Jim Thorpe Borough Council unanimously agreed Thursday night to allow Keystone Timber to submit a proposal on how it would survey and potentially manage trees on borough-owned land for timber harvesting.

Representatives from Keystone Timber attended last week’s workshop session to request permission to evaluate borough property for possible forest management opportunities, Council Member Greg Strubinger said.

“They believe there are some opportunities for some management of trees on borough land,” Strubinger said. “We’re not engaging them to actually do any type of physical work at this point, just to go out to survey the lands of the borough and come back with a proposal. There is no cost to the borough at this point, nor would there be at any point going forward.”

Cody Campion and Zach Hess from Keystone Timber told council they would evaluate borough property, conduct timber bids, and manage the harvesting operation on behalf of the municipality. The forestry consultants explained that their compensation would be structured as a percentage of any potential timber sale.

“We get 15% of the timber sale and the borough would get the remaining profit,” Hess told the council.

The men emphasized that their approach focuses on comprehensive forest management rather than simply removing valuable timber.

“We’re looking at managing the woods,” they said. “We’re not just going out to cut trees. We literally evaluate every tree on property, and we say, is this tree right for harvest? Is it at its biological maturity and its ecological maturity, and what happens when we cut this tree?”

When asked about potential financial returns, Campion indicated they would provide detailed estimates after conducting a thorough assessment. He explained that the bidding process would be competitive, involving numerous potential buyers.

“We’ll send the information out to 80 sawmills,” Campion said. “We’ll send it to every sawmill east of central Pennsylvania and up to New York. Typically, you’re going to get anywhere from three to 15 bidders. They have, typically, 18 months to 24 months to harvest the trees, and we’ll oversee that entire harvest.”

According to Strubinger, the company is already performing similar work on adjacent property owned by the Lehighton Water Authority, which could serve as a local reference point for evaluating their methods.

“We do have some local reference there to talk with them about how this process is working for them,” Strubinger said.

If approved, the forest management would not involve clear-cutting borough lands, Strubinger emphasized.

“I think that everybody jumps to that conclusion,” he said. “Absolutely not. I would not be in favor of having the lands just clear cut. They’re coming in and looking at trees that have reached maturity and what opportunities are there.”

The proposal appears to involve a long-term management plan, officials said. Strubinger said the company envisions returning approximately every 12-18 years to manage another group of trees, indicating this would be part of an ongoing forest maintenance program rather than a one-time timber harvest.

Councilman Mike Yeastedt said such management can “actually be healthy for the forest to clear out some of the dead wood and the underbrush.”

According to council members, the next step would involve the timber company representatives educating council “on what they do and how they do it” before any commitments are made regarding forest management on borough lands.

“They bring their proposal back and at that time,” Councilman Tom Chapman said, “we may look at it and say there are benefits or we may say this isn’t right for us.”