Help - Coarse Woody Debris / Lars Larson Show comment

[M.D. Vaden]

If you answered, and its not obvious from your profile or signature that you are a professional, please mention it, so I can distinguish between "gardeners" and pros on this. Thanks.

Anybody every listen to Lars Larson on the radio?

He was covering Silviculture, logging and forestry today as one topic, and I called in, mentioning "Coarse Woody Debris" or CWD, which is the big dead stuff in the woods. Logs, stumps, dead trees.

Anyhow, best I can tell, most decisions and negotiations between factions will all involve something that CWD affects - say, that some shrubs in the forest can't reproduce without it, needing the protective bulk as a barrier against browsing deer.

Anyway, Lars kept trying to shift from that aspect. He made a comment similar to that most people who garden would know about CWD.

So here's the deal. To avoid speculation, I figured the forums would be one extra way to find out if gardeners really know what Coarse Woody Debris is. The forestry term, not bark mulch.

A few of the hard-core plant people may know. But, how many of you are comfortably familiar with "Coarse Woody Debris" and its role in the forest?

How many gardeners do you think really know about it?

 

[clearance]

Hi M.D., I am usually used to hearing CWD in regards to fish bearing streams. I know that the forest needs it to grow, thats why I question yarding out every last stick right to a 4" top.

 

[Dan Dill]

Sr. Wildlife Biologist. I am familiar with both terrestrial and aquatic LWD.

 

[Dan Dill]

I don't hear the term 'coarse woody debris' used often in the urban arboricultural community.

Although it was course woody debris in college, the typical term now is large woody debris or LWD. I did a thesis on forest CWD/LWD and its effect on amphibian populations in different forest types.

 

[slowp]

I deal with it. We now call it Down Woody Material. The older timber sale contracts require a certain amount of trees , of a certain size, to be cut by the logger, and left on the ground. The new contracts no longer require this but then this is put into the KV plan, with trees to be dropped by a contractor or Forest Service after the sale has been completed. This year, most of the units have enough blowdown in them that very little will need to be felled. Nobody does surveys prior to the sale, so I don't know how the biologists come up with what needs to be felled to meet the requirements. Apparently, the logs left will shelter the little critters and insects that need them and then will rot and add nutrients to the soil. So, when the carriage smacks into a tree and knocks it over, I have the crew leave it for DWM.
Yup, I've listened to Lars Larson. I usually can't stand it for long. I prefer cheery talk shows like "Car Talk". Lars always sounds a bit whiney to me. :deadhorse: And,I don't like shows that are sponsored by political parties. Hope this answers your questions.
Coming soon: Legacy Logs!!

 

[Husky137]

I don't hear the term 'coarse woody debris' used often in the urban arboricultural community.

Imagine. We refer to it as slash on the east coast.

 

[1I'dJak]

a goood old cwd! took a ecological restoration course and the forestry sector covered it quite a abit.... very important for nutrient cycling, maintianing horizontal structure of forest floor, habitat for forest animals etc... right now i'm writing a paper concerning rectruitment of snags in even aged second growth stands....these wildlife trees are very important to forest health and eventually add to the coarse woody debris load

 

[Kiwilogger]

We call it slash too!

 

[BC_Logger]

loggers call it slash

wild land fire calls it fuel

Foresters and Forestry technicians call it waste and residue

 

[Dan Dill]

Imagine. We refer to it as slash on the east coast.

Our large woody debris is larger than any trees your logging on the East Coast. I went to the woods today to check on the need to leave a 14 foot diamter 20 foot long OG redwood. Do the math at $3 a board foot.

 

[Dan Dill]

Imagine. We refer to it as slash on the east coast.

Our large woody debris is larger than any trees your logging on the East Coast. I went to the woods today to check on the need to leave a 14 foot diamter 20 foot long OG redwood. Do the math at $3 a board foot.

 

[Husky137]

I am suddenly feeling emasculated and inadequate. I cut little trees AND suck at math!:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[BC_Logger]

so if I did the math correctly that would be about 250 bf so about 750 $ log

 

[clearance]

Seeds and stems?

Yes

 

[BC_Logger]

Seeds and stems?

havent herd that one in a wile :jester:

 

[slowp]

Large woody debris becomes "Legacy Logs". During a discussion it was brought up that these logs need to be left undisturbed, so unit boundaries must go up around the logs. These are large, old culls left during the first entry. I showed him photos of the undisturbed legacy logs after yarding had occurred. I explained how loggers can work around the logs and don't really like yanking logs through them. He thought a while, and then came up with another excuse, "they had to be left in an undisturbed area so they would be shaded and not dry out so quickly." This is in a first entry thinning unit!