Landscape Management Plan for Georgia

Forest management plans have long been a principal component of traditional family woodland owner programs in the United States. Management plans are a requirement for forest certification and landowner assistance programming and, because the individual plans are costly for both landowners and foresters to develop, they are often the biggest barrier to family landowner engagement. In addition, recent research suggests that the development of individual landowner forest management plans have only moderate to minimal impact on family woodland owner behavior. Rather, it is the accompanying engagement with or receiving technical advice from a natural resource management professional that provides the motivation and support landowners need to act on the ground. Even more, individual management plans do not offer a means for inspiring, understanding, and coordinating important conservation strategies across family ownerships. By setting motivating goals at the landscape level we are creating another call to action that allows us to engage more landowners. We know that values like wildlife are important to landowners and this allows us to set aspirational goals for the landscape that line up with that motivation. The planning process remains critical to sustainable forest management. 

This LMP is designed to complement and align with federal, state, and local laws. Resources in this LMP do not override local forestry regulations that may not be addressed directly in this plan. 

Download Full Article