How long after logging does the land look natural again?

[2dogs]

:msp_thumbup:

I guess I should pack my camera around the valley and take some pictures of what old, unburned slash piles/stump piles look like. They make good trellises for Himalayan Blackberries. The Forest Service leaves a few unburned for rat habitat, too.

Unless you plan on turning all your acreage into a mud bog four wheeling mecca, I'd leave the slash as is.
It is possible to plant trees through it, we did that here. We don't see much 6 foot deep slash anymore. It is just harder for the tree planters, of which I was one, to plant in the slash. Slash provides nutrients and helps with erosion control, as Oldtimer says.

This is NOT me.

View attachment 239205

Joe listen to slowp. She knows of what she speaks.

Incidentally the last job I worked on we had to work around the rats and rats' nests. They were protected.

 

[JOE.G]

I just want it to be usable for the hunting,fishing hiking camping and 4 wheeling I don't want it park like I want the animals to live there and live well, Just would like some of the logging mess to to cleaned up a bit. The ideas and thought have been great so far.

 

[slowp]

What we did, and I do mean we, is we prepped the logged over area by packing our saws in and lopping up the slash concentrations. She then had the logger walk his loader around and scatter it. But the equipment was still on the property. It was 5 acres and it took us 3 AARP qualified people a day to do, with us straggling in at various times of day, and the same for quitting. One worked most of the day and we other two part timed it.

You can do the same thing by hand. It's hard work. Cut the slash concentrations up--a foot and a half long is what is put into some of the Forest Service contracts, but you can do whatever is good for you. Then strew it around. Lopped slash will settle down quicker, and be hidden better. It's a good workout too.

Logging looks messy. The only way to avoid that look would be to helicopter the trees out with limbs attached. That method is a money loser but it would sure be clean. You'd be stuck with a huge slash pile on the landing though.

So, invite your chainsaw crazy buddies over and lop and scatter. If you want your trails clear, you can pile the slash and burn it right in the trail, if your laws are OK for doing that. Handpile. Cut up the pieces to the width you want, make smaller piles--little stuff (fines) on the bottom, bigger diameters on top, let it dry a while, cover it and then burn them when the weather and conditions are safe to do so. A properly covered pile can be burned during the winter. Plastic gets used for the covering here and that isn't very eco-friendly but it does work.

Depending on how clean of a burn you want, you'll need to walk back through while it burns and chunk the piles.

Handpiling and burning is done here along the busier roads to make things look nicer. We aren't a very wildfirey place.

I'm sure other folks have ideas too. Mine are low tech--labor intensive. Do you have children??

 

[2dogs]

Joe I think the best plan is to send Patty a round trip ticket for her and TUD. Throw in a six pack of dark beer a bottle of ibuprofen and a bag of dog food and she's good to go. Pay prevailing wage too.

(PS have her make you a Scandahoovian candle while she's there.)

 

[slowp]

I also need a hot tub and a hot shower and indoor plumbing please. The Used Dog likes tennis balls.

 

[tramp bushler]

Rent a brush chipper , tow it around with your 4 wheeler and chip the brush . . Whats wrong with burning the hemlock yourself . Trust me almost any wood that is dry burns ALOT better than snowballs . If all you had was white spruce to burn , you would really look forward to burning hemlock .

 

[JOE.G]

I can Burn it my Self, And I may do that this winter when it is has had a chance to dry and they ground is less likely to spread fire. I may also hop on the quad with some saws and cut the slash a little lower and smaller. ANd Ill give you guys all the food and beer you want to come help and I have plenty of tennis balls.

 

[JOE.G]

I like the hard wood, trees and that is why I left most of them, I have a lot of Cherry Ash and maple, I do have hickory, ironwood,oak, sicamore, beech, birch and some others, but the first three I mentioned makes up the majority of my Hard wood, I have Hemlock and a few different types of pine also.
I do have a lot of fruit trees also but they are in a different section.

I also opened up some areas to allow lower lying plants to grow, berrie bushes and what not for the animals.

 

[ShaneLogs]

I can Burn it my Self, And I may do that this winter when it is has had a chance to dry and they ground is less likely to spread fire. I may also hop on the quad with some saws and cut the slash a little lower and smaller. ANd Ill give you guys all the food and beer you want to come help and I have plenty of tennis balls.

Now only if you lived closer! I am in Maine and New York is a haul for me. I would come and help for sure if you were closer! Make sure you take pics of your woodlot if you decided to clean it up a little

 

[JOE.G]

Yeah I need to get out there and get some pic's, hopefully when I get caught up Ill be able to do that.

 

[Customcuts]

I bought my current place about two years ago, after gutting the house to the studs and re doing everything I have now moved on to the yard, I have added Chicken coop and some smaller sheds, I am going to add a larger out building this year I hope. I have about three acers that I mow and I have cleared out the wood line near my Lawn and home to make it look clean, Took out trees and lower Branchs and really opened it up so you can see a ways from the porch. The pole Saw I bought has been a real helpful tool. I have a cherry tree that dies in the yard and Ill be dropping that tom. I enjoy a nice clean looking property, Even though many people don't go walking all over my property I enjoy a nice neat woods when I go for my hikes or camping fishing or hunting with my kids.

Sounds like you have a real nice place and a pretty good plan... I'm jealous, my property in a a quarter acre with 4 small trees.....:msp_thumbdn:....lol... Anyhow it sounds like u are on the right track, keep up the good work:msp_thumbup:

 

[FSburt]

Here is my 2 cents from a fuels officer on the left coast. We usually use a small dozer (D-4 or smaller) with a brush rake and spot pile all the heaviest concentrations of slash for burning. At that point we walk away for the next 20 yrs until the next thinning entry is ready. I agree with one of the other threads though about mother nature always bats last and will not leave this nice and clean look for very long.

 

[JOE.G]

I took a quad ride with my kid's last week, some places look nice others look rough, the log roads are pretty muddy at this time I am guessing with time thatll harden back up.

He took out some pulp wood along with some fire wood, there is still enough wood down to heat a home for the winter I wish I could find someone to come in and get it.