Six Steps to Achieving Your Own Forest Care Healthy Forest
Step 1—Do You Qualify for Forest Care?
Is the property you want to apply for less than 20 acres? (Non-adjoining parts of large parcels may qualify.) When you count your trees over two feet tall, are there more than 100 per acre? Don’t know what an acre looks like? Try this instead. Stand in the most treed area on your property. with one hand, touch a tree. Spread out your arms and walk in a circle. If you can touch one or more other trees, you probably need Forest Care.
Step 2—Contact Forest Care
To arrange for a professional forester to visit your property, just fill out the form below, click here, or call toll free 1 (888) 883-THIN. Please note that to receive reimbursement you must wait to treat your property until after your Forest Care appointment. We cannot reimburse retroactively for work already done.
Step 3—Design Your Forest Care Plan
A licensed professional forester will visit you, answer questions, and verify that your land meets the requirements. It's free and there's no obligation. Together, you and the forester will select trees 12" or smaller in diameter to be removed or pruned to create a healthy stand that is more fire resistant, yet maintains the wooded atmosphere you desire. The forester will also provide a Forest Care contract that will enable you to be reimbursed for up to 75% of the expenses of implementing your Forest Care plan.
Step 4—Implement Your Forest Care Plan
Thin the trees as marked by the forester. You may complete the thinning yourself or you may hire a licensed timber operator to do the work. If you complete the work yourself, Forest Care will reimburse you at a fair market rate for rental costs of items used to complete the work such as a chain saw, a truck or a chipper. Your labor is not eligible for reimbursement. If you hire a licensed timber operator you must provide appropriate receipts and invoices showing the address where the work was completed.
Step 5—Claim Your Forest Care Reimbursement
You are eligible for reimbursement up to 75% of the cost of implementing your Forest Care plan.
Contact Forest Care when the work is completed and submit invoices and receipts. A forester will visit you to confirm that the work meets the standards of your Forest Care plan.
Step 6—Cash Your Check
When your Forest Care plan is complete, Forest Care will issue your reimbursement. You are now on your way to a healthy, more fire-resistant forest around your house.
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