• Client: Private Property, Boulder County, Colorado
• Date: September, 2005
• Info:  A private landowner contracted Blue Mountain Environmental Consulting to prepare a Forest Stewardship Plan resulting in a Forest Agricultural Tax Plan.

The goals for this Forest Agricultural Tax Plan were developed through conversations with the landowner and a site visit. The goals included wildfire mitigation, improving forest health, habitat preservation, noxious weed control. They also sought to produce forest products for the primary purpose of making a monetary profit from the harvest of those products.

These goals could be achieved through the implementation of the following objectives. Thinning to remove diseased and undesirable trees, forest thinning to reduce canopy density and competition between trees, and creation of defensible space zones surrounding the residence were the goals.

The plan qualifies a landowner for Agricultural tax status if they have more than 40 acres. By generating a forest product, landowners can get funding from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

Landowners in Colorado are eligible to sell their timber through the Forest Ag Program, which offers similar tax valuation as that of traditional agricultural lands. Forest landowners voluntarily participate in the Forest Ag Program and must fulfill certain requirements for initial eligibility.