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There
are no Costs in Site Preparation
Prepared
for: Savannah On Site -
November 1999 Issue
Prepared by: Teddy
Reynolds, Reynolds Forestry Consulting - RFC,
870-234-0200 (ext 1202)
There
are no costs involved in Site Preparation. They are
simply investments that lower your risks and increase
your return by: a) increasing your survival; b)
increasing your biological growth rate; c) increasing
your dividend schedule (thinning cycles); d) shortening
your investment term (rotation); and thereby e)
increasing your overall composite rate of return.
Timber
when properly invested, provides the rate of return of a
high risk mutual fund while exhibiting the combined
stability of a Treasury-Bill. Its consistent weakness is
the knowledge requirement of her investor and their
acting there-on.
Following
your final harvest, would you rather invest $70/acre
(first generation seedlings and plant) over a 40 year
term and gross <$5,000/acre (where seedlings
survived) or invest $365/acre (two pass
shear/plow/second generation seedling/plant/two
herbaceous sprays) over a 25 year term and gross
>$8,000/acre (with consistent 90% survival rates).
Time is money. Money can’t buy back the time you lost,
but properly managed time can make money. When I can
spend a dollar and gain a day, the decision is easy.
Following
a final harvest, there are three important site
preparation objectives: 1) Competition Control ; 2)
Debris Control; and 3) Tillage. Assigning each objective
one point, then you would like to achieve 3 points for
every selected site preparation system. For example:
|
Competition
Control |
Debris
Control |
Tillage |
Total |
| Chemical
Site Preparation: |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Chemical
Site Preparation/Burn*1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Two
Pass Shear/Plow*2: |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| Note: Intermediate
Treatments (herbaceous sprays,
fertilizations, etc.) are recommended
for all systems |
|
*1
The burn incinerates many of the
nutrients and exposes large areas to
early erosion. The shear/plow wind-rows
the debris between the furrows for slow
decay and nutrient release. When
contours are followed, erosion is
controlled also. |
| *2
The Plow is a “three-in-one”
plow which consists of a 42” coulter
wheel, 22” shank, and two 36” disks.
|
|
The
“Two Pass Shear/Plow” achieves the three site
preparation objectives as follows:
1)
Competition is controlled by: a) Shearing the
stumps and brush; b) Sub-soiling; c) Disking into furrows.
2) Debris is controlled by shearing (V-Blade) the
debris into miniature wind-rows between the plowed
furrows.
3)
Tillage
is accomplished by: a) Sub-soiling; and b) Disking into
furrows.
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