True North Forest Management Services
About True North Forest Management Services
True North Forest Management Services is a sole practice run by David P. Halley, listed on the N.C. Forest Service consulting-forester register as North Carolina Registered Forester #1428, with a register entry covering 18 counties across the northern piedmont from Alamance and Orange through Wake and Johnston down to Richmond and Hoke at the edge of the Sandhills, and recording 15 services including timber appraisal, cruising, sale and contract administration, reforestation, timber stand improvement, prescribed burning, forest taxation, herbicide recommendations, wildlife management and stewardship plans. The firm says on its own site that Halley established it after moving to North Carolina in 1999, and describes it as a full service forestry consulting and natural resources management company based in Holly Springs that primarily serves private forest landowners in Wake, Harnett, Chatham, Orange, Durham, Moore, Lee, Vance, Granville, Person, Alamance, Johnston and Franklin counties. It says its clients are mostly small non-industrial private landowners and that it builds a management program around each owner's aims, which it says may be income, value appreciation, improved wildlife habitat or better recreational use of the property; its services are unbundled, the firm says, so a client can take only what is needed or a turnkey program covering every aspect of forest management. Beyond the register list the site names longleaf pine restoration, hardwood and pine management, hunting lease management, boundary line maintenance, cost-share assistance, forest aesthetics and recreational trail enhancements. Halley is a Society of American Foresters Certified Forester (#1982), a Certified Forest Stewardship Plan Contractor and a 2000 graduate of the North Carolina Natural Resources Leadership Institute; the site also lists membership of the North Carolina Tree Farm Committee, the Forest Landowners Association, the Society of American Foresters and the Forest Stewards Guild. The firm invites landowners to arrange a no-obligation first inspection of their timberlands. On tract size the firm addresses landowners in its own words as “whether you own 10 acres or 1,000 acres”, so ten acres is the smallest holding it states it works with. As described on truenorthforestry.biz, read 23 September 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? →
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? →
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? →
runs the sale and handles the contract
Everything they're registered for
Hover or tap a service to see what it means for you.
True North Forest Management Services
Tell us what you're trying to do and we'll make the introduction. Free, no obligation.
Registered forester
Member of
Association of Consulting Foresters
Society of American Foresters