PFC does not recommend 'one page' timber sale agreements.  Technically, these documents shown all satisfy the legal requirement to constitute a 'binding agreement' but the documents do little to assure the timber harvest objective of the landowner is being met. 

Often the timber buyer will simply 'pencil in' certain concerns that may be raised by the landowner, but seldom do those 'concerns' have appropriate description or specifications identified to assure that what happens on site is really what the landowner desired. 

 

 

This copy is of a contract that was executed by a timber purchaser that represented as 'a person capable of offering forest management services'.  Unfortunately the person didn't even understand the term 'dbh' which as a standard forestry measurement term for 'diameter at breast height'.  Dbh is the point on the bole of a tree at 54 inches off the ground.  This purchaser states 'dbh' as 'double breast height', an interesting interpretation of the real meaning.  Things went downhill from here in this contract.

Notice the purchase price of this timber at  $80,000.00.  That's a lot of money and a lot of impact in the forest to be covered by a one page agreement.

The red flag went up on this job when the landowner saw what was happening in their woods.

This photo illustrates the concerns of the landowner for the condition of the woods as a result of the contract that had been signed. 

Upon review by the legal minds, the only way this operation could be stopped was to file a claim for breach of contract when PFC found a stump that could be proved to be less than the diameter specified in the original agreement.

This contract ended up in settlement out of court and cost a lot of money to litigate.