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I'm soon getting a 4 acre wood lot. It is an hour from portland, 40 mins from salem, an hour from Corvallis. All times approximate and dependent on traffic.
I'm thinking about making available a small number of "memberships" or "mini rentals" at a monthly rate.

I've always wanted to have a privately owned tree farm to visit and get away from the urban life. This property is surrounded by private timber (not the big names) and is behind two gates. Yes there is vehicle access.

I'm not sure how or if this would work, and I'm not even sure if anybody would be interested.

I have not thought any of this out, this is in the early creation stages of the idea.

I do know that I will require a thorough bgc and credit history.

Testing the water's before I make it available.
What do you think?

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Yep. Minus the woodcutting part. Just for recreation. Private retreat type stuff.

I'd go out and walk the ground with ya; perhaps a quasi-survey to identify areas where various things can happen.

No charge for my opinions, I need the exercise....

Given the right conditions on the ground, reasonable liability insurance, and written lease agreements, I'm sure; at least modest number of people would be interested.
 
Congrats on your acquisition Sheepdog! I'd love to own a piece of property like that. Already got out of Portland earlier this year, and my next move will be even more rural into a home where I can tromp out my back door in a flannel, boxers and mud boots to rattle off a few rounds.

But I'm also a bit jaded. My par-for-the-course nightmare would be to finally achieve that, and then have the EPA or some other self-justifying body tell me I can't put lead in the ground or some similar nonsense.

Seriously, it would be worth investigating (anonymously) all aspects of anything that generates income in that neck of the woods to see what sorts of restrictions, permits and fines might come into play. Maybe talk to people who already manage/own campgrounds, ranges, clubs, forestry service, etc., to benefit in advance from some of their experience.

As a staunch conservative, I hate seeing stuff like that. And I don't want to seem like a wet blanket, which is surely not my intent. But the cynical side of me has observed that if anything is fun in Oregon, someone will find a way to regulate it and assess fees.

I hope none of this stuff affects what you're planning because it sounds VERY cool!
 
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Point Of View ... Experienced ... Objective ...

Great idea. Getting it up and running may be problematical. We live in SW OR USA. Some of our friends own large, (640 ac.+) tracts of forest land. Most of their waking hours during work days seems to be spent dealing with various governments and private special interest groups.

The good news is that the larger tracts of forest land can and do pay for themselves. Gentle and professionally removed fuel is an ongoing project. Many cords of various hardwoods. All sold. This seems to pay for the taxes and folks doing the thinning. But there is another price.

Timber prices right now suck.

The tree hugger fish kisser commie socialist liberal special interest groups are a continued pain in the arse. It grows to the point where legal counsel is retained. Expensive. First name basis with various law enforcement agencies like County Sheriff, ODF, BLM and FS law enforcement.

Trespassing is common and impossible to restrain or detain. Right now times are tough in SW OR USA and lots of non august people live in the woods. They tend to ignore trespassing signs. Removal of these people is legally difficult. Understand what you want to do is possible but difficult.

Fire season is the big concern. One match and a persons dream goes up in smoke. This is the reality of owning large parcels of excellent forest land. That and building restrictions. Fire insurance non obtainable. Liability insurance expensive. Government restrictions still increasing.

Respectfully.
 
In my opinion 4 acres is not enough to open up to anybody other than family or close friends on an invite basis only. My home place is 5 acres, my Central Oregon property is 2 acres and I am looking for another 40 acres or so in Central Oregon now to be able to shoot and have my own camping site.

When you bring outside people on to your property you bring in every issue and expectation they have. You also will have maintenance issues and when you need work done, you will be the one doing it. I used to let people come out and shoot at my home place, but it got to be problematic because people wanted to bring people, nobody helped me rebuild the backstops and I was cleaning other peoples brass up.

My kids brought a few friends out but that got out of hand and I told them enforce the rules or it stops. It pretty much stopped and that is a good thing. Any more one of my sons, my neighbors ( LEO, ammo loader) are the only ones who shoot anymore. As I have gotten older, I want more peace in nature, and don't really want to share my places with other than my hand picked choices.

Now get off my lawn.
 
In my opinion 4 acres is not enough to open up to anybody other than family or close friends on an invite basis only. My home place is 5 acres, my Central Oregon property is 2 acres and I am looking for another 40 acres or so in Central Oregon now to be able to shoot and have my own camping site.

When you bring outside people on to your property you bring in every issue and expectation they have. You also will have maintenance issues and when you need work done, you will be the one doing it. I used to let people come out and shoot at my home place, but it got to be problematic because people wanted to bring people, nobody helped me rebuild the backstops and I was cleaning other peoples brass up.

My kids brought a few friends out but that got out of hand and I told them enforce the rules or it stops. It pretty much stopped and that is a good thing. Any more one of my sons, my neighbors ( LEO, ammo loader) are the only ones who shoot anymore. As I have gotten older, I want more peace in nature, and don't really want to share my places with other than my hand picked choices.

Now get off my lawn.

Your past experience sounds like my crystal ball. I can see having a problem between my articulating and people's perception on matters such as "yes, you can cut a little wood. But not to much" or "yes you can shoot a little here and there but dont blast away for hours" or "yes you can park off the properties road but don't use that as an excuse to mud up and off-road the place.

That's the voice I didn't know I was looking for. It's going to be hard enough keeping immediate family from taking over the place. Thanks.
 
Your past experience sounds like my crystal ball. I can see having a problem between my articulating and people's perception on matters such as "yes, you can cut a little wood. But not to much" or "yes you can shoot a little here and there but dont blast away for hours" or "yes you can park off the properties road but don't use that as an excuse to mud up and off-road the place.

That's the voice I didn't know I was looking for. It's going to be hard enough keeping immediate family from taking over the place. Thanks.

You are welcome. Trust me, I have been down that road. All those things you just mentioned will happen. My places are my escape from the busy world. If I want to invite some people over, I will. If I don't, I won't. 4 acres should not be a financial burden that would require a way to make income off it in order to afford it. It should be your happy place without one small thought of what others want, expect or you having any kind of reservation of second thought about any work you want to need to do there.

Buy it and enjoy it.
 

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