Growth and yield models are indispensable for forest managers and consultants who want to make the correct decisions about their timber investments. This course covers how growth and yield systems fit into a forester's toolbox along with inventory and silviculture. Topics include how modern day growth and yield systems can help foresters 1) avoid common costly mistakes; 2) keep up-to-date databases for all stands; 3) make stand-level decisions on when to thin, how to thin, and when to harvest; and 4) create forest-level management plans that take into account such variables as cash-flow constraints and the number of acres harvested and regenerated per year constraints.

The purpose of this course is to provide attendees with an understanding of what they can legitimately expect from a modern-day growth and yield system, how they can use that system to keep their inventories up to date, and how to make better stand-level and forest-level decisions. Attendees will not make their own growth and yield systems, but they will be able to use existing growth and yield systems.

Foresters who must make decisions on silvicultural treatments such as thinning, harvesting, fertilizing, etc.; who must keep up with the inventory of their lands under management from year to year; and who must develop management plans for stands and/or forests. Non-foresters realtors and other who want to know what they should expect in a management plan and what the potentials and drawbacks are for the tools used by foresters to make management plans.

• Learn how (in general) growth and yield models work and what they can and cannot be used for.
• Learn the importance of previous stand history in projecting the product yields of a stand into the future.
• Learn the importance of providing a good diameter distribu- tion estimate for projecting the product yields of a stand into the future.
• Learn how to use growth and yield systems to provide current product-yield estimates from a cruise conducted in the past.
• Learn the importance of each of the components of yield systems in providing the final product yield.
• Learn how to use growth and yield models to make stand-level decisions.
• Learn what distinguishes forest-level decision-making from stand-level decision-making.
• Learn how to use growth and yield systems to develop a forest management plan.

Barry Shiver and Bruce Borders have been teaching continuing education short courses across the South since 1989 on a variety of topics related to their instruction and research at the Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources of the University of Georgia. Barry recently retired (after 30 years of service!) from the University, where as a professor, he taught classes in timber management, inventory, silviculture, and mensuration. Bruce is a professor at the School, where he teaches courses in timber management, inventory, and biometrics. The two instructors are the authors of the widely used college textbook, Sampling Techniques for Forest Resource Inventory, published in 1996 by John Wiley & Sons. Courses taught by Barry and Bruce are popular! They deliver outstanding technical content in an understandable and enthusiastic manner.

The fee for this course is $395, which includes lunch, refreshment breaks, and instructional materials. There is a $30 discount for fees paid by check or credit card and postmarked by May 10, 2006. Preregistration must be accompanied by check, purchase order, or credit card number to guarantee a place in the course. Limited seating is available. Transfer Fee: The Georgia Center will charge a $50 processing fee for a second course transfer, if applicable.

• 11 Continuing Forestry Education hours — Category 1
• 11 Continuing Logger Education hours — Business Management
• 11 Georgia Real Estate Appraisers Board credits applied for and also accepted by Georgia Real Estate Commission, if approved

Full Attendance Is Mandatory to Receive Credit.

If you are not satisfied with this course, we will refund your registration fee. Third Course Free! Attend two forestry courses in 2006 as a paid participant and get the third course (with equal or lower course fee) for free. Contact Nette Penn, at 706-542-6658 or Nette.Penn@georgiacenter.uga.edu, before you register for the third course. Fourth Person Free! Register three people from your organization and the fourth person is free. All registrants must be with the same program (same address and same budget), and the registration fees must be paid in advance by check or credit card.

This optional one-hour course focuses on case studies to illustrate the place of ethics in the practice of forestry. It meets the ethics requirement for registered foresters in Georgia.

The Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center & Hotel, located on the beautiful, historic campus of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, provides innovative lifelong learning opportunities that develop intellectual and human potential. A full-service living and learning environment, the Georgia Center includes a 200-room hotel, restaurants, banquet areas, conference rooms, auditoriums, a fitness center, and computer labs — all under one roof. As a unit of UGA's Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, the Center brings the University's teaching, research, and service expertise to the people of Georgia and beyond! For more information, visit www.georgiacenter.uga.edu.

Special Needs:
If you require special services, facilities, or dietary considerations, contact your event coordinator, Nette Penn at 706-542-6658 or Nette.Penn@georgiacenter.uga.edu prior to May 24, 2006.

Lodging:
A block of rooms is being held for your conference until 5:00 p.m. ET, May 9, 2006. The Georgia Center will make every effort to accommodate your lodging request. If lodging is unavailable at the Georgia Center Hotel, we will make your room reservation at the Holiday Inn and will notify you. The Holiday Inn (Downtown Athens) will send you confirmation information. All reservations must be made through the Georgia Center Hotel reservation system (see Registration Form). Sales tax of 7% plus a 7% hotel/motel tax must be added to local hotel rates. Note: The Georgia Center is a smoke-free building; all lodging rooms are nonsmoking.

Hotel Overflow
Name of Hotel: Holiday Inn (Downtown Athens)
Address: 197 E. Broad Street, Athens, Georgia 30601
Cost per night: $95

All reservations must be made through the Georgia Center Hotel reservation system (see Registration Form). Sales tax of 7% plus a 7% hotel/motel tax must be added to local hotel rates.

Lodging Policies (Georgia Center Hotel):
(1) Tax Exemption — The State of Georgia only allows tax-exempt charges for a payment by a state-issued credit card or check or by a direct bill to a state agency (with a Georgia State Tax Exemption Certificate). (2) Lodging Cancellation — Cancel your reservation by 4:00 p.m. ET the day prior to your scheduled arrival to avoid being charged one night's room and tax. (3) At check-in, you must present your credit card or a completed credit card authorization form (for a copy, call 800-884-1381, Mon.-Fri., 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET).

Travel Information:
Athens, Georgia, is located about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta. For directions, see www.georgiacenter.uga.edu. A parking deck is located adjacent to the Center (hourly rates, maximum $8 each 24-hour period; vehicle height limit, 7 feet). Athens is served by two airports. Athens-Ben Epps Airport offers connecting flights to and from Charlotte, NC. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is located about 90 minutes southwest of Athens, with scheduled ground shuttle service and rental car service available between the airport and the Georgia Center.

Program Cancellation Policies:
(1) Full refunds are available for cancellations made by 5:00 p.m. ET, May 22, 2006. No refunds will be issued thereafter; substitutions will be allowed. (2) If a conference is cancelled for any reason, the Georgia Center will not be responsible for any charges related to travel. (3) If for unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances an instructor is unable to attend, the Georgia Center reserves the right to substitute a comparable instructor.