Ways to obtain a management plan

Hire a consultant to write one for you. Consultant foresters are frequently not hired until harvesting is planned, but they can be very helpful with management of your property during its growing phase and can educate you and help you learn from other people’s experience. If you do not already have a consultant, a list of forestry consultants in Washington is available from WSU Extension. A list of consultant foresters who are members of the Association of Consulting Foresters is also available.

Attend a Forest Stewardship Coached Planning short course, sponsored by WSU Cooperative Extension Service. You will learn a great deal about managing your property, and will receive guidance in writing a Stewardship Plan, which usually is sufficient for a Tree Farm Management Plan. Courses are offered throughout the year in different parts of the state. Look on the WSU Forest Stewardship page for a list of upcoming events, including the Coached Planning short courses. If you have already taken a course, the plan that you wrote may be adequate for Tree Farm certification, or may require only minor additions.

Write your own plan. If you already have a good idea of the activities that you want to do on your property, you may be able to prepare your own plan.  The American Tree Farm System has joined with the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to create a template for a plan that will satisfy the requirements of the USFS Forest Stewardship Program and the NRCS incentive programs as well as Tree Farm certification.   Download the Management Plan template "Managing Your Woodlands: a template for your plan for the future" and also the guidelines to help you fill it out, "Understanding your plan: A guide for landowners using Managing Your Woodlands: a template for your plans for the future."

If you are already certified and already have a plan, you still will be asked if it is up-to-date each time a re-inspection is scheduled (normally every 6 years).   In order to incorporate the changes made to the Standards of Sustainability in 2010 into existing plans, a Management Plan Addendum is available that you can add to your current Management Plan   It is available in 2 formats.  Download the  Adobe Acrobat (pdf) version if you want to print it and hand-write in the information.  If you prefer to type in the information, download the Microsoft Word version of the Addendum.