Complete Land and Timber Management, Inc. currently manages about 40,000 acres for clients. It provides a multitude of services, which include timber management, timber appraisals, timber harvesting, timber sales, reforestation, prescribed burning and treatment for invasive plant species.
While most of those services are self explanatory, prescribed burning may not be for most people. This is the process of doing controlled burns to assist with timber access and to help with wildlife. Co-owner Jeff Windham said that after a prescribed burn, lots of plants come in that make great food for animals, such as deer and turkey. A prescribed burn does not kill off invasive species as many would hope. The company does treat for those species, though, to rid land of them and allow native species to thrive.
The company is owned by Windham and Ralph Franks and employs one part-time secretary/office manager.
The goal of the company's owners is to grow and increase the amount of land it manages, then it will hire more people to help with the work that comes along with that growth.
Complete Land and Timber Management provides services from Holmes County to the Gulf Coast. If a job is large enough, it will take work in Louisiana and Alabama as well.
Windham was in timber procurement for more than a decade when he quit. But then Windham met Franks, who convinced him to go to work for Mickey Webb doing contract crews and GPS work. Franks eventually bought out Webb's business and Windham joined him.
Windham graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in forest management in 1995 and is a registered forester, which is a requirement to do timber sales, appraisals and management.
Together, Franks and Windham have 27 years of timber sales and marketing experience, which is how the business makes most of its revenue. When a landowner decides to sell their timber, Complete Land and Timber Management does an appraisal on the land, tells the owners the fair market value and, if the owners agree, it puts out for bids. It sends letters to 50 to 100 buyers via letters with a set bid date, and when bids are opened, the highest bidder wins. The landowner has the right to refuse any and all bids. Complete Land and Timber gets a commission off of the sale of the timber. It then oversees the harvesting and assures that the work is done well and the land is left in working order by charging a logging deposit for good workmanship practices.
"The best advice I can give people about growing timber is to grow it as fast as you can and manage it. Management is key, and it is a must to pick good contractors," Windham said.
Complete Land and Timber Management is located at 1473 U.S. 98 East, Suite 7. It can be reached at (601) 297-1958 or (601) 441-9706. The business has no set hours, and Windham said it is open as needed, all day, every day.
