S&W Report - Creating a Management Plan

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Creating a Management Plan for Your Property

Have you considered preparing a management (stewardship) plan for your woodlot? If the answer is no, you may want to give it some consideration. Preparing a management plan is a good investment that will pay dividends in the future. Not sure where to start? Here is some information that you may find useful.

What is a management plan?

In simple terms, a management plan is a blueprint of your forest. You would use it in the same manner that a carpenter uses a blueprint to build a house. It provides a step-by-step set of instructions about how you are going to manage your woodlot while working towards achieving your short- and long-term objectives.

Why Have a Management Plan? Here are a few reasons why you should consider developing a management plan for your property:
-	Developing a plan requires that you and your family think carefully about what you want to do on your property and learn about the various management options that will help you achieve your objectives;

Figure 1: Managing a woodlot is a family affair. Balancing the family’s goals and objectives for your property can be achieved by preparing a management plan.

-	An integral part of developing a plan involves preparing an inventory of your forest. Knowing and having a better understanding of what is in your forest provides you with better information that leads to more informed decisions;
-	Most landowners have limited time and money to spend on their forest, and that means you must make careful use of the resources that you do have. A well-organized plan that lays out a logical sequence of management activities can save you time and money and may help avoid costly errors that are irreparable;
-	A written management plan can form part of your overall business plan and can be used to track your management activities. For example, the plan can show that your woodlot is a commercial woodlot or a commercial farm woodlot as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency. This is an important qualifier if you are operating your woodlot on a commercial basis and are considering deducting woodlot expenses or an intergenerational transfer of property.
-	You may be able to use your plan to participate in tax incentive programs such as Ontario’s Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program; and
-	A management plan may provide you access to other landowner initiatives such as the Upper Canada Woods Cooperative, Eastern Ontario Model Forest - Private Woodlot Certification Initiative, etc.

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Components of a Management Plan

A plan doesn't have to be complicated. The amount of detail will depend on the landowner’s objectives. As a minimum, here is a brief outline of the basic components of a plan:

1. Property information

This section simply provides a legal description (lot, concession, township, etc.) of the property, the acreage, and information (name, address and telephone number) about the registered owner(s).

2. Property history

The purpose of this section is to note what activities have taken place on the property (relevant to the management plan you are preparing). This may include past harvesting operations, change of objectives or ownership, planting projects, insect control, trail construction, etc. In futures years, you can use the information recorded under record of activities in Section 7 to update the property history of your plan.

While preparing the property history section of your plan, you also should take a look at how your property fits into the surrounding landscape. Often, there may be features in your woodlot that extend well beyond the boundaries of your property (e.g., wetland, deer yard, riparian habitat along a water body, etc.). It is important to recognize that what you do on your property may affect your neighbour. These features should be noted in your plan, and it is important that your management activities do not negatively impact the surrounding natural features.

3. Maps

Good maps and/or aerial photographs of your property are essential. Depending on the size of your property, you may require two sets of maps – one showing your property in relationship to the surrounding landscape and a map showing the detailed features of your property. As a minimum, for management purposes, the map(s) should include property boundaries, fencelines, survey posts, access roads, forest compartments (types of forest cover) and other natural and physical features such as swamps, creeks, ponds and lakes. On smaller properties you may be able to record all this information on one map.

Figure 2: A detailed property map should be part of your management plan. Constructing a map using a scale of 1:10,000 will provide you with a map that will be easy to read and allow you to add new features as you discover them.

4. Setting objectives

Developing your objectives is a very important task. Before you undertake any management activities, you need to have a clear idea of your objectives for your forest. To start, ask yourself what would you like from your forest? Why do I own it? What might it produce? What do I want from it in the future?

Prior to finalizing your objectives, you need to carefully review each one and ask yourself which objectives are obtainable. Consider your financial resources, level of knowledge, availability of time and the physical characteristics of your property when making this assessment. Remember, be realistic and set your objectives within your limits and that of your property.

Figure 3: As a starter project, the Guide to Stewardship Planning for Natural Areas (January 2006), provides landowners with a planning template and easy to understand instructions on how to prepare a basic management plan for their property.

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5. Preparing an inventory

The four main components of an inventory include forest cover (trees), physical features, wildlife and other vegetation. Preparing an inventory of your forest is a very important component of your plan. The better the inventory information that you have, the better decisions you can make. The amount of information collected will depend on your objectives and on the activities you plan to undertake.

6. Scheduling of activities

In this section of the plan you should identify the activities that you are going to undertake in the next five to ten years. When preparing your schedule of activities, you should always be able to answer:

What – describe the activities to be undertaken;

Why – what objectives will these activities help you to achieve;

Where – list the forest compartment (location on property) where the activities will take place and how many hectares will be treated; and

When – what year and season will the work be undertaken.

If you cannot answer all four of these questions about the activity you are planning, then you need to go back and check if you are being consistent with your management plan objectives.

7. Record of activities A complete record of your management activities will be useful in the future:
-	The information that you collect can be used later to update the property management history section of your management plan.
-	It provides a link back to your objectives and it provides a measuring stick to see how successful the work you undertake today is in the future.
-	Record details of costs associated with work completed and volumes and revenues generated from your forest (a requirement if you are operating as a business).

8. Review of Past Activities and Plan Update Forest management is a long-term project. We should (but don't often) go back and assess the success of the work we did five, ten or 15 years ago. Record your activities and monitor their results to provide you with valuable information. Updating your plan will be required at some point in time. If you are planning your activities on a ten-year cycle, then the plan should be reviewed and updated at that time. As a minimum, the review should include:
-	An update of your inventory (i.e. in areas where you have undertaken commercial harvesting);
-	A review of your objectives to ensure that they are still relevant; and
-	Preparation of a new schedule of management activities for the next ten years.

Figure 4. Aerial photographs are an excellent resource for landowners. They can be used to navigate your property and are useful in locating and mapping important physical features found on your property (e.g., roads, creeks, forest stands, etc.).

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Where to get help

Looking for more information? Here is a list of places to go to find a map, aerial photographs, a forest consultant, planning guide and tax information associated with preparing a management plan for your woodlot.

Management Planning Guide

An excellent landowner friendly guide to use in the development of your management plan is A Guide to Stewardship Planning for Natural Areas (January 2006). Copies of this guide are available from the OWA office by calling Rhonda at 1-888-791-1101 Ext. #221, or it can be downloaded from the Internet at <http://ontariosforests.mnr.gov.on.ca/>.

Seeking a Forest Consultant

You may want to seek out professional advice. Make use of a local forest consultant to provide you with their expertise and independent advice. Listings of consultants are available on the OWA’s Forest Services Directory for Landowners’ website at <http://www.ontariowoodlot.com> or by calling the OWA office.

Map Products

The Ministry of Natural Resources sells an extensive line of map-related products. Products include Ontario Base Maps (OBM), Digital OBM Database, The Ontario Map, Provincial Series Maps, Territorial Series Maps, Forest Resource Inventory Maps, and Ontario Geographic Townships Maps. Maps can be purchased online at <http://themnrstore.mnr.gov.on.ca> or by calling 1-800-667-1940.

Aerial Photography and Satellite Imagery

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Canada have a number of aerial photograph and satellite imagery products.

1. Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)

The MNR has black and white aerial photos for most of Ontario and colour infrared photos (taken using "near infrared" film) or digital images covering most areas in southern Ontario. The photos are printed at an approximate scale of 1:10,000.

The photos can be ordered over the Internet or by contacting MNR’s Information Centre. When ordering you will require a description of your property (i.e., township, lot and concession number of the desired area, if available, or a clear description of the boundaries of the area). Photographs can be ordered from the website <http://themnrstore.mnr.gov.on.ca> or by calling the MNR at 1-800-667-1940.

2. Natural Resources Canada (Centre of Topographic Information)

The National Air Photo Library (NAPL) has over six million aerial photographs covering all of Canada, some dating back 70 years. The library, located in Ottawa, indexes and stores all federal aerial photography for Canada, and maintains a comprehensive historical archive and public reference centre.

To obtain reproductions of these photographic images of Canada, you should have either a photocopy of a topographic map with the area of interest outlined or a property location description (i.e., lot, concession, township, county or section, township and range). Photographs can be ordered from the website <http://airphotos.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php > or by calling the NAPL at1-800-230-6275.

Inventory Guides

Making Cents Out of Forest Inventories: A Guide for Small Woodlot Owners (69 pages). Available from the LandOwner Resource Centre at (613) 692-2390. Cost: $10.00

A True Picture, Taking Inventory of Your Woodlot (40 pages). Available from the Eastern Ontario Model Forest at (613) 258-8671. Cost $10.00. This guide is also available on the Internet at <http://www.eomf.on.ca/publications/publications_details_e.aspx?pubno=37>.

Tax Information

1. Property Tax Incentives

Ontario woodlot owners have access to a voluntary property tax incentive program called the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program. Details of the program are outlined in the guide, Ontario Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (Updated January 2006). The guide is available on the Internet at <http://ontariosforests.mnr.gov.on.ca/spectrasites/internet/ontarioforests/mftip.cfm> or from the OWA office by calling Rhonda at 1-888-791-1100 ext. #221.

2. Income Tax

Woodlot owners seeking more information in determining the main income tax rules that apply to their woodlot operations should obtain a copy of Revenue Canada’s interpretation bulletin on woodlots IT-373/R2 (Consolidated) Woodlots. To obtain a copy of the bulletin, call the RCA at 1-800-959-2221 or visit their website at <http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca>.

This article appeared in the Winter/Spring 2007 (Volume 46) edition of the S&W Report, the newsletter of the Ontario Woodlot Association.

© Ontario Woodlot Association

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