Marc
Addicted to ArboristSite
Mark those dead standing trees before all the leaves are gone!
Sometimes it's hard to tell in the winter when everything's bare.
That's a 30+ inch DBH ash on the family farm that will probably (hopefully) be coming down this winter.
Here's the whole thing, it's bigger than it looks in the pictures. Over 50 feet, by my best guess, but we'll see when it comes down.
Another dead ash in that field-
Fine view this evening, despite the clouds. You can just see the barn roof from this angle if you look close (I kept the pics smallish for less dial up carnage).
Another dead ash in the field two above the last-
If you look close in there, there are two ash, one has been almost completely consumed by a bittersweet vine. The vine base is 2.5 - 3" in diameter at the ground. That is one serious weed right there.
And finally, a couple pictures of the upper field, about a 7-ish acre field of the 140 acre farm. The stone walls marking the field boundaries are 20 ft behind the edge of the brush, made up of mostly weeds, multiflora rose and bittersweet, and of course, perfectly good hardwoods.
When my father farmed this land with his uncle, they'd sell 30-40 cords a winter and were just keeping up with the fence lines at that point, plus whatever they used themselves (probably another 10-15). Which makes sense, since out of 140 acres, there's probably now 40-50 wooded.
Of course, nothing has been touched for the better part of 35 years so, needless to say, I'm pretty much set for life. It's basically all ash and maple, with some oak, hickory and surviving elm thrown in for good measure.