Low Impact Logging

[RatliffLogging]

reply

I have a picture of my favorite horse in my profile....He is a grey perchuron(spelling bad)...My other one is chessnut in color....I have a picture of both together somewhere on my pc if you want it email me. I am on vacation in Guam right now(condo here) as soon as I return I am going to finish out a roll of film with my carrier working in the woods there in KY. Thanks
Need to contact me while I am out 671 653 8544 here in Guam......

 

[Treetop_Tom]

Horselogger, Ratlifflogging, & others:

You all sound like your goal is to do what I want. I have about 5-1/4 wooded acres that I jut bought adjacent to my home. My goal is sustainability, and selected cutting for heat, property improvement, and to harvest the hardwood. Okay, it's a REAL SMALL lot by your standards; but there are other wooded lots in the area and if I find someone of your bent locally, they may be able to set something up with the other landowners.

Anyway, the talk of low-impact and harvesting over time is very attractive as the area is fairly residential. Now a high-grader is what? Someone who takes only the best and leaves the rest? With my lot size, I may not have a lot of choice that way!

My big problem, as I related on another thread, is not knowing a lot about all this, especially the value. Two trees in particular threaten my house ( a walbut with about a 24" trunk and a cherry with a 30" trunk) and will have to be taken down by climbers. But there are other walnut and cherry that may have value, and I'd hate to see them go up my chimney when they could make a nice table, or clock, or floor, or some such - I like wood. There are also some Colorado spruce and Norway pines that have got to go to make way for grading and to get them away from my house - one fell on it last year.

What I'd like is to be able to walk through with a fellow and get his advice. Agree on what we'll cut, what we'll allow to flourish, what I will target for firewood, and where & what to replant. I want it to be a nice area.

Sound reasonable? Any advice?

Thanks,

Tom C.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Is there a small woodlands owners group in your state? Become associated with them and use their literature to convince people, some of them act as coperatives to manage and preserve the nature of the woodland areas.

Here's a search on the subject, if you don't find anything look at the antional gorup.

I have an aquaintance who is very active in his local chapter, contact me privatly and I can give you his contact info.

 

[Tinwoodman]

I think there is a good middle ground between extreme LIL and the slash-and-burn high production types. I think a fellow (or company) with horses, or a small farm tractor, crawler, etc. can be careful not to trash the woods. Leave it looking like woods, keep the new growth healthy, just harvest logs on a sustained basis. It's middle-ground. What I can't stand is here, in South Carolina, when they put in a new grocery store or whatever, they take a 20-50 acre plot, clear-cut it, pile all the trees in the middle, and burn them. Shame, shame, shame. Cut trees. Use them. Make money. Sustain the future.

 

[John Ellison]

You are right Tinwoodman, how its done has more of an effect than what it is done with. The big problem with growing more trees is the cement and asphalt.

John

 

[Tinwoodman]

You guys should see all the trees here. Plenty. People don't seem to realize they're worth money. My closest mill that will take even good logs from residential take-downs is 37 miles from home. Up in Maine I grew up 1.5 miles from a sawmill and there is one or more in almost every town. Down here-- huge trees that no one is cutting.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

On low impact logging -
in the uk, skidding is virtually non existent now in commercial forestry as the ground damage is unnaceptable by most clients.
most work is done by 8wd low ground pressure forwaders, level of damage is negligable and they carry the cut timber rather than dragging it.
posted pic of a norcar 490, i used to have one of these, it was superb for thinning on wet or boggy sites, and would carry about 8 tonnes out without leaving a mark.