any loggers within day trip from chicago?

[euroford]

we are a non-profit organization that builds and maintains mountain bike trails and parks in the Chicago area and are trying to figure out how to obtain wood applicable to building trail features. specifically listed as approved woods by the IMBA (international mountain bike association, which we are a chapter of) are redwood, cedar, white oak, cypress, locust and manzanita. obviously some of those aren't found in our area.

what i'd like, is some advice on where i could locate any of this, what resources are used to research standing lumber* availability?

(* heck, we'd even be thrilled to clean up some old ladies deadfall)

what we'd really like to do is find some within a day trip of chicago and hopefully a land manager who would be willing to donate to our organization, or even a logging company willing to donate. we could provide a tax deductible receipt. we could even buy the stuff, but like any other volunteer organization we try to leverage our 501.3c status and stretch a buck as far as it can go.

not to mention of course, it'll be allot of fun to go play logger every now and then.

i figure anything within 300 miles would not be a big deal.

thoughts? yeah, i know, kind of bizarre thread, but i'm just trying to tap every available resource i can. yaknow, its for the kids right?

 

[dingeryote]

euroford,

I'll check around and see if anyone is needing any white Oak taken out and dosn't want the wood. Lotsa new fields going in around here and us Farm types are cheap bastards. Free labor is free labor!
How much are ya lookin for?

I don't understand the restriction on species list.
If you were looking for durability, Locust should be on the list with Hedge and you would have better availability near you.

Another Idea for ya.
Get ahold of the Parks guys at the Mich.DNR and see if they are clearing for maintaining any trails you guys could "HELP" with, by donating some clearing.
The Kal-Haven and Van Buren trail might need some work, and is within 2 hours drive as are a couple state parks.

Best of luck in all this.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[hammerlogging]

try the dude named SILlogger, he may know a landing you can come get all the scraps you want off of- the crap that never gets on the truck.

 

[euroford]

thanks for the info guys!

hey dingeryote, what part of michigan are you from? i grew up in midland and still have family up there. our plan b is to go scout out my sisters land and see what we can find.

from what i've figured out, for the best combination of availability and usability for our purposes i think i'm hoping to find locust.

 

[outdoorlivin247]

Some pictures of the trails features or obstacles would help a lot for ideas of what kind or size wood you are looking for...

 

[dingeryote]

thanks for the info guys!

hey dingeryote, what part of michigan are you from? i grew up in midland and still have family up there. our plan b is to go scout out my sisters land and see what we can find.

from what i've figured out, for the best combination of availability and usability for our purposes i think i'm hoping to find locust.

LOL!!!

South of South Haven a smidge. Half of Chicago is there right now LOL!

Bad news on the Locust around here. It gets cleaned out quick whenever it is found. Lotsa Red Oak,cherry, Elm, and Maple though.

I'll ask around some this weekend for ya.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[euroford]

yup, no doubt i'm on a little bit of a challenging mission here. makes me appreciate the help all the more if something manages to pan out!

fortunately, we arn't in a position where we need to get something in place NOW. we've built a small "skills section" with some log rides at the Plainfield bike park which is adequate, but nothing special just from local deafall of unknown species.

but its rotting, and not going to last all that long, and as i said, just adequate for the time being. we'd like to built something thats beeeeetchin, and we'd like to build it to last. we are also looking into areas where we can build technical trail features on singletrack in the woods, but its an uphill battle with land managers. oddly enough, we've had much greater success getting local land managers to accept HUGE gapped dirtjumps than we have wooden features.

everybody is busy enough on other things, but i wanted to begin tapping resources to find a quality natural wood source right now, so when we get around to redoing plainfield, and if/when we find a good singletrack area to build, we have resources available. we have room at plainfield to stock materials.

thanks guys!

this is one of the current "skills features" at the plainfield bike park. fine for now, but we can do ALLOT better after we get some good wood!!

the dirtjumps are fantastic though! this is at Clark Park in downtown chicago.

 

[bullbuck]

nice.little air time there,sure wish i was in that area would love to help out,we put in about 5 different downhill mtn.bike routes on our local ski hill,took my saw out there and utilised stumps rocks anything we could,then we brought the racers in and had a downhill race,they loved it been going on for several years now,some of these kids have alot of talent

 

[treeslayer]

I am going to the NW Chicago area for a couple months to climb for a friend's business, and I am an AVID mountain biker. I would be interested in helping, I have a tremendous amount of experience in the woods, AND a specialized M4.

let me know, send me a pm.

Dave

 

[euroford]

shoot me a message when your in town, we'll go ride!!