Clearing land of trees destroyed by wildfires?

[softdown]

Doing my own 2 acre lot now. Tremendous amount of work involved. Anybody have experience and wisdom to share regarding clearing wildfire damaged lots?

A dump trailer would be needed for professional work. Disposing of the tangled brush is the hardest part.

 

[capetrees]

skid steer mounted brush mower

 

[Mad Professor]

A big pile. When it snows/snow covered in winter, burn it. I pile the brush/trees/branches on a choker chain, then haul whole big piles with the tractor to where you are going to burn it. Make a big pile. My piles often burn two days. Have shovels and pitch forks to move stuff in as it burns down.

You can actually have fun. Invite friends, and bring foods you can cook as it burns down. Some over fire grills, tables and dutch ovens, depending on the crowd a 1/4 keg.

If it is rabbit season when you do/start the burn, have a shotgun with #8s, for when you light the fire. Rabbit on a spit over the open fire, have some bacon to wrap the rabbit in.

No snow here but gives you the idea. From a small burn. The pines are ~80' tall

 

[Fatherwheels]

What got damaged, large trees, shrub or mixed.
A weed whacked with a disc saves the back when cutting at low level,
chainsaw with solid nose bar and tungsten tipped chain, slow saw with oiler
opened up in full.
If you can find pressurised water or air that is mobile, use it to keep blowing the
ash from the saw, and in around the bar drive and clutch area, I would get
a cheap saw rather than use a very expensive one.

Put everything of no good in piles and if law permits burn it.
Otherwise pile everything in the worst spot on the plot, and let it rot,
when It starts to rot depending on how thick it is, a rotovator will break
it down further, you can of course be planting or otherwise preparing the
rest of the plot leaving the bad patch to rot.

 

[softdown]

What got damaged, large trees, shrub or mixed.
A weed whacked with a disc saves the back when cutting at low level,
chainsaw with solid nose bar and tungsten tipped chain, slow saw with oiler
opened up in full.
If you can find pressurised water or air that is mobile, use it to keep blowing the
ash from the saw, and in around the bar drive and clutch area, I would get
a cheap saw rather than use a very expensive one.

Put everything of no good in piles and if law permits burn it.
Otherwise pile everything in the worst spot on the plot, and let it rot,
when It starts to rot depending on how thick it is, a rotovator will break
it down further, you can of course be planting or otherwise preparing the
rest of the plot leaving the bad patch to rot.

110,000 acre wildfire torched 95% of the trees. Covenants do not allow fires but they have a big slash pile to dispose the brush in.

I'm strongly considering doing it professionally. Thesewesternwildfires has created a demand.

This web site has bug - or my laptop does. Yellow box appears and letters disappear as I try to correct things.

 

[Mad Professor]

110,000 acre wildfire torched 95% of the trees. Covenants do not allow fires but they have a big slash pile to dispose the brush in.

I'm strongly considering doing it professionally. Thesewesternwildfires has created a demand.

This web site has bug - or my laptop does. Yellow box appears and letters disappear as I try to correct things.

My only covenant, is with my maker. Tell us about the land restrictions in place. If you can't burn brush you are headed for a big fire.

I think the mess of wildfires in CA/westcoast/CO, has much to do with land mismanagement and allowing material to build up until you have the perfect scenario for wildfires. Those fires were part of natures cycle, same with the parries grass fires. Problem is people live in those places now.........

 

[softdown]

My only covenant, is with my maker. Tell us about the land restrictions in place. If you can't burn brush you are headed for a big fire.

I think the mess of wildfires in CA/westcoast/CO, has much to do with land mismanagement and allowing material to build up until you have the perfect scenario for wildfires. Those fires were part of natures cycle, same with the parries grass fires. Problem is people live in those places now.........

But of course. The best forest I have ever hiked in was professionally and ethically logged. The Uncompaghre Nat Forest in the 70s. Also had three times more deer. Perhaps they could see the predators.

 

[pdqdl]

110,000 acre wildfire torched 95% of the trees. Covenants do not allow fires but they have a big slash pile to dispose the brush in.

I'm strongly considering doing it professionally. Thesewesternwildfires has created a demand.

This web site has bug - or my laptop does. Yellow box appears and letters disappear as I try to correct things.

How big are the trees?

2 acres is manageable, providing you know how to cut them without getting hurt. Size of the trees involved is really important.

Big trees won't be touched by any brush mower. Tree shears are a waste of time on underbrush.

I'd consider a track loader, strip it all and pile it in one corner. Just one day's rental for a decent machine. Unless the remaining trees are really big.

Pictures would really help here !

 

[softdown]

Up to 28" at the ground level where I make the final cut.

Lots of choices for brush and stuff. My lot is almost done. Taught me that professional equipment is needed to do it professionally. My 24' landscape trailer fills up in 20 minutes and is a ***** to unload.

Dreaming of a skid steer with an attachment that can mulch about 6" of wood - or so. I don't mind falling and limbing. I hate brush removal and that is most of the job.

 

[softdown]

This item appears almost ideal for my needs. But the timing is bad with winter here etc.
https://denver.craigslist.org/hvd/d/aurora-2015-bobcat-t870-only-1266-hours/7222859199.html

 

[softdown]

Anybody know what size that could mulch? have to go scare some elk again.

 

[capetrees]

 

[TBS]

I've seen those do 10 inch pine stumps fairy quickly, they are a pretty common peice of equipment on fires because they mulch up pretty much every tree or shrub and do it way faster than hand crews go through with a couple saws and guys swamping on good ground.

 

[softdown]

The first mulcher is quite interesting. But they have two choices:
One for hardwoods.
One for cedar - pretty darned soft wood
What about pines and firs and spruces then? Guessing the one for hardwoods.

Np idea the price. Looks perhaps faster than the mulcher I linked. Not sure though.

 

[softdown]

I've seen those do 10 inch pine stumps fairy quickly, they are a pretty common peice of equipment on fires because they mulch up pretty much every tree or shrub and do it way faster than hand crews go through with a couple saws and guys swamping on good ground.

I'm sure it is dozens of times faster than a guy with a chainsaw. Doing tree and limb removal seems to take forever - by hand. I did it - once.

 

[softdown]

Now that bungalow is sold my hunt is earnest. Looking for disc mulcher with forestry rated skid steer with ~ 40gpm and 5000psi. Wondering if my 12,000 pound rated truck/trailer can handle that load.

Thinking that equipment with less than ~1000 hours is the goal. Diamond and AFE seem to be the big disc mucher manufacturers.

Disc mulchers look to be much faster than drum. Though the mulch is much larger and thrown much further.

 

[pdqdl]

I've got that bobcat mower deck, it does a pretty good job on underbrush clearing. You can take out as big as 6" trees with it, but it is really working the hydraulics too hard, and relying on momentum only. It's not a very good mower, but ok for the weed patch they show in the video. It's excellent for reaching into, over, or under places where a tractor with a 3 point hitch mower isn't practical. Obviously, the skid-steer facilitates maneuverability quite a bit over a rear-mounted mower.

 

[softdown]

I've got that bobcat mower deck, it does a pretty good job on underbrush clearing. You can take out as big as 6" trees with it, but it is really working the hydraulics too hard, and relying on momentum only. It's not a very good mower, but ok for the weed patch they show in the video. It's excellent for reaching into, over, or under places where a tractor with a 3 point hitch mower isn't practical. Obviously, the skid-steer facilitates maneuverability quite a bit over a rear-mounted mower.

How did we go from clearing trees to clearing brush? Guess because it is clear that a comprehensive land clearing service has to have all kinds of cutters. All kinds.

Right now it looks like a Cat 299 or Deere 333 - if I got the numbers right. Then a friend said I should buy new. Can't think of many reasons to do that right now. Unless workable skid steers are too scarce - they might be right now.

 

[arathol]

What you need is not a rotary mower. You need a forestry mower / mulcher.

 

[pdqdl]

How did we go from clearing trees to clearing brush? Guess because it is clear that a comprehensive land clearing service has to have all kinds of cutters. All kinds.

Right now it looks like a Cat 299 or Deere 333 - if I got the numbers right. Then a friend said I should buy new. Can't think of many reasons to do that right now. Unless workable skid steers are too scarce - they might be right now.

Well... the original question was this:

Doing my own 2 acre lot now. Tremendous amount of work involved. Anybody have experience and wisdom to share regarding clearing wildfire damaged lots?

A dump trailer would be needed for professional work. Disposing of the tangled brush is the hardest part.

I'll guarantee a heavy duty mower will do a better job on tangled underbrush (as you described) and is more affordable than almost any other machine for the job. I do plenty of lot cleanups, and just running between the trees with the brush mower makes life a lot easier and the job more profitable when you are dragging the saws in for the bigger trees.

Besides, I cannot afford a dedicated tree-mulcher. That isn't my main line of work. This also sounds like the case for a guy with a two acre plot. You said "40gpm and 5000psi." Yes! That's the kind of power you need for the tree-mulchers, but those machines don't come cheap. I might also mention that there is a terribly steep depreciation curve on this kind of equipment. You probably won't come out too well if you are thinking of using it to do the work, then sell the equipment when you are done.

Now if you are going into full time small tree clearing, you might need a brush mulcher. I wouldn't waste my money on that much equipment for a small lot. 2 acres isn't that much ground. Use your chainsaw and get a grapple attachment for a common skid steer. Unloading will be a lot easier too, if you get a dump trailer.