Management

Now that you have become familiar with the variety of pine species that occur throughout the southeast and have discovered the growing conditions that each species prefers, we can now move into the subject area that is at the heart of this module. No matter if you are managing your forest for timber, recreation, beauty, wildlife, to conserve natural resources, or some combination of the above, just about every landowner shares a common goal: taking actions today that will ensure the health of forests into the future.

Forests are always changing. The management choices you make today will shape the characteristics that will be present in the forest ten, twenty, even fifty years into the future. In this section of the module, you will become familiar with the basic components of managing a pine forest. After completing this section and the rest of the module, you will be ready to meet with your local forester or extension agent and work out a management plan for your forest.

This section covers the following topics: