Increasing numbers of people in the Southeast are moving onto small 5 to 50 acre tracts of land that are forested or were farm land. This change in land use increases risk of property loss from wildfires, increases the percentage of timber resources in small tracts, and results in underutilized land resources. Current equipment and methods used in forestry operations are based on large tracts of land using large high capital cost equipment. This project will test compact lower capital cost equipment including a flail mower and a tiller mounted on a bidirectional compact 75 HP Antonio Carrao tractor. The equipment will serve to mow understory woody plants to reduce fuel loads and to mow and till sites before planting trees. Spray and wiper methods will be used to apply herbicides. Two test sites in each of five Florida counties will be used to evaluate the equipment and methods. A business model will be developed to help individuals decide if they want to provide forestry services to owners of small forest tracts. Services would include mowing and herbicide treatment to reduce fuel loads, timber land maintenance to increase productivity of existing timber lands, and establishment of longleaf pines. ANTICIPATED RESULTS & POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH Once the equipment has been tested and the business model established, efforts would be undertaken in Phase II to set up individuals and businesses to deliver forestry services to the owners of small tracts of land. Florida Recycling and Composting Consulting Services would coordinate training of individuals and businesses so they could expand the service of a current business or start new businesses. Educational and informational programs would be developed to help inform the land owners of the advantage of timber management and of planting land in longleaf pines. Grants would be sought to carry out the latter two activities.
