Site Preparation Costs in the Southern Coastal Plain - An Update

Landowners who want to regenerate their land following timber harvest need up-to-date costs for sound assessment of alternative site preparation methods. The first survey of southern costs was conducted in 1952 by Worrell (1953). Periodic updates since then have gradually expanded the cost categories reported. A major expansion of cost categories for site preparation was launched in 1979, reported by Moak, Watson, and Van Deusen (1980). This note presents 1980 costs as an interim update and partial verification of that series for four southern coastal plain states. Site preparation treatments used on forest industry land and national forests in the upper and lower coastal plain of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana were examined. Costs were gathered from 126 contracts covering more than 16,000 acres prepared for planting during 1980. These costs have been summarized in a form comparable to the 1979 average costs for the “Southern Coastal Plain” reported by Moak, Watson and Van Deusen (1980). Landowners can choose from a number of different site preparation options. Some options use only one type of treatment per site, other options use more. Analysis of the site preparation agreements associated with 85 planting contracts showed that 7 individual site preparation treatments were contracted either alone or in 14 different combinations (tables 1 and 2). Additional site preparation contracts were collected for areas planted by national forest or company employees, and also for areas where a complete string of preparation procedures could not be identified. This expanded considerably the number of contracts for cost amalysis (table 3). Shearing or injecting with herbicides those itrees which remain on the site after harvest are the two procedures most widely used to reduce compet:ition from overstory vegetation. Shearing was useld 51 percent of the time, most often as the first in a series of intensive, heavily-mechanized treatments. Injection was the initial procedure in 35 percent of the cases, as a part of less-intensive, less mechanized site preparation. There were 54 contracts let for shearing, covering 9,400 acres. The average cost was $52.38 per acre,