Forest Management Specialists, Inc.
About Forest Management Specialists, Inc.
Forest Management Specialists, Inc. is a forestry consulting firm in Florence, Alabama, serving forest landowners in the Mid-South region since 1996. The firm acts as the landowner's agent in managing trees and other forest resources. It does not buy standing timber, and it says this is to avoid conflicts of interest. The work covers pine and hardwood. Timber sale coordination is the main service, whether it's a pine thinning, a hardwood select harvest, or a final harvest. The firm says it knows local harvesting conditions, markets and buyers, and "level the playing field" when selling timber. It also says this has helped it get prices up to three times what some landowners got on their own. Other services include timber appraisals for tax basis, timber theft cases, property purchases, or estate planning, plus forest management plans, thinning and reforestation coordination, prescribed burning, forest inventory, and GIS mapping. A job runs in three steps. Registered Foresters write the prescription. The firm then arranges the work with vendors and writes the contracts from the landowner's side. Afterward, staff visit the site to check that the contract is being followed. Founder Billy Rye is a native of Detroit, Alabama, with a forestry degree from Mississippi State University. He spent eight years with the Alabama Forestry Commission's Northwest District before starting the company in June 1996. His credentials include Registered Forester in Alabama and Mississippi, Real Estate Broker in Alabama, and certifications as a Burning Prescriptionist, TREASURE Forest Inspector, and Tree Farm Qualified Inspector. The firm works in Lauderdale County and says it has assisted clients in 86 counties across five states. This suits a landowner who wants someone on their side of the sale and would rather not have a timber buyer advising them too. From fmsforestry.com, read 17 October 2026.
Can they handle a timber sale?
Selling standing timber properly takes three things. Here's what the state register credits this firm with.
Timber AppraisalAn estimate of what your standing timber is worth in dollars, based on how much there is, its quality, and current prices. When you are selling, settling an estate, dividing property, or need a value for taxes or insurance.What does this mean? → — not listed
works out what your standing timber is worth
Timber Cruise & Volume EstimateA field measurement of your standing trees — their species, sizes, and quality — that adds up to how much wood you actually have. Before you sell, so you go in knowing roughly what is out there rather than taking a buyer's word for it.What does this mean? → — not listed
measures and grades what's actually out there
Timber Sale & Contract AdministrationRunning the sale for you: advertising the timber, taking bids, writing the contract, and overseeing the logging so the agreed terms are met. When you want someone on your side handling the whole sale rather than dealing with buyers and loggers yourself.What does this mean? → — not listed
runs the sale and handles the contract
Everything they're registered for
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Counties covered
Forest Management Specialists, Inc.
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