TIMBER MANAGEMENT AND USE-VALUE ASSESSMENT - INTRODUCTION

Under the Vermont Use Value Appraisal (UVA) Forest Land Program, enrol led forest lands are taxed at their forest use value rather than their fair market value. Technical forestry aspects, including approval of a mandatory management plan, are administered by the Vermont Departmen t of Forests, Parks and Recreation. Our objectives were to use data co llected by the Department to estimate the annual timber harvest from l ands enrolled in the UVA Tax Program and to explore relationships amon g management variables and harvest information for individual stands. Overall, 31 percent of UVA properties reported a commercial harvest du ring 1989. In total, the harvest on enrolled lands represented 18 perc ent and 24 percent, respectively, of the reported total sawlog and pul pwood-fuelwood harvest in Vermont in 1989, while enrolled lands repres ented about 16 percent of the total timberland in the State. However, there were no significant relationships among stand and harvest variab les that would be useful in predicting harvesting activity. The UVA Ta x Program gives the State some influence over forestry activity on pri vately owned timberland that it did not have prior to the Program.