Forest income and value
Compare returns from forest management.
Compare the financial case for inventory-led decisions, forest-health management and wind-damage recovery.
Forest health → timely thinning → retained value
Thin before growth slows.
Dense pine stands compete for water, light and nutrients. Timely thinning can preserve growth and reduce susceptibility to southern pine beetle.
Check stand condition and density with a forester. A satellite stress signal helps target inspection; it is not a pest diagnosis.
Illustrative area, not a mapped holding. Scale the study result only to acres suited to the same treatment.
Study scenario: dominant height 70 ft at age 25, with 681 trees planted per acre. This is not a measurement of your forest.
Compare thinning on time with delaying the first thinning by one or two years.
Investment value preserved by timely thinning
$1,523
Published difference: $15.23 per treated acre
Land expectation value at 5%, before additional evaluation costs. It reflects repeated rotations, not an annual payment or measured beetle losses.
- On-time thinning, land expectation value
- $44,716
- Delayed thinning, land expectation value
- $43,193
- Value preserved
- $1,523
The study difference leaves $15.23 per treated acre for additional costs before the incremental benefit is exhausted.
Review the opportunity on your land ↗The model compares on-time thinning with one- or two-year delays for loblolly pine. It includes a $191.49/acre establishment cost and study timber prices. Site index 70 loses $15.23/acre after one year or $19.35 after two. The selected case uses the published values, not current local bids.
Burkhart et al. · Southern Journal of Applied Forestry, 1986. Models thinning and beetle-loss reduction. Additional beetle risk is not quantified in the calculator’s delay-cost figures.
Research example, not a measured Linda customer outcome. Keep the study’s forest type, treatment, prices and discount rate in view. Data identifies where to investigate; the management action produces the return.
These are separate comparisons with different time horizons. Do not add them into a total ROI or count the same trees twice.