Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
PHOTO: Rene D. Noel Jr.
By Rene D. Noel Jr.
This year I am celebrating two anniversaries. The first is the milestone year of my turning 70 years old. I’m glad I’ve made it while hale and hearty, but the anniversary I feel more celebratory about is the 40th year since I founded this forest consulting and land Management Company. I am certainly proud of the success we have achieved. Looking through our records, over those years we have dealt with more than 8,100 people. More than 4,000 are tagged as clients. Many of these we provided just a quick service: A cruise, a timber appraisal, risk-tree assessment, shore land zoning consultation, or one of the many other things someone might ask of a forester. We provide ongoing advice and assistance in managing their woodlots and selling timber for more than 1,100 clients. Collectively, we help your neighbors manage over 100,000 acres of woodland.
It may sound cliché, but is true: We have had this success and growth by putting our clients’ interests first. We listen to what our clients want to accomplish and use our knowledge and skills to achieve those goals. It’s telling that we get a lot of work from folks who have been referred to us by existing clients.
When preparing to sell our clients timber, we mark with paint all the trees which are to be sold, while tallying how much wood they contain. While doing this we lay out trails for equipment access so as to minimize damage to soil, water courses, and remaining trees as the timber is extracted from the forest. Before loggers arrive, we know how much wood is likely to come from the property, how it will be removed from the forest, and have an estimate of how much income is going to be realized from the sale of that timber.
In the financial part of a timber sale, we sell our clients’ timber; never do we buy it ourselves. Our fiduciary responsibility is to our clients, not a mill or logging company. We believe it’s wrong for us to make more money at expense to our client’s income. What does that mean? Basic economics dictate that buyers and sellers have a conflict of interest. The less buyers pay, the more they make when selling to users. Sellers obviously want to get as much as they can for what they sell. It’s true whether you are selling a valuable antique or standing timber on your woodlot.
Most of our clients are interested in keeping their woodlot healthy, providing good wildlife habitat, and maintaining its beauty while yielding periodic income from the sale of timber. These goals fit well with how the foresters here think. We all became foresters because of our love for working in and with the forest. We all like growing high quality trees to large sizes, and take pleasure in watching the forests in our care improve in economic and aesthetic value.
