The Forest Management Plan - Develop a Master Plan

You may not be able to develop specific objectives and activities to reach your objectives until you know more about your backyard woods. Knowing your forest's potential and how it looks is essential. Find out the uncontrollable factors (like soil and weather) and what the property looks like in your planning stage:

• Temperature and precipitation are the main climate factors affecting the types of trees and their growth on your property. Find out your tree's minimum and maximum temperature and water requirements that may limit optimum growth (use the USDA hardiness plant and tree zone map).

• Depth and texture are soil factors that control the amount of moisture and nutrients available to trees and other plants. Talk with your neighbors and visit your local Soil and Water Conservation District to find out what trees are native to your property (or use my tree species type maps).

• Find an aerial photograph or topographic map of your backyard woods to help you locate different vegetated areas, property boundaries, streams, ponds, roads and trails. Aerial photos and topo maps are available on the Internet at TopoZone.com or at your USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Farm Service Agency. Borrow or purchase a GPS receiver to help you with the property coordinates.

• Use a sheet of graph paper to sketch a map to scale on graph paper by designating each inch on the graph paper equal to a set number of feet on the ground, such as 1 inch equals 100 feet.