Harvesting 80 acres of Maple near Huntsville, Ontario

[Nant]

I have about 400 hardwood maple, on my wood lot that are mature enough for removal. These trees are between 14” and 20” in diameter at the 3’ level above ground. They have trunks that are about 60’ and then a crown of say 25’. I have been told this part of the woodlot was last logged in the mid 1950’s. There are other species but the majority of the larger trees are maple.

Questions are:
What would these maple trees be worth as they stand?
(The trees would need to be felled, then skidded about half a mile (on average) before they could be loaded on trucks for the trip to the sawmill (nearest say 25 road miles away).

If these trees were removed what would happen to the next growth? The next growth would appear to have trunks between say 8” and 14” dia and number about 3 times as many as the more mature trees. The ground condition is mostly rock with only a thin cover of soil. (typical of Muskoka) If the larger trees are removed (they currently are sheltering the smaller trees) would I loose a lot of the smaller trees to the wind?

The BIG question is: Should I be harvesting the larger trees or should I leave the woodlot alone as my family would prefer? I would be in serious trouble with them if the larger trees were removed and then a lot of the next growth were lost to the wind.

 

[Urbicide]

Do you have a forester?

This is a program we have available to us in Ohio. Hopefully it might give you some more insight as to what direction to take. You can always cut them down. Just a bit more difficult to reverse the process. Good luck.

http://callb4ucut.com/

 

[Buzz 880]

Nant
Check your Private Messages

 

[Nant]

Veneer grade logs vs saw logs

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback, Urbicide. No I don't yet have a Forester.

We have some management programs available to us here in Ontario too. Thanks for the url. The Ohio site does have quite a number of interesting links and articles (not that I managed to investigate them all yet!)

My problem is that I can see this isn't a very straight forward decision and that my buddies don't have enough background to understand all the issues and give me good advice. Being a "busy" 21st Century urban based person I haven't even been able to assign a value and a priority to this timber "problem".

As Urbicide suggested, there isn't any real hurry and I don't want make a mistake through moving too fast. What I need is some expert advice.

Another thing is that I understand prices are down this year but I don't have the background to assess when would be the appropriate time to sell the timber. I think that it might be best to do a "shelterwood" cut, sooner rather than later, but I need to establish what should be done and I haven't yet developed a management plan.

I would appreciate any thoughts that the forum members might have and maybe some might be able to suggest (guess) if this type of woodlot would have some veneer grade logs rather than just saw logs. As I understand it, maple trees in the 80 to 100 year old range might have some veneer.

Nant

Ref: http://www.ont-woodlot-assoc.org/about.html
http://ontariosforests.mnr.gov.on.ca/fmpoverview.cfm

 

[Wismer]

Nant, my family has a huntcamp on 200 acres, north of Huntsville. (Port Loring) SO i would imagine we share the same woodlot conditions. Last year's storm took out alot of big maples. I am in the process of cleaning those up for lumber. I would think your big maples would be more prone to wind damage than the smaller ones. With the shallow soil, and shallow roots it would be rather easy for them to blow down in a big storm. The younger trees have alot more flexibility.

There is also several compromises you make such as logging only select areas, or only taking only certain trees say 50% of the mature maples

Best of luck

Craig

 

[woodfarmer]

there is no harm in doing a selective cut to remove some of those large maples, as was mentioned above the storms we have been having up in that area seem to do a lot of damage to the trees, so you may want to remove them while their in good condition

 

[Nant]

Hi Craig,

Port Loring likely would share the same type of woodlot conditions as where I am near Huntsville. The more violent weather we seem to be seeing is definitely a concern to me. I haven't lost too many trees yet and almost none of the big ones but I believe that the trees with the good root networks are sheltering some of the younger / smaller ones.

Craig / Woodfarmer / All

As I think you have gathered, I am thinking that some sort of selective harvest is what I should be doing. The rest of the family (and some of my friends) don't agree but they have seen some of the areas that have suffered a lot more than our area. Once I gather ammunition, I feel that I should be able to convince them that I should be proactive and that some harvesting is required to ensure the long term health of the bush. Getting money from the sale of the wood, that would let them get something that they (or the family) want, would certainly help.

Nant

 

[Wismer]

Sounds like your well on top of the issue Nant.

You'll certain be alot more pleased with either the cash from those logs or the lumber from them, alot more pleased than the firewood you'll get from unsalvagable cracked,split storm damage.

Alot of good can come from of it as well, Allow some of the younger trees to grow up, some varieties that need some sun perhaps, that otherwise wouldn't of been able to grow. It also can improve habitat for wildlife. We almost clearcut a couple small patches at our deer camp in port loring for these reasons.

Take care

Craig

 

[Buzz 880]

Port Loring

Wismer
Where abouts in port loring is your camp i have worked in that area few times.The timber up there is pretty nice special the yellow birch my friend has a cottage up there on a nice lake can't remember the name but it's good walleye fishing.

 

[Wismer]

Buzz, I'm on a very isolated lake, Arthur Lake it's called. It's a good size but our camp is the only place on it. There is two other "cottages" but they are both abandoned. When i say isolated, we have to go to Tornado's Canadian Resorts, load our gear and quads onto our pontoon/barge boat, cross the pickerel river (toad lake) and then ride the quads in 3-5 km's depending on how high the water is. It's a bit of a chore but it is a blast and it's worth it.

Craig