1. Identify Your Goals

Every landowner has different reasons for owning and caring for their woods. Start by thinking about what matters most to you. Consider these questions:

• What do I love most about my woods or yard today?
• What concerns me about its current or future condition?
• What would I like this landscape to look like in 20–30 years?

Your goals might include maintaining wildlife habitat, improving forest health, protecting water resources, supporting recreational activities, producing timber, or creating a more resilient landscape. You may have several goals that need to be balanced over time.

2. Get to Know Your Property

Before deciding what actions to take, understand what you currently have. Explore your property and document its existing features and conditions, such as:

• Property boundaries, access points, and existing trails.
• Tree species, forest structure, and overall tree health.
• Wildlife habitat and natural features.
• Invasive plants, pests, and other potential threats.
• Soil conditions, drainage, and water resources.
• Areas that may need attention or protection.

Property maps and field observations will help you identify opportunities, challenges, and areas where management activities may be most beneficial.

3. Assess Your Forest and Its Needs

Use what you have learned about your property to identify its strengths, challenges, and potential management needs.

For example, you might discover areas with limited tree diversity, declining trees, invasive species, poor regeneration, or opportunities to improve wildlife habitat. Other areas may already be healthy and simply need protection. A professional assessment can help you better understand these conditions and determine which actions are appropriate.

4. Choose Management Practices and Priorities

Once you understand your goals and your property's conditions, identify the actions that can help you get there.

Not every part of your property needs the same treatment. Some areas may benefit from active management, while others may be best left undisturbed. Prioritize actions based on your goals, available resources, and the needs of your woods.

5. Create a Timeline and Revisit Your Plan

Put your priorities into action by identifying what needs to happen, where, and when. Some activities may be immediate, while others may take several years to implement.

Continue observing your woods and documenting changes. Revisit your goals and management activities periodically, especially after major storms, pest outbreaks, or other changes to your property. A forest management plan is a living document that can evolve alongside your woods.

1. Map Your Property and Measure Its Area

Featured Tools: Google My Maps

Create a custom property map without specialized software. Outline boundaries, measure individual forest sections, and mark key features such as trails, streams, structures, and management concerns.

What landowners can do:

• Draw property boundaries and measure exact acreage/distances.
• Add markers for notable trees, invasive species, wetlands, and hazard areas.
• Organize features into custom layers (e.g., trails, forest blocks, action items).

Quick Steps:

1. Open Google My Maps on a computer and select Create a new map.
2. Search for your property address and switch to satellite view.
3. Select Draw a line > Add line or shape, click along your boundary, and close the shape.
4. Use Measure distances and areas to calculate acreage.

Note: Editing maps is best done on a computer, as mobile editing features are limited.

2. Estimate Tree Canopy and Land Cover

Featured Tool: i-Tree Canopy

Estimate the percentage of your property covered by tree canopy, grass, water, pavement, and structures. This serves as a vital baseline for tracking long-term canopy changes and identifying open areas for planting.

How it works:

1. Define your property boundaries on the interactive map.
2. Select land-cover categories to evaluate.
3. Classify random sample points generated across aerial photos (500–1,000 points recommended for accuracy).
4. Review calculated acreage percentages and associated environmental benefit estimates.

3. Identify Trees, Plants, and Wildlife

Mobile apps allow you to identify species instantly using your phone camera, building a species list without requiring prior botanical knowledge.

• Seek by iNaturalist: Best for beginners and quick field identification of plants, insects, and wildlife. No account required.
• iNaturalist: Photograph species and record locations to build a documented inventory backed by a global expert community.
• Pl@ntNet: High-accuracy plant identification focused on leaf, bark, flower, and fruit photos.
• Merlin Bird ID: Identify birds by photo, physical description, or real-time sound recordings.

Tip: Identification apps are great starting points, but always photograph multiple features (leaves, bark, fruit) and confirm key species with experts before making major management decisions.

4. Collect Property Coordinates

Featured Tool: Google Maps

Easily record precise latitude and longitude coordinates for boundary corners, hazard trees, trail junctions, or invasive species patches using your phone.

How to get coordinates on mobile: Open Google Maps > Press and hold your location to drop a pin > Copy the latitude/longitude numbers displayed in the search bar (e.g., 41.XXX, -72.XXX) directly into your inventory sheet.

5. Explore Soil and Site Conditions

Featured Tool: USDA Web Soil Survey

Discover underlying soil types, drainage classes, and soil limitations that affect tree growth, windthrow risk, and planting decisions without needing complex geospatial software.

6. Assess Individual Trees

Featured Tool: i-Tree MyTree

A simple web-based calculator that estimates the ecosystem services (carbon storage, stormwater runoff reduction, air quality) provided by individual high-value trees around your home or property.