Annual Property Inspections
KRM provides can perform an annual property inspection of your forest investment property. Inspecting your property on a regular basis is an important part of good forest management, especially for absentee landowners. Annual inspections include the following activites:
- Inspect the property lines for possible timber theft and check the condition of the boundary lines (paint)
- Inspect the forest resources for possible damage from fire or insects
- Inspect the condition of the forest resources present
- Inspect the condition of access roads and gates (if applicable)
- Inspect the outcome of recently completed forest management activities
- Make forest management/wildlife management recommendations
- Provide a report to the landowner(s) summarizing these activities
Boundary Line Maintenance
KRM recommends to all of our clients that the properly maintain the condition of their boundary lines. Maintaining boundary lines is often an activity that is overlooked by landowners. Proper maintenance will assist landowners with preventing potential problems such as timber theft, encroaching adjacent landowner(s), and trespassing.
Boundary lines are normally maintained by blazing/chopping trees along the property and painting these trees with boundary line paint to depict the location of the property line. KRM recommends that landowners maintain their boundary lines every 5-8 years.
Tax Basis Determination
KRM regularly assists landowners in determining their Tax Basis. The tax basis is the fair market value of the forest resources present on a property at the time the property was purchases or inherited. Knowlege of your tax basis is extremely important when selling timber. The timber basis is used to calculate the depletion unit needed to determine the taxible gain (loss) when you sell standing timber, harvest timber, or dispose of it involuntarily such as casualty, theft, or condemnation.
KRM can also assist landowners with determining their tax basis even if they have owned the property for many years. We can use current timber inventory data to perform a reverse growth analysis to estimate the volume/value of timber present on the property at the time of acquisition.
Tree Farm Certification
The American Tree Farm System was established in 1941 to promote the growing of renewable forest resouces on private lands while protecting environmental benefits and increasing public understanding of all benefits of productive forestry. The American Tree Farm System has established standards and guidelines for property owners to meet to become a certified Tree Farm. Under these standards and guidelines, private forest owners must develop a management plan based on strict environmental standards and pass an inspection by an ATFS volunteer forester every five years.
KRM is a certified tree farm inspector and can assist landowners in becoming a certified tree farmer.