About Us

Founded in 1974, Natural Resource Planning Services, Inc. (NRPS) is a Florida based consulting company offering superior professional forestry, wildlife, arboricultural and environmental services in the Southeastern United States. While NRPS has offices and concentrations of staff in the San Antonio (Central Florida), Lake City (North Florida), and Tallahassee (Eastern Panhandle) areas, the wider geographic distribution of staff across Florida and the Southeastern US places NRPS in close proximity to its clientele. This is critical as we provide forestry/wildlife services on over 750,000 acres of forestland.

NRPS started, however, as a vision of its two founders, Jack Vogel & Tom Mastin, working out of their homes in San Antonio & Gainesville, Florida. In 1974, private forestry consulting was uncommon, but Jack & Tom steadily grew a clientele of appreciative landowners that benefited from their expertise, loyalty and commitment. Over the years, NRPS has never grown in quick surges of additional staffing, but rather has benefited from a steady growth of dedicated professionals who have joined the NRPS family – expanding from two to roughly thirty employees to meet the ongoing needs of its clientele. Tom has since retired and longtime employees John Holzaepfel and Tony Wallace are co-principals with Jack. Today the culture of loyalty and commitment to our clients remains, whether we are assisting a small private landowner or a large institutional client.

Through the years, the service areas have expanded to include forestry, wildlife, urban forestry & arboriculture, timber/ag land appraisal & real estate, and most recently, a greater focus on environmental services. NRPS provides a breadth of environmental services from endangered species surveys to permitting a wetland or conservation mitigation bank. Other fields of expertise are provided by Legacy Wildlife Services (LWS) & Legacy Arborist Services (LAS), divisions of NRPS with concentrations on specific service areas. LWS assists with hunting lease and game management on tracts in six states from Arkansas to Florida. LAS provides urban forestry & arboricultural services to public & private clientele across Florida and into adjacent states. An affiliated company, Legacy Appraisal Services, LLC, specializes in all aspects of timberland investment valuation across Eastern US, Central America & South America.

NRPS leverages its years of timberland brokerage experience and client relationships by partnering with SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler, a longtime leader in Florida land brokerage. As SVN-SRD’s Forestry Group, we have expertise in all types of land brokerage including timber, agricultural, recreational/hunting, conservation, and transitional lands. With offices in Lake City, Florida and Thomasville, Georgia and with SVN-SRD Forestry Group agents located from Mid-Georgia to Central Florida, we provide land brokerage services throughout Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

John T. “Jack” Vogel – President and Co-Founder / Consulting Forester

Jack has practiced forestry for nearly five decades and is an icon in the forestry community. He remains active in forestry consulting, and as a Florida Licensed Real Estate Broker, participates in timberland real estate brokerage. Jack’s many awards are beyond listing, though include the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Presidential Field Forester Award, the FL-SAF C. Huxley Coulter Award (outstanding contributions to forestry), election into the FL-SAF Florida Foresters Hall of Fame, and the University of Florida (UF) – School of Forest Resources & Conservation (SFRC) Distinguished Alumni Award. Jack served twice as the President of the Florida Forestry Association (FFA) and received the FFA Lifetime Achievement Award. Jack is a SAF Fellow – a prestigious award that recognizes someone who is a true ambassador for the advancement of forestry with long-standing service to forestry at the local, state, and national levels.

John A. “Tony” Wallace, ACF, CF – COO & Vice-President / Consulting Forester

Tony, based out of our Lake City office, has practiced forestry for over three decades and has served as Chief Operating Officer for NRPS since 2005. Tony is a Florida Licensed Real Estate Broker and directs the timberland real estate brokerage services. Tony is also a Florida State-Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and a Georgia Certified General Real Estate Appraiser. Tony has been active in the Florida Forestry Association, where he was formerly a member of the Executive Committee and has chaired multiple FFA committees.

John H. Holzaepfel, ACF, CF, CA – Vice President / Consulting Forester

John has practiced forestry for over three decades. As a Florida Licensed Real Estate Broker, he participates in timberland real estate brokerage. John has strong focus on traditional forestry consulting and business development, but also supports other service areas including urban forestry and environmental. John has been active in multiple forestry organizations and has served as Chair/President of the Southeastern – Society of American Foresters (SAF), the Florida Division – SAF, the Florida Chapter – Association of Consulting Foresters (ACF), and the Florida Urban Forestry Council. John serves on the Board of Directors for the Florida Forestry Association, the Practicing Foresters Institute Trust, and the UF – SFRC Advisory Board and is past Chair of the SFRC – FRC Program Committee. John has been appointed by the FL Commissioner of Agriculture to the Florida Forestry Council, an advisory board to the State Forester. He is a recipient of the FL-SAF C. Huxley Coulter Award for outstanding contributions to forestry. John is also a SAF Fellow – a prestigious award that recognizes long-standing service to forestry at the local, state, and national levels.