The forester you actually get.
Hiring a consulting forester means trusting one person’s judgment with land you may hold for the rest of your life. You should know who that person is. Here is my background, my credentials, and how I work.
- Background -
The person behind the practice.
I am Brandon Baird. I studied forestry at Michigan State University, finished my degree in 2016, and I am a Michigan Registered Forester. In 2022 I opened Baird Forestry in Mason, just south of Lansing, and I have run it the same way since the first day: one forester, working directly for landowners.
Independence is the working principle. I buy no timber and I take no commissions from mills or buyers. The landowner is my only client, so when I recommend a harvest, a burn, or patience, you know exactly who the recommendation serves.
The practice covers timber sales and appraisals, forest management plans, ecological restoration, prescribed fire, invasive species control, and wildlife habitat. I treat those as one body of work. A well-run harvest can fund restoration, and restoration builds the value of the next harvest. Either way, the goal is woods that are healthier a decade from now than the day we met.
I work across the southern Lower Peninsula, roughly everything within a two-hour drive of Lansing, from Clare County south. The service area page lists every county. If you are not sure your property fits, call and ask. There is no cost to talk and no obligation to proceed.
- One forester -
When you hire Baird Forestry, you get me.
I answer the phone. I walk the property and cruise the timber. I write the plan, mark the trees, and run the bidding. And when the logging crew shows up, I am the forester standing in your woods. The person you talk to on the first call is the person responsible on the last day.
- On the record -
Credentials you can check.
Nothing here asks you to take my word for it. The registration, the degree, the plan certification, and the society membership each have a record of their own.
State registry
Michigan Registered Forester
Listed in the State of Michigan registry of professional foresters.
#47097
Education
B.S. Forestry
Michigan State University. Coursework spanned silviculture, ecology, soils, and forest economics.
MSU · 2016
Plan certification
Forest Stewardship Plan preparer
Authorized to write management plans qualifying landowners for state and federal cost-share programs.
FSP-certified
Professional society
Society of American Foresters
Member of the national professional society for foresters, with its code of ethics and continuing education.
Member
- How I work -
The shape of an engagement.
Every property is different. The frame is the same four steps, scaled to the work at hand.
Walk the land together
We meet on your woods. You tell me what you are trying to do; I see what is there and what is possible. Sometimes that is one walk, sometimes a few visits.
Scope the project
A written scope tailored to the work at hand. A burn, a sale, a plan, a restoration, or a combination. Whatever the engagement is, the terms are clear up front.
Do the work
Execution under that scope. You stay informed at the milestones that matter; I handle coordination, oversight, and the field work.
Stay in touch
Forestry plays out over years. When a project closes, I am still your forester for the next question, the next decision, the next chapter.
Common questions about timing, fit, and what to expect are answered on the FAQs page.
- In their words -
What it is like to work together.
Douglas Marshall hired me for a selective harvest and then a prescribed burn on part of his family’s eighty acres. His account is printed in full, exactly as he wrote it, beside a note from an attorney who refers clients to the practice.
Brandon was initially contacted to provide advice regarding an eighty acre parcel of timberland, consisting of mainly oak and maple trees. The property has been in my family for about 150 years and I am the current owner of the property. We periodically selectively timber the property for two reasons. One is to provide funds to pay the property taxes and the other is to promote favorable growing conditions for the timber. Brandon advised that it was an appropriate time to do another selective cutting and also advised that I should consider doing a prescribed burn to promote the growth and regeneration of more desirable species of trees, like oak, by reducing underbrush and competing species of trees.
Brandon was then hired to mark the trees for the selective cutting, put the job up for bids, manage the bidding process, assist me in selecting the winning bid, coordinate with the winning logger, monitor the worksite, and inspect the worksite once the cutting had been completed. He kept me well informed during the entire process and answered all of my questions. He carefully selected the trees to be cut, leaving a naturalistic placement of trees of different maturities. Brandon met with me to walk the property while the logging was taking place and explained what was being done. I was impressed with his knowledge of current forestry management practices. I could not be more pleased with the results of the selective cutting and Brandon's management of the entire process.
Shortly after the selective cutting was completed, Brandon followed up with me to assess my interest in doing a prescribed burn of the property, as he had earlier recommended. He put me in touch with the Michigan Forestry Association (MFA), which administers a State program called The Forest and Water Fund (funded by the U.S. Forest Service), that encourages timberland owners to use prescribed burns as a method of enhancing timber productivity in Michigan. Working with Brandon, I decided to proceed with a prescribed burn of a 40 acre parcel of my property. He helped me apply for a grant from the MFA, coordinated with a trusted, experienced contractor who has conducted numerous previous prescribed burns (for the State of Michigan and others), and notified the owners of neighboring parcels about the prescribed burn being conducted on my property. The prescribed burn was completed as planned when the weather conditions were optimal. I was very pleased with how Brandon effectively managed the entire prescribed burn process - from helping me to obtain funding to the actual burn - and am anxious to see the results.
I highly recommend Brandon and Baird Forestry and I look forward to continuing to work with Brandon in managing this property in the future.
Timber sale and prescribed-burn client · 80 acres
Contact
Ready to talk about your woods?
Tell me about your property: county, acreage, and goals. When the project is a fit we walk the land together, and a clear written scope and quote follows.
By telephone
(517) 290-0043Direct line for landowner inquiries. Calls and messages returned within 24 hours
Brandon Baird · Michigan Registered Forester · #47097 · Works only for landowners, never for mills or buyers.
Service area: The southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, within about a two-hour drive of Lansing