Financial Analysis Principles and Applications for Private Forest Lands

The purpose of this manual is to introduce the basic principles of forest finance and provide examples of how these principles might be applied to the management of private forestlands. It is important to note that the goal of financial analysis is to provide a “tool in the toolbox” for use along with other analysis tools that together will help the landowner make informed decisions to meet specific ownership goals.

Economagic – The USDA-sponsored interactive online learning module Economagic serves as a companion to this manual. Economagic is a free resource designed specifically for family forestland owners, and is available at http://ext.wsu.edu/forestry/economagic/. Along with the Economagic learning module is a calculator that includes all of the formulas presented in the manual.

Primary Target Audience: Family Forest Landowners; Secondary Target Audience: Industrial Forest Lands

Issues Addressed: Basic Principles of Forest Finance, Compounding and Discounting; Assessing Forestry Investments, Net Present Value, Soil Expectation Value.

Distribution: Nationwide via WSU Extension Publications

Resources: Funds for this publication came in part from the Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA)

Evaluation: No formal evaluation to date as the publication is new as of August 2010.

Implications for Future Programming: This manual serves as the textbook for landowner classes on forest finance.

Files

Financial Analysis Principles and Applications for Private Forest Lands EM030.pdf

Financial Analysis Principles Publication - WSU Extension Manual EM030

Economagic Home Page

Economagic Home Page