Long Forestry Consultation

A landowners Land Management Plan details what is on the land owners property, the characteristics of the land, and how to use and manage it. You will learn everything from what types of trees and grasses are on your land and what types of soils they grow in, to the types of animal species may be present. Then, based on your goals for your natural lands, the Management Plan tells you exactly how to achieve them. These prescriptions can be anything from prescribed burns and thinning, to evasive or exotic species removal, to replanting and regeneration, a sustainable harvest, or even no action at all. Long Forestry works with our clients through the entire process of managing their lands, from the initial management plan, through the prescriptions, to a harvest, and back to regeneration.

Long Forestry promises to give you all the information you need for you to make the right decision for your property. We promote sustainable forestry techniques and will provide you with the advantages and disadvantages of all the techniques you are considering.

Timber Sale

Harvesting timber can be an important part of your lands role in your management plan. We collect the necessary data, called an inventory, then work with multiple logging companies to provide the land owner the best value for their timber. Long Forestry always recommends harvesting in a sustainable manner. This means when you harvest maximizing revenues is not the top priority. The return of a healthy forest, regeneration of seedlings, and wildlife habitat are all taken into consideration.

Timber Stand Improvement

A Timber Stand Improvement, or TSI, typically involves single or multiple prescriptions to improve or aid in the growth of harvestable and profitable timber on your land. TSIs commonly include thinning, crop tree release, prescribe burns, and even clear cut.

Prescribed Fire

Fire is a long time friend of our natural lands. Fire cleans the under story and replenishes the ground with nutrients. It is one of the most beneficial and cost effective methods of forest management, reducing the need for thinning, crop tree release, and other management methods. Long Forestry has the experience and carries the insurance required to perform this type of work.

Invasive Species Removal

Invasive species like autumn olive, Japanese honeysuckle , and garlic mustard, can cause severe damage to our ecosystems. These plants steel nutrients and water from the ground, crowd out smaller plants, and even smother and choke mature trees. An infestation of an exotic species in your forested lands requires immediate attention. The process can take one or 2 seasons to a few years to complete, depending on the severity of the infestation. The prescriptions include cutting and spraying with herbicides and/or prescribed fire, depending on the species of the invader and severity of the infestation.

Long Forestry has the tools needed to handle these species. We use a variety of methods depending on the land owners desires and goals, and the type and severity of the infestation. Methods include physical cutting, burning, and herbicide application.

Herbicide and Pesticide Application

Certified in herbicide and pesticide handling and application, Long Forestry has the tools and knowledge to handle and use chemicals correctly and safely.

Ecosystem Restoration

Ecosystem restoration involves restoring damaged and mismanaged lands into beautiful natural areas that contain their original plant and animal species.

Forests

Forests can be both overgrown and under grown. An overgrown forest is a stand of trees that has an excessive under story. Situations like the absence of fire or poor prior management practices can cause the under story to overgrow, consume excess water, and shade out other smaller plants. An under grown forest is typically the site of a clear cut that did not properly regenerate. Non valuable and faster growing trees have out competed the more desirable trees. By using thinning techniques, prescribed fire, and invasive species control Long Forestry can bring back a healthy and beautiful forest.

Grasslands

Grasslands once covered millions of acres in Americas heartland. The entire state of Iowa was once nothing but grassland. Today this ecosystem is nearly extinct. Most of Americas grasslands were turned into farmland in less than 70 years time! That is the most rapid depletion of any existing ecosystem known to man. The diversity of plants in our grasslands was once comparable to the diversity of the rain forests. Long Forestry is helping to bring back America's grasslands by providing consultation on financial assistance and tax breaks, by replanting the grasses and wildflowers, and by offering prescribed fire.

Swamps and Marshes

Marsh and swamp areas were once considered unusable and a nuisance, since then most were drained. Today, however, they are realized as extremely important ecosystems that provide habitat for many species of plants and animals and act as natures water filter. The benefits of these ecosystems are priceless. By removing old levees or replacing natural water retainers, and replacing the plants that grow in these ecosystems, Long Forestry is bringing back our wetlands.

Trail Building and Maintenance

Have you ever dreamed of having your own hiking trail system in your wooded area or grassland? Long Forestry will use advanced topographic mapping techniques to build a trail that takes you to where you want to go and does so in a low impact manner. We will use our experience to minimize erosion, to keep the natural land in tact, and to take you to that beautiful lookout, to your favorite tree, or wild flower patch.