Pros and Cons of Forest Management

[hammerlogging]

edit- you need to get down to about 35% canopy for oak/poplar regeneration in a select cut, otherwise you'll end up with a stand of shade tolerant species not so desireable (red maple)

 

[lfnh]

slash treatment ?

Lot of good stand management suggestions in these threads.

I'd like to ask a three part question on treating slash in hardwood or coniferous forests. Leaving slash as cut; mechanical or hand piling slash; mechanical chipping of slash (delimber or tub grinding); burn slash in piles.

1. Skip block clear cutting for lumber/pulp.

2. Pre-commercial thinning for later years lumber harvest.

3. Selective cut for lumber/pulp.

What is the preferred treatment for fire management, wildlife support, forest health, regeneration ?

Kind of a wide question, but some practical observations/experience would be appreciated.

 

[slowp]

Lot of good stand management suggestions in these threads.

I'd like to ask a three part question on treating slash in hardwood or coniferous forests. Leaving slash as cut; mechanical or hand piling slash; mechanical chipping of slash (delimber or tub grinding); burn slash in piles.

1. Skip block clear cutting for lumber/pulp.

2. Pre-commercial thinning for later years lumber harvest.

3. Selective cut for lumber/pulp.

What is the preferred treatment for fire management, wildlife support, forest health, regeneration ?

Kind of a wide question, but some practical observations/experience would be appreciated.

This gets complex. Up Nort in Wisconsin, the fire season in the hardwoods wasn't very long. It was after snowmelt, before green up and just after the leaves had fallen, Fall. The slash was usually run over during the forwarding so that was the treatment. In the pines, there was controversy brewing. The fuels expert had started doing underburns, but the timber folks were concerned about charring. The paper companies did not want charred wood.
That's something to be concerned about.

Out here, we've gone 180 from what it used to be. We're kind of an asbestos forest. We have fire danger for a few weeks in August when the east winds blow. Historically, the big fires have been few, but severe and erupt during those windy times. So, (I'm talking thinnings here) we just burn the slash that has accumulated on the landings and also have it hand piled and burned along the busier roads. Slash returns nutrients to the soils and also works well for erosion control. It is hard to burn anymore with all the air pollution regulation. Some of the private and state lands still try to burn after clearcutting. Sometimes they don't burn, but lop the slash so it lies closer to the ground, and that will keep flame lengths low if a fire should get started there. Slash makes for harder planting.

So, there really is no preferred method. Once again it depends on the outcome. Some brush species that deer like will respond better after a burn.
Brush species that humans use for basket weaving and berries (huckleberries, yummmm) will get more vigorous after a burn goes through. Historically, the Indians burned the higher elevations around here to keep the huckleberries going. The cons of burning are air pollution, the chance of the fire escaping, scorching and charring the leave trees. For lumber, the charring isn't such a big deal but it also makes for scars on the tree which affects grade and defect.

You can do an underburn in a thinning or partial cut if conditions are right and you have a crew that will control themselves, AND tree species that can take it.

Burning is one big complex thing if you want to do it right.

 

[lfnh]

thanks slowp. i'm still reading your post carefully.

So, is slash cut low and left on steep slopes, mostly for ersoion control (poor man's water bars) ?

On a level clear cut block, is slash generally burned just before the rain/snow season or during the rain/snow months, to get the new growth started the next summer ? (by new growth - browse, seedlings, and huckleberries or blackberries).

thanks

 

[slowp]

thanks slowp. i'm still reading your post carefully.

So, is slash cut low and left on steep slopes, mostly for ersoion control (poor man's water bars) ?

On a level clear cut block, is slash generally burned just before the rain/snow season or during the rain/snow months, to get the new growth started the next summer ? (by new growth - browse, seedlings, and huckleberries or blackberries).

thanks

The last time we clearcut here was in the 1990s. When I was here in the 1980s we broadcast burned in the Spring, right after the snow had melted. This is better for the soils here. The reason for broadcast burning was mainly to open up areas for trees to be planted. We also got rid of heavy fuels. But, you need to know what was cut in those units. It was large old growth Douglas-fir and hemlock--slash would often be four feet deep or more in spots. Heavy slash. And there isn't much level ground here.

Now it is all thinnings. We do let the loggers throw slash in the skid trails and skyline corridors. We encourage the mechanized sides to lay slash down in front of the processor to protect the ground. If you put it on the skid trails and are using a cat or skidder, the log end dragging clears slash off the trail pretty good.

The wildlife biologists like some of the hand piles left for rats, squirrels, bunnies, etc. The landing piles usually don't burn completely, to get a landing pile to do that around here, you need to chunk it up with a piece of equipment. We don't do that anymore.

Slash is left in the units to put some nutrients back into the soil. It decomposes pretty fast in our climate. It is a different world than yours. Steep slopes and conifers. That's it.