Guide · Natural Resources
Timber, Forestry, and Wildfire: A Comprehensive Guide to Harvest Contracts, Trespass Damages, Practices Rules, and Fire Liability
16 U.S.C. § 3372
- Type
- Guide
- Jurisdiction
- National
- Date
- 2024-07-08
- Topic
- Natural Resources
This guide covers timber and wildfire from the property foundation through claim resolution. It develops standing timber as an interest in land, the consequences of severance, and the reservations and timber deeds that separate tree ownership from land ownership. It works through timber sale contracts clause by clause, distinguishing lump sum from pay-as-cut arrangements and identifying the boundary and residual damage provisions that prevent the field's most expensive disputes. It develops timber trespass in detail — why damages are multiplied, how good faith affects the multiplier, and the five competing measures of underlying damages whose selection frequently matters more than the multiplier does. It covers forest practices regulation, the water quality, endangered species, and federal land overlays, and logging safety. It closes with wildfire liability: the theories reaching utilities, contractors, and landowners; the inverse condemnation question; the discretionary function doctrine that shields government defendants; and insurance.
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