I had to shift my summer work expectations as well; knowing that I would get less done in our forest than I had in the past. The logging was completed last October. Sadly, there was more habitat destruction than I would have liked. After clear instructions to leave specific trees for deer habitat, they were cut down. Since then, I have seen very little evidence of deer in our woods. But, with time, I know the habitat will regrow and the deer will return this fall in search of apples. On a positive note, the areas that were selectively cut were cut well. Brush from the logging was spread out and cut small enough to lie close to the ground. After one year, the brush has settled down. In a few years, the brush should begin to decay well and the forested areas look better than before they were worked. When you bring someone to work on your land, they bring their knowledge and ways of looking at things with them. Finding compromise and being comfortable with the outcome is important. While I'm upset that some areas weren't cut as I would have liked, I'm grateful to have had an experienced logger work my land and leave it looking as nice as though it were his own. Life, after all, is about appreciating balance and accepting compromise.
Clearing the land ends up being both a blessing and a curse. As more land is cleared to field, there is more to mow. The popples, raspberries and other invasives tend to want to plant roots and grow. Keeping these in check the first few years is important to allow the native grasses to recolonize. Mowing stole a good amount of my free time this spring and summer.
With my remaining time, I continued to clean up the corridor
along our access road. There is a band of white pine that runs diagonally through our property and which crosses the road. This is where I focused my efforts this summer. Slowly, I made my way through each small portion of pine and pruned the branches up to about 10-12 feet. I continue to embrace my method of dissecting branches. The largest pieces of wood are cut into 3' lengths and taken to an area I want to fill. Branches between 1-3 inches thick are stacked to be chipped later on and the smaller branches are piled in a flat area and shredded with my field mower.I continue to experiment with the wood decay process in what I
affectionately call the "You Rot" pile. These have taken on several incarnations. One area is a large steep hill side on the edge of a field that I want to temper to a gentler slope. There are also regular small depressions within wooded areas I want to fill. The method remains similar regardless.The larger pieces of wood are laid flat, all in the same direction, filling in a depression or creating a slope.
The mulch left from mower shredding is raked up, piled in my tractor bucket, dumped and spread over the top of the wood. I'm hoping this creates an ideal habitat for all the microorganisms that cause wood decay. The layer of mulch will allow the wood to remain moist while allowing some air to get in to the pile. Time, of course, will tell how successful my method is.The remaining 1-3" branches will be run through my chipper and the chips used for mulch around fruit trees, raspberry bushes or newly planted concord grape vines. The remaining chips will be broadcast over the area they have come from. My hope is that the extra time I spend now cleaning up these areas will be time I won't have to spend in the future maintaining them.
The edge of a forest is a transition zone and I am sensitive to keeping most all of these areas intact. Most I will completely leave alone. The ones closest to our road though I tend by thinning and pruning the balsam fir that grow there naturally. There are plenty for us to selectively cut for Christmas trees and every year, we also offer trees to those in our area that can't afford or don't have access to a tree for the Holidays.
The burnable wood that comes out of cleaning up these areas (there is always standing dead hardwood) gets bartered. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful neighbor who is a massage therapist. She likes the small diameter wood that comes from selective cutting for the wood cook stove in her kitchen and I'm certainly not going to argue with the offer of an occasional massage.
