Working with the local community, government agencies, businesses, organizations, and individual landowners, to develop a holistic approach to managing their property.
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Founded in 1998, Comprehensive Land Services is located in Southeastern Pennsylvania. A land planning and management company, the mission of CLS is to assist all kinds of landowners in developing a holistic approach to all phases of their property management.
CLS developed a new approach to land management that integrates forestry, open space, wildlife and agricultural, and native species, and invasive species management. Services include on-site planning, native landscaping, forestry and wildlife management, riparian buffer installation and management, watershed planning, agricultural best management practices and agricultural, and woodlands easements, inspecting and monitoring conservation easements and property transactions. Whether you have 5 acres or 500 acres, or more. CLS can help you transform your land to its best potential. |
NEWS |
7/5/2020
Brochure from the elibrary from the Pennsylvania DCNR site. Are You Thinking about Selling your Timber ? Stop ! Read this Brochure Bureau of Forestry service foresters can NOT, however, mark your timber for commercial sale, nor can they do economic appraisals. These jobs can be done by private consulting foresters. If you hire a private consulting forester, make sure he or she has a forestry degree and can produce references upon request. Consider the assistance of a professional forester. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry has service foresters who can meet with you and look at your woodlot. They can give you forestry advice, help you write a management plan, recommend what type of timber harvest is best, and help you determine if, and when, you should harvest your trees. All services provided by the PA Bureau of Forestry are free-of-charge. TAKE YOUR TIME! Your trees aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. What are your objectives for your property? Will a timber sale meet those objectives? Will you get the fair market value for your timber? And are your trees even ready to be harvested? Generally, hardwood trees in this area reach maturity in 80-120 years, with a diameter at breast height of 20-22 inches. Consulting foresters can appraise and mark timber, write contracts, and administer timber sales, among other things. Their fees vary, but most charge between 10 and 15% of the final sale price of the timber. Ultimately, this fee pays for itself. You will most likely secure more money for your timber through thee competitive bidding process and you will help insure future generations will benefit from your good stewardship Do’s and Don’ts of Selling Your Timber Do NOT conduct a diameter-limit harvest, where all the trees above a specified diameter at breast height (usually 12 inches) are cut and removed. This type of harvest is commonly disguised as a “select” cut and is extremely harmful for your woodlot! It takes the best and leaves you with the rest. The rest usually comprises of the small, poor quality trees which will never grow into quality timber. This harvest does NOT incorporate good forest management principles. It greatly degrades the future productivity of your woodlot, decreases any future income, and potentially eliminates certain species from your woodlot! Make sure to have a legally binding contract, signed by all parties. The contract should address which trees will be cut, payment method, penalties for unnecessary damage, logger insurance and workman’s compensation, logging and skid road retirement, best management practices (BMP’s) to minimize soil erosion, permits, and much more. By law, loggers must complete and post a soil and erosion sediment control plan (E&S plan) for every logging job in Pennsylvania and must secure permits from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) when crossing streams. Make sure to obtain several bids from several different timber buyers. Realize that the first offer might not be the best offer. You may lose out on thousands of dollars if you do not take the time to obtain several bids! Competitive bidding is the only way to insure you will get the fair market value for your timber. Ask for references. If a logger or a consulting forester is not willing to stand behind their work, then he or she should not be in your woods! Take a drive and look at their previous jobs. Were the logging and skid roads left with deep ruts? Were they reseeded with grass? Were the trees along the stream banks cut, leaving no stream buffers? How many of the uncut trees were damaged? Are you looking at a diameter-limit harvest (select cut) down to 12-inches, with only poor quality trees left behind? In most situations, it is best to receive a “lump-sum” payment for all your timber BEFORE it is cut. Payment by the truckload can be risky. Unless you are at the site everyday, you will have no way of knowing how many truckloads have gone to the mill, or what kinds of trees are on each truck. Keep in mind, certain tree species are worth a lot more than other tree species. All timber sales conducted by Comprehensive Land Services follow the guidelines from the above brochure. 2/14/2020: Starting Last year, Comprehensive Land services has served as a consultant to the Land Trust for Southern Chester County. CLS is serving as their Forestry and Wildlife consultant. CLS has successfully enrolled their 182 acre Little Elk Creek property in Elk Township, and their 45 acre Marshall Mill House preserve property in Kennett Township, in the highly accredited DCNR Forest Stewardship program. CLS is also consulting for their deer management programs, meadow management, as well as their educational programs for multiple school districts. CLS is also working with staff development for the overall management of their more than 1,500 acres of preserves throughout Chester County. 1/15/19: We are working long hours catching up on timber inventory this winter for some of our private clients with Forest Stewardship Plans! To learn more or enroll, check out the link in the slideshow above or give us a call! 3/24/18: CLS has just completed marking 60 acres of declining White Ash trees for the Lancaster County Conservancy, Donegal Highlands property. This is the first harvesting of timber on any of their 6,000 acres. CLS performs assessments on woodlands where white ash trees are present. Pennsylvania DCNR estimates that almost all of the white ash trees will be dead due to the Emerald Ash Borer within the next three years. To learn more about the Emerald Ash Borer feel free to check out the link below and contact CLS to learn what you can do to secure the health of eastern forests! http://emeraldashborer.info 4/13/2017: Oak Decline has had considerable impact in Southeastern Pennsylvania. CLS is currently assessing and marking timber stands in Lancaster County, especially those blighted by Oak Decline and Emerald Ash Borer. Nearly all oaks in the photo are dying. The landowner's objective is to harvest trees before they die and improve overall health of the woodland ecosystem.Contact CLS for a selective harvest if your timber stand is affected by pests/disease. For more information on Emerald Ash Borer and Oak Decline, check out the following links: https://www.na.fs.fed.us/…/…/fidls/oakdecline/oakdecline.htm https://www.na.fs.fed.us/s…/pubs/pest_al/sodeast/sodeast.htm 4/8/2017: The Octoraro Watershed Association and CLS partnered up last weekend to clean the Octoraro Reservoir! We collected 33 bags of trash, 4 bags recycling, 7 tires on rims and assorted buckets, drums, coolers, etc. Thank you to everyone who participated! To learn more about upcoming stream clean-ups, please visit:http://www.theowa.org/ 10/19/2013: CLS purchased the consulting firm: Casey Forestry Concepts . So all information for Casey Forestry Concepts can now be handled by CLS |
Oak Decline client in Lancaster County
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