Getting ready for our first timber harvest.

We have two main stands of white pine mixed with some very large balsam fir. Much of this pine is what is called field pine here and has been damaged repeatedly by pine weevils. Weevils kill the leading stem (apical meristem) of the tree creating jogs in the trunk where a side shoot has taken over and grown. In severe cases, the upper branches can look like a basket. Many of these trees are at the end of their lives, some have already died and fallen. Within this tangle of wood, there are some decent, straight young pine trees and it is these we hope to nurture. This winter, once the ground freezes, one of our neighbors who cuts trees for a living, will come and harvest those trees I have marked. He will use a tractor to remove the wood. Unfortunately, he has just sold his oxen which he used to use. I was looking for as low as an environmental impact as I could get for our harvest. In the hierarchy of choices we make, I can accept a tractor for skidding wood. I'm hoping to remove about 40% of the canopy, leaving an open floored forest for new pine trees to start. The wood will be sold for pulp or biomass.

I will be the first to admit that I have no experience when it comes to marking trees for a harvest but I do have some "common sense" goals for harvesting our pine stands. I want to eliminate the most diseased trees that are slowly dying anyway. I also want to keep the straightest trees even if they have multiple trunks. This is for two reasons. The first is for potential lumber. The second is for forest canopy structure. By canopy structure I mean that I want the branches of these older trees around to support the younger trees as they grow. These two goals create my "marking" strategy. I'm also trying to leave "clumps" of trees within close proximity to each other, grouping as much as I can in three's in a triangular pattern. My feeling is that if I were to harvest leaving trees somewhat more evenly spaced, they'd be more prone to being blown over in the wind. I have no evidence to support this but I feel this type of spacing is more natural both for the trees and also for animal habitat.

In one old field area, I was having a difficult time seeing the trees thru the forest, so to speak. Our pine stands have never been managed (pruned) so, looking into this stand of pine trees, you would see just a tangle of dead branches. So, I have decided to prune the stand before we harvest. This is no small undertaking but makes determining which trees to take much easier.

The smaller branches are being pruned by hand with a razor saw and broken up by hand into small pieces. The larger branches are being pruned with a chainsaw and run through my chipper. I'm only pruning as high as I can reach but this gets most of the heaviest dead wood out of the way. There is also standing dead wood and the smaller of these are being taken down, cut into 4-6' lengths and will be used to create wildlife brush piles (see previous post). There are also some smaller hardwoods, some of which are being removed to keep this a predominantly pine forest.

As tree harvesting this winter will create a mountain of brush, it sounds silly for me to pre-clear and chip but I do have some well thought out reasons for doing so aside from being able to see what's what. One reason is safety. By removing and shredding branches, I feel there will be less obstacles for the person harvesting to deal with. Secondly, I view the brush from harvesting as "fertilizer". Once wood dies, it is mostly degraded by wood fungi. By leaving different sizes of wood pieces to decay, I am essentially creating "time-release" fertilizer.

I assume this is the same basic premis of leaving the unusable tree parts on the ground during a timber harvest. Heavy equipment drives over the brush and crushes it. Crushed debris would aid in protecting the forest floor from erosion and decays over time. Of course, the crushed and dried brush also provides great tinder for a fire. This may be why many choose to pile the brush and burn it.

I'm hoping the dead wood I am clearing and hand-breaking or chipping now will provide lots of food material for wood fungi. Once the trees I have marked have been removed and the green brush left on the ground, the already decaying material will have an abundance of fungi which will migrate to the newly placed material. This is purely speculation mind you, but as a scientist, it's my nature to treat pretty much everything as an experiment. I may decide to chip some of the leftovers from harvesting but I will see when I get there.

Mid-November Update: It looks as if winter weather has finally come to stay! Nights are in the low 20's and our days barely move above freezing if at all. I have finished cleaning up an area bordered by a stone wall that was probably once garden space. Farmers tended to "fence in" their garden area leaving the outside area for livestock. This area is nice and flat and looks good now that it's been cleaned up. I've been careful to leave one wooded area that is in thick early forest growth alone as it's prime habitat for small animals. This week, I've moved out side the stone wall where the terrain is sloped, strewn with large rocky outcroppings and much more rugged terrain-wise. I bring only my chainsaw to this area as most of the trees are either huge or dead and my goals here are different. I move much quicker as I'm pruning large trees spaced farther apart. I'm also taking down some of the smaller standing deadwood. I'm careful to leave many of the larger dead trees as they provide habitat for woodpeckers, owls and other tree cavity-dwelling critters. There are many "pockets" or shallow depressions in the forest floor and it is in these scattered pockets that I place the debris from pruning and cutting.

One of our neighbors makes wreaths for all of her friends (including us) and for the past few years, she's been coming over to our land to "tip" the balsam fir trees. As I've been clearing some of the smaller of these in an area that will become our yard, I leave her neat piles of brush to gather her tips from. Once she's done with her wreaths, I'll mow the branches with my field mower. The smell of balsam is wonderful in the cold, crisp air!

Forest Road Work

Halloween has come and gone and the kids have recovered from their annual overdose of sugar. We have begun November with nights getting down into the low 20's; some of our days haven't migrated beyond the mid-40's. The ground is starting to freeze but is still thawing during the day. It's just a matter of time before the ground will be frozen till spring. I have yet to till the garden under for fall (again) and it may just have to wait till next year.

With the bridge complete, my efforts have turned to the repair of some of the forest roads (ie. skidder trails) that traverse our woods. Our property was severely cut about 12 years ago with little regard to much of anything except getting as much wood out as possible. Deep skidder ruts are frequent as harvesting took place on unfrozen ground. I have spent some time pruning the trees on the sides of these roads, making brush piles for the critters and leveling and grading the trails so they drain water. It's too cold for seed but come next spring, I will put conservation mix (basically grass seed and clover) down where there is now bare soil so that I can keep these roads mowed and looking nice. Saving this work for spring is not an option. The ground here freezes deep and in the spring, it takes a long time for the ground to thaw and to become dry enough to be workable. I have found that trying to work in the mud just makes more mud. So, my options are limited to dryer times which means typically summer and fall. Some of my trail are through naturally wet areas which narrows my work time even further.

All of the birds have migrated save the chickadees who twitter about the branches and give me advice while I'm out working. I've seen lots of deer tracks on our land but hunting season started this past weekend and I have a suspicion that a few of our "neighbors" have walked right by the POSTED signs onto our land with their guns. I'm neither for nor against hunting but I do feel that animals should have pockets of land that are a safe haven against human predation. I'm also an advocate for property owners rights which includes the right to decide who can access your land. For me, it's all about respect. Unfortunately, this basic value seems to get displaced by a certain amount of senselessness which coincides with the arrival of deer season. 'Nuff said.

The roads (skidder trails) on our property were at least placed with some sensibility. My goal is to repair and maintain some of these roads which will allow tractor access to most of our property. On our 55 acres, we have a centrally located developed gravel road that runs pretty much up the middle of our rectangle-shaped plot. This road has stone wall bordered field on much of either side of it.

Out of the far corners of the fields, there are secondary roads and it is these which I am repairing. There are breaks in the walls where skidders have broken through leaving scattered piles of rock. These walls are being rebuilt to create nicer looking breaks and the trails repaired and graded. These secondary roads will allow access for sensible timber harvesting for both the hardwood and softwood on our land (read: firewood and lumber).

One stretch of particularly wet road is getting a layer of corduroy (see previous blog). This is an ongoing experiment as I have no idea how long the poles I am setting as corduroy will last. The road continues to get filled with fir poles and topped with a layer of fine gravel. The "paving" of the road progresses as I get to clearing more of the fir trees from old field areas.

Update: October has ended with an unusually warm spell and a bunch of rain. I've fixed two of the worst roads but still need to harvest more fir poles to finish about 25' of corduroy in my wettest area. I've spent my budget of gravel for the year and still need to top the newest 25' of corduroy. I may also need to purchase a culvert to complete drainage of this area. This will wait till next spring at least. I will be able to place the rest of the poles this winter as I'll be clearing more land once things get colder.

In anticipation of a snowy winter, I have also begun creating and opening up some trails for cross country skiing. These are low on the priority list but they are part of the grand scheme of things as well. I'm hoping for a nice window of opportunity, with cold weather and frozen ground, before the snow flies.