A boundary map is essential if you intend to actively manage the property. This map is often combined with the forest stand map. Topographic and soils maps . Other valuable maps are topographic maps and soils maps. Topographic maps show slopes, roads, streams, and other important landmarks.
Soils maps help to delineate productive soils for tree growth.
These are available from your local Soil Conservation Service office. A forest manager must inventory his or her forest periodically to determine its age and condition, what has been removed by cutting or mortality, and what new growth has occurred. Forest inventories provide the data to make sound, scientific management decisions that yield the desired results. Rather, a random sample of the forest should be inventoried and the results applied to the rest of the forest. The size of the sample necessary for good decisionmaking varies from stand to stand according to the quality of a given site and intensity of management.