You are standing looking over the 40 acre Maine woodlot you have owned for the last 24 years.
You have had calls from several woodcutters and are debating harvesting mature timber.
Each Maine land woodcutter says a higher dollar number of what he will pay for stump-age. "Pick me pick me" is the idea.
What can happen...property lines not surveyed and you are not sure where it starts and stops boundary wise. Triple stumpage damages, court costs, litigation. Cutter is suppose to determine lines before cutting and has strict rules of the process involved in harvest operations in Maine. But what if he ignores them?
You were told selective cutting only...just remove some of the over story and what is left will grow lickety split. You think it makes sense that by not cutting this over story, everything in the 
forest will not be in the dark and stunted growth wise.
Like a garden, if you thin out the crowded raddishes, the other raddishes do better kinda of thinking.
Or removing your wisdom teeth takes away the over crowding philosphy or analogy so you say go for it.
Mr Chainsaw starts operation and had promised only to remove a percentage of Maine woodlot trees, that he was working with a licensed forester with a report and timber cruise all in hand.
Weeks go by, you never see any proceeds, phone number gets disconnected.
You can no longer contact Paul Bunyan who you gave the green light to harvest some timber for the good of the woodlot.
You hop on your horse, head up Interstate 95 to the property in Maine. A sinking, stinking, sick feeling overwhelms you when you get to the Maine land. The tract that used to be a healthy thick timbered, wooded property in Maine.
Smoking stumps from World World III and Maine land that looks napalmed is all that is left.
Don't worry...those scarred, drooped over little Charlie Brown Christmas type trees will grow 
back...in fifty three years. You'll only be about 123 by then right?
How do you avoid this nightmare?
Talk to the Maine forester involved first. Get references on the Maine wood cutter.
Ask for slips on loads removed that are supervised by the forester.
Call the Maine Forest Service and ask them questions about the process and how to avoid mistakes..what to watch out for.
If the Maine woodlot is cut properly, managed correctly with an approved forestry plan with good land use practices in place, your lumbering movie can have a happy ending. And you can receive funds for the lumber removed. All that is due you. And maybe get improved roads or a new culvert on the driveway in in the process of wood removal. Maine land, wooded or farm land is underpriced, under valued. Aroostok County is a sleeping giant in this respect when talking Maine land prices.
When to cut the Maine woodlot also a consideration.
If the Maine lumber market is off due to home building being slowed, the price mills are paying for wood will be lower. Translation: Means smaller check to you from Mr Woodcutter. Read a court case finding on a cutting operation in an Aroostook County Maine to get a sense of what is involved and what the law from the Maine Forestry Service is all about here.
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