Contract
Dates and Deadlines
Including contract deadlines such as required start-up and completion
dates in a timber harvesting contract can be a powerful mechanism to control
the timing of timber harvesting to help protect the interests of the landowner.
For example, Ann
and Gary Hockerman in Jackson County were once frustrated by a logging
contract that took longer than they had hoped on their woodland. The contractor
working on their site worked slowly learning how to use some new equipment.
While the Hockermans were satisfied with the quality of the job, they
have since started adding contract dates and deadlines into their timber
sale contracts so that work gets done in a timely fashion.
The most obvious reason for imposing contract deadlines
is to ensure completion of harvesting operations within a reasonable amount
of time, but there are other important reasons why a landowner may wish
to restrict the timing of harvesting. For example, there is a wide range
of forest processes that change with the seasons. Seasonal forest dynamics
with ramifications to harvesting operations include soil moisture, susceptibility
of remaining trees to logging damage, insects and diseases which can damage
remaining trees, stain fungi which can degrade the value of harvested
logs, and market demand for timber products. For example, wet soils are
highly susceptible to compaction and rutting, so a landowner may want
to restrict harvesting on moist and wet soils to the frozen season. Alternatively,
demand for some timber products can be highest during the summer, so a
landowner may want to require harvesting of timber on sandy soils to the
summer season when they can capture the greatest economic return without
significantly damaging soil resources.
Landowners should consider working closely with a professional forester to ensure that all seasonal issues are well protected by contract stipulations. Additionally, a balance may need to be struck between desires to have a harvest completed within a reasonable time while still protecting all seasonal concerns. A professional forester can assist a landowner in protecting these values while maintaining the feasibility of the proposed timber harvest to a logging contractor. Options to amend contract deadlines are particularly important to ensure that you can maintain a legal and binding contract if harvesting doesn’t fit into the timeline that you initially anticipated.