assessments, best management practices consultation, wetland delineation and riparian buffer creation and enhancement.
Property Assessments for Timber, Wildlife and Recreation Value
- With a wide range of expertise including forestry, wildlife, natural resource recreation, real estate, wetlands and conservation easements, VFWG can assist with evaluating and assessing the natural resource value of a property. We assist real estate agents, land developers, planners, and investors as well as private landowners and easement holders to restore, enhance or preserve the natural resources found on the property, follow best management practices and meet their unique objectives.

"When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

~Wendell Berry

Virginia Forestry and Wildlife Group

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