Good day I am not sure how your forestry plan works down there, but maybe also check in with either your local extension agent and /or USDA/NRCS if interested…if you haven’t already done that. There may be some options for adding a pollinator habitat for example, if that is something interested in. Good luck.
Good advice. When I called the Forest Service to amend our forestry plan I was pleasantly surprised to find they have habitat preservation as one of their goals in addition to timber production. We have enough timber they, and we, are hopeful we may be able to leave the fields open and leave the half acre or so of trees in the new part out of the mandatory harvest being they’re a sight barrier between us and the development. Not sure they’d let us put it back into ag production but good chance we can keep it as a reasonably maintained meadow.Good day I am not sure how your forestry plan works down there, but maybe also check in with either your local extension agent and /or USDA/NRCS if interested…if you haven’t already done that. There may be some options for adding a pollinator habitat for example, if that is something interested in. Good luck.
Like @rc51stierhoff , don't know what your NC Forestry Plan calls for.
Depending on your goals and how you want to go about them, the wording that seems to be used for some of programs that I am in is ‘wildlife plantings’ and ‘wildlife habitat’ and ‘landscaping for wildlife’…I am sure there are more terms but those seem to be some of the terms that I have noticed in my plan/contract that have options for managed grasslands, managed haying, pollinator habitat, etc. Not sure that helps or not, but under the umbrella of those terms there are notations and classification for managed grazing, haying, special plantings for wildlife, etc. the terms seem to be very broad to me and can include bird boxes for pollinator habitat as an example or special planting of grasses and flowers, or fruit trees…it’s really broad. Then inside of say bird boxes there is quite a spread there too…ranges from bats to owls to blue birds etc…sort like the tax code as far as I am concerned and I would not have found any of it if not for helpful extension agents and helpful state forester. Long story short its possible that a management plan could include managed lands (acres) that not forested. Good luck….there is a lot of rocks to look under between state and fed guidelines…at least up here for me.
If I could do anything I wanted, I’d treat it like a wilderness area: not harvest anything; keep enough areas clear and enough trails to allow hunting, fishing, hiking, and general enjoyment of the place; have a place for wildlife in the midst of the developments; manage it with a light hand. That may be possible. Not quite sure.
Oh my…I am rooting for you.
When I hear comservation easement, I think of land trusts. There are few in my area that help property owners (mostly for free is my understanding). Not sure if working with a land trust is something you’ve considered, or if there’s a good one in your area even.Oh my…I am rooting for you.
I am a bit paranoid about that type of thing myself. We just bought a neighboring property late last year and annexed it into our forestry management plan at our place up North.
Before we bought we thought about what happens if the other neighbors sell…can we still use our land the way we want? I certainly can not buy them all out. I never went to a lawyer or anything so I don’t really know, but I was looking / considering deeding off a portion the property during the survey/close/transfer and in case I would ever want to put in a conservation easement it would be set up and I would just pay the survey fee the one time when we did the initial suburb/ close…or the other option was maybe later we put into a wilderness trust …to me it did not look like a clean answer (legal wording very broad and personally you need someone who is weaponized to understand it IMO) and that when push come to shove probably the person that will make out is the lawyer. I did not know / understand enough to involve one (I feared being taken for a ride), so I did not. Maybe I should have. I hope to not have to deal with (yes I know that is not a strategy). I saved the lawyer fees and hope to buy more implements.
if you havent already maybe watch Yellowstone (or an older / different series called Deadwood)…they’ve got some ideas.
good luck and best wishes. I hope doing good with the stress of that.
Your ballast block looks remarkably like the chunk of concrete the previous owners poured around a basketball goal post next to my driveway.
Dunno how you got your GE Stock, but I hope you weren't another Jeff Immelt victim. I could rant for hours about that man, but I'll sum it up and just say there's a special place in Hell waiting for him.
The $$$ would ease my pain a bit if we have to harvest. 40 acres of 100 year old short leaf pines, 25 acres of 75 year old hardwoods including a few dozen large black walnuts, and the rest excepted for being near the houses. No clue what that’s worth. Pretty sure it’s worth something.
They’re not a good fit for all scenarios but our little 16kW IMD has made occasional power outages much more pleasant. Life is better with air conditioning and hot water. The TV and iPad seem to be the equivalent of a pacifier for the wife so that’s kind of a nice collateral benefit.
I collected dividends for decades so even though I didn't get out at the high water mark, I more than made up for it in the dividends.
