Timber Stand Improvement, or TSI is a necessary activity that is often neglected by landowners. TSI is like weeding your garden, taking out the plants that are not benefiting your timber or wildlife value and making room for the high quality trees that help you achieve your goals for the property.
How much does Timber Stand Improvement Cost?
TSI generally costs $400 to $600 per acre depending on the density and size of the trees or brush that needs to be cut. If herbicides are to be applied to the stumps to prevent resprouting, there is an additional cost in labor and materials. Cutting trees and treating the stumps with herbicide will increase the cost by about $250 per acre.
TSI can often be incorporated into a timber sale to help defray the cost. Another way to help with this expense is to apply for EQIP funds through the NRCS. The Natural Resources Conservation Service administers EQIP which stands for Environmental Quality Incentive Program. This program uses Farm Bill funds to help landowners improve their forest land.
Benefits of Timber Stand Improvement
Very few landowners understand the benefits of TSI. If you do, you are in the top 2% of forest stewards. The best friend to woods and wildlife is a man with a chainsaw or even a mechanized harvester. Some of the benefits of TSI include:
- Creating browse and cover for deer
- Creating nesting habitat for turkeys
- Increasing space for faster growth of quality trees
- Encouraging regeneration of new, young forest
- Increasing understory and midstory growth for songbirds
- Manipulate stand composition to favor more valuable trees
- Increasing structural diversity and wildlife species richness
Conclusion
One benefit not listed above is the intangible benefit of getting out on the land and taking an active part in what is growing there. There is something relaxing and rewarding about doing your own TSI work while getting a great workout in the process.
Putting in the sweat equity in your forest will give you a sense of pride and accomplishment as you see the results of your efforts come to fruition. More wildlife and increased timber value can be achieved by taking action.
Either by hiring a major project done or by deciding that you will take a chainsaw out one weekend per month and do some TSI work. If you need guidance, you can hire a forester for a day to work with you and show you safe and efficient felling techniques and what species to keep and which to get rid of.
