Cottanwood thinning

Cedarkerf · Oct 4, 2010

Got a side job thinning out Cottanwoods on 13 acres so the owners merchantable trees can thrive. He gets a timberland tax exemption and has a judge approved forestry management plan. Some mills around here will take cottanwood logs but at zero value so logs are gonna rot in the woods. Most of them range between 25-48" DBH. About half the stumps are gonna be pulled by a shovel rest are gonna rot. Hes Got Alder Maple and Doug fir so the goal is to avoid hitting them. Rainy day just added to the fun to bad Camera battery died part way into the day. Got more to do so well try and get more.

This tree he wanted fell across a trail tresspassers use for their motorcycles.

Why I like wrap handles

Cuttin on the knees

hillside bucking

Cedarkerf · Oct 4, 2010

Nice little waterfall if you look close you can see water running out the wife changed the date stamp to the right date some where along the way.

Scoping out All the big ones are cottanwood you can see Alders behind and a Sitka spruce in fore ground on the save list.

Thought this was a cool pic

You can see the smaller Alder behind the big cottonwoods.

forestryworks · Oct 4, 2010

Nice! :biggrinbounce2:

Cottonwoods grow pretty quick around here. I bet they grow super quick out there.

Thanks for sharing!

Cedarkerf · Oct 4, 2010

Yup they grow real fast out here. When they grow in low spots they fill up with water like in the one pick dripping out of the tree. I hate the smell of cottan woods need to get me a new 90cc saw to use on Fir Cedar and Alder now this ones contaminated.

forestryworks · Oct 4, 2010

I read the other day where Alder is good in pure stands of Douglas-fir because it helps to break up the roots of Douglas-fir and helps to slow or prevent root rot.

schmuck.k · Oct 4, 2010

looks good brian. sure looks like fun.

bitzer · Oct 4, 2010

Nice pics man! Looks like fun!

They grow fast around here too.

dancan · Oct 4, 2010

Great Pics !
Send us your address and we'll send you a case of batteries so you'll have no excuse for lack of pictures

!

RPM · Oct 4, 2010

forestryworks said:
I read the other day where Alder is good in pure stands of Douglas-fir because it helps to break up the roots of Douglas-fir and helps to slow or prevent root rot.

Red alder is a pioneer species and also a nitrogen fixator. It comes back witha vengeance on disturbed sites ... road sides, recent logging. It is highly resistant to root diseases like Phellinus weirii (laminated root rot) that infect Doug-fir on the coast / PNW. Root disease will hang out for up to 40 years before it has consumed its food / inoculum source which is the stump and roots left after logging.

I'm not sure if the alder breaks up the roots so much but more likely starves the root disease out over time by being resistant to the disease. That's why we plant other resistant species / more tolerant species after logging in areas with high root disease incidence. In severe cases we stump the block after logging to physically remove the food source from the ground.

One of many reasons we do not select cut / thin Douglas-fir leading stands around here as you are increasing the inoculum source for the disease.

madhatte · Oct 4, 2010

forestryworks said:
I read the other day where Alder is good in pure stands of Douglas-fir because it helps to break up the roots of Douglas-fir and helps to slow or prevent root rot.

There's more to it than that; it also helps fertilize the soil through its mycorrhizal associations, as well as providing early-seral cover against invasives like Scots Broom. It's a shame foresters so often treat it as a "weed" species because it competes early on with the "crop" species; it loses its momentum early on in succession, and is seldom dominant in a mature stand in PNW forests.

Jacob J. · Oct 4, 2010

madhatte said:
There's more to it than that; it also helps fertilize the soil through its mycorrhizal associations, as well as providing early-seral cover against invasives like Scots Broom. It's a shame foresters so often treat it as a "weed" species because it competes early on with the "crop" species; it loses its momentum early on in succession, and is seldom dominant in a mature stand in PNW forests.

I'm glad you pointed this out. Silviculturists here decimate the common PNW hardwood species when re-populating areas nuked out by catastrophic fire. Mychorrizae is also a factor in other hardwood/conifer interludes like Pacific Madrone/White Fir or Pacific Madrone/Doug fir.

Nice pics Brian!

deeker · Oct 4, 2010

Nice pics!!! Wish I had a few of those logs for my mill. We use it to deck trailers. Lots of flex ability, and hard to break!!

Keep the pics coming!!!

Kevin

slowp · Oct 4, 2010

You can come and throw your contaminated saw off my hillside. I'm sure it is a hazardous waste area.

I'll just make sure that The Used Dog sees it being thrown.....

Go fetch!

Slamm · Oct 4, 2010

I see you are using those Hard Head wedges, you like them a lot better than the plastic ones?

I got a dozen of the 8" and some 10" and I sure love them, they sure move the wood when you hit them and last considerably longer than the pure plastic ones.

Great pics,

Sam

Cedarkerf · Oct 4, 2010

Slamm said:
I see you are using those Hard Head wedges, you like them a lot better than the plastic ones?

I got a dozen of the 8" and some 10" and I sure love them, they sure move the wood when you hit them and last considerably longer than the pure plastic ones.

Great pics,

Sam

Nice if ya hit em slightly off kilter you dont take big chunks out of em

GASoline71 · Oct 5, 2010

Suh-weet pics Brian... :clap:

Gary

RPM · Oct 5, 2010

madhatte said:
There's more to it than that; it also helps fertilize the soil through its mycorrhizal associations, as well as providing early-seral cover against invasives like Scots Broom. It's a shame foresters so often treat it as a "weed" species because it competes early on with the "crop" species; it loses its momentum early on in succession, and is seldom dominant in a mature stand in PNW forests.

In BC it becomes the weed species because in alot of instances it overtops the crop species just as you've noted. We end up wacking it down because under our gov't regulations I have to get those crop trees to a certain height and stocking density within a certain time frame. Depending upon where you are in the province that time to "free growing" (height above the competing brush) may take anywhere from 5 - 20 years and multiple silviculture treatments - mainly manual brushing. Its costly and we do not pay by the hour ... If I do not achieve free growing status in the specified time frame and cannot justify why, the company gets fined big time.

Alder is a great furniture wood ... poor mans cherry - it has some nice ray fleck and ages like cherry does color wise. Its also wicked in the smoker and in the wood stove. On private land - I assume that is where Brian is thinning cottonwoods out on, treating alder as a crop tree is the way to get most out of your stand. Cottonwood makes nice decking for docks and rafts....nice and soft and no slivers.

But hey ... too much geek talk here ... nice pics Brian - which is why we all look here on AS ... keep hammering those suckers down :chainsawguy: