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There is nothing wrong with buying clear cut and then you can put buildings exactly where you want them and you can plant exactly what you want. Land for a fruit orchard, land for a garden, land for a pasture, and the lumber company has done the hard work of clearing it for you.
The US Forest Service sells exceedingly cheap and healthy trees for reforestation. Many of the state universities have forestry or agriculture programs that sell a large assortment of native trees for very cheap. I've never had an order turned down because it was from out of state. I just pick, pay, and they mail the trees to me.
Probably most people who want to get away from the cities are hoping to become at least partially self sufficient, and that means a vegetable garden and fruit trees, perhaps chicken coops and a pasture. Those things need a spot that has been cleared of forest.
Lay your property out as you like it and then do reforestation around the edges.
The nature of forest regeneration is different between the East Coast and West Coast.
On the West Coast if you want trees to come back you must plant them. State Forestry Departments have their own nurseries and sell bare-root trees for pennies.
I was looking to purchase some forest land in Washington. the laws there require that for each clear cut, the land owner has a window of two-years during which he is required to re-plant two trees for every tree you removed. The big lumber companies setup billboards alongside the roads, the billboards state the last year the parcel was cut, the year the parcel was re-planted and the projected date of when the next harvest will be.
Here in Maine, because there has never been a drought, in every location where a tree root pokes up out of the ground, if that spot gets sunlight, a new tree will emerge.
If you clear-cut and establish a distinct line, like a property boundary. In three years you will have 10-foot saplings as far as 100 feet into your property.
I have a dirt jeep trail that goes a mile deep crossing one of my parcels. Every second year that jeep trail must be brush hogged again. Saplings come up every year. If I wait any longer then two years the saplings will be so big that a farm tractor will have difficulty pushing them down to be mulched.
I am originally from California, and I owned a home in Washington for a few years. When I settled in Maine and began going to Forestry workshops this was among the big lessons that I had to learn. None of the Foresters here will ever mention re-planting.
I asked about re-planting once at a public workshop, it got a huge laugh from the panel as well as the crowd.
I bought my land from a Forester. After he clear cuts a parcel, he assesses the regrowth every year, and if nature brings back a species of tree that he does not want, he flies a crop-duster over the parcel spraying broad-leaf herbicides. To kill the unwanted trees, in the hope that nature will conform by growing the more desired species of trees.
I tried to transplant a tree that would be mowed down for a house to be built, but my soil is so hard and rocky I gave up after a few days of trying to dig a hole. There are tree giveaways each year, but again I can't dig a hole to plant them. Four of my seven dogwoods died this past winter on my spare lot. I fertilized the other three to try to help them. My future neighbors did what I did and other have done which was buying the lot beside them.
I tried to transplant a tree that would be mowed down for a house to be built, but my soil is so hard and rocky I gave up after a few days of trying to dig a hole.
With just a couple of minutes with google. There are plenty more. probably one of more in every state.
I looked at UCONN and didn't see anything. Using your Forest Service link, I found out there are 6 nurseries in the US, but the link to see them doesn't work. Google found me this - thanks! https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-lan...ment/nurseries
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