When the appraiser holds the contract
You wouldn't let the person buying your house also write its appraisal.
In forestry, that arrangement is common. The firm that values a stand of timber is often the same firm holding the contract to manage or harvest it. Nobody has to be dishonest for that to be a problem. When the same hand holds the measuring tape and the paycheck, everyone else is right to wonder which way the tape bends.
Why forestry has to change →