Are these farmers who have sought out PF or does PF have someone actively trying to procure new land?
Dude, You mentioned QU. I remember about 3-4 years before QU went out. I smelled a rat and it was confirmed by a board member. What a corrupt guy he was.
BB, I don't know if you hunt Grouse or not. If u do RGS cut trails and makes a series of GEMS in Michigan. They probably do that in Minnesota. Walking trail in woods with different fruit trees to attract the birds. GEMS work. If you don't hunt Grouse you should. You have to be close to good Grouse country. Remember Ruffs are the King of Upland Birds.If I lived in or around decent hunting I’d get involved in a chapter…I’m in Duluth. It would be cool to be directly involved in a project if that’s possible, I assume it is. I help a farmer in SD with his operation…he’s been putting more land in CRP, and he helps an old farmer with some CRP programs that target small chunks of marginal farm ground…that guy owns over 10k acres, but those small sloughs, etc that are in CRP are terrific for the wildlife, the landowner, and the hunters. I run a decent # of guys through the “farmhouse” (we pay a decent amount to stay there, which includes land access)…evidently what we do, plus what the other hunters he has generate, is meaningful enough for my farmer buddy to make this a side biz for him…his properties produce and hold good #’s of birds. One way to help the habitat…yes, pay to hunt. Without demand, supply is limited…Econ 101. But again, whatever works…doing something is better than nothing. Even identifying the owner of WIA land…send a card thanking them…or knock on their door with some modest gift of appreciation. Wish I was out there now! 50’s again out there several days this week…
GEMS were created in areas with large blocks of aspen being actively managed by the michigan dnr. RGS has provided funding for kiosks at the gems but their funds had nothing to do with the gems establishment. They do provide some funding for planting of soft mast trees in our wildlife openings. I have worked with our wildlife staff to help create hunter walking trails following a timber harvest, we restore skid trails and haul routes with a clover mix, often RGS helps with buying the seed and fertilizer. As far as creating habitat for grouse on public lands that is done by forest management activities. Like many groups very little money from banquets goes to local projects, however, their Drummer Fund does and is a very good program. The area I oversee we have several unofficial grouse management blocks where we harvest 20 acre blocks to provide diverse age classes in the same area. We do use RGS to help manipulate habitat that is either to small or not commercially viable for timber harvest.
Any competitive bidding process is not always a rational process and other factors can play into the sale price, like road weight limit and are those restricted in the spring when frost comes out of the ground, location to mill and contract restrictions. As an example i had a sale that was 600 acres of jack pine that told for 160k and across the road had 300 acres of red pine and it sold for 950K. I think $700 per acre is good average, if the 200 is nice quality timber you should be north of $1000 per acre. Aspen brings much lower prices 120 acres brought $52K. They area i manage in 2021 we harvested 5650 acres and brought in $6.3 million dollars, this averages roughly $1100 per acre. In Michigan average size of private ownership for private forest is 44 acres.
Thanks for that informed answer.
Up north Mn we did 18-20 acres 2 years ago, and recieved around 13,000 bucks so, yeah I say it checks out
