I need a plan! Couple hundred mature trees down due to storm!

[StubornDutchman]

Sunday we experienced 100 mph + winds. The 100 year old farm house and out buildings survived but 30 acres of hardwoods were decimated. Some trees snapped off twenty/thirty feet up. Others toppled over at the root ball. The woods looks like someone was playing a gigantic game of pic up sticks. The skyline looks sparse.

I'm looking to you experts on how best to deal with the carnage. It's such a tangled mess in there, I doubt any logger would want to try and salvage any trees for timber, due to the stress. ???

My niece and nephew both heat with wood and I plan on upgrading our wood cookstove to something like a Jotul 600. Many of these trees are 3' or more in diameter so the number of potential cords is mind boggling to me.

It will be left to me to harvest most of the wood by myself and i enjoy cutting/processing firewood. But at 63 I feel I am too old/slow to make any $$$$ trying to sell it for profit.

Now to the reason for this post. How can I manage this mess and minimize loss due to decay over the next several years. The trees are a mixture of Oak, Hickory, Cherry, and Maple. I can manage inside storage for about ten/twelve cord of wood. I feel I can keep another fifteen or twenty cord stored outside and used up by myself before decay becomes an issue.

Should I concentrate on specific sections of the woods and leave other sections alone since many trees are still partially off the ground due to their limbs and other trees beneath them. ??????

Sorry for the rambling. The magnitude of this mess won't let me think straight yet. The downed trees are so thick, I can't even walk thru the woods. Help me come up with a plan to minimize waste.

Thanks.

 

[Iron man]

Ive dealt with trees laying against or on each other and its dangerous.You start making a cut and hear the snapping start because of the unsprung energy.If you have the means to rent some heavy machinery it would be best to pull them out first.

 

[DAN666981]

hello StubornDutchman I've seen the mess north of Marshall first hand.and all I can say is wow:msp_scared:.

 

[StubornDutchman]

I've learned a lot by browsing AS, more than enough to be constantly cautious. I have access to some good sized tractors and winching equipment when the time comes to tackle the individual trees. Prior to the storm, I recognized a few trees that were far beyond my capabilities. One of them, I see is still standing/leaning!

There are just so many of them, I'm worried about loosing many to rot and decay because I won't be able to process them in time.

 

[StubornDutchman]

hello StubornDutchman I've seen the mess north of Marshall first hand.and all I can say is wow:msp_scared:.

We had at least eight large trees fall over the road in about a three hundred yard stretch on our farm alone, starting just south of our driveway. About eight neighbors and two front end loaders took a couple hours to get the road cleared for traffic.

 

[DAN666981]

ya it was bad dutchman.battlecreek to duck lake realy got it. if you do deside to go to cutting the mess of trees you have make sure you clear of any thing falling or rolling on you.

 

[needwood]

You might try a logging company!

A friend had his place logged a few years back just before a tornado hit. He called them back and they bought every thing worth buying. Damn shame he lives so far away" I would have had endless cords after they was done.

 

[mitch95100]

You Can...

cut as much as possible, be safe , and take your time then let friends, AS members (ME), and other cut and salvage what they can:msp_tongue:


Oh what the hell. im trying to give advice to a 60 year old man when hes three times my age...

 

[Hedgerow]

Wow... Where to start... If a logging crew cant get something done
With it, start with any tree touching the ground. The oak will weather the best so keep that in mind. Just be careful! Think twice then cut once.

 

[zogger]

take yer time

I don't think 63 is too old to approach this as a business now. You got a gold mine sitting there. Came real fast, but there it is. Right off the bat, you'll need help, so that means hiring some young guy or guys. So much unemployment now, shouldn't be too hard to find some non crazy but strong and willing workers. Offer shares, that's it, shares. You prolly don't have a lot of spare cash, so it would have to be shares of the future profit. No workee, no sellee, no loot. Work smart and hard, get organized with your equipment, etc, you got enough for a nice little business just handed to you. Nature gives ya lemons, make lemonade. That's how it goes. The big red oak that invaded our living room last fall is now cut split and stacked in the pile.

Pick out the dryer and standing dead, process that to the side to maybe sell this season, the rest for next season.

I'd say something like equipment/expenses gets two shares (always pay that first), you get two shares, help gets one share. Sell/salvage what you can for logs, the rest firewood or pulp or whatever sells in your area and just nibble away at it.

Besides that, glad you and your buildings made it OK. This has been the year for the BIG WINDS.



Several years from now, that area will have the best hunting in your whole county..another bit of lemonade from lemons.

Age...weird side issue....I'm not quite as old as you but close..when I get around saws and wood it is like I dropped a decade or two. It's just so much fun for me that it makes a chore into something I look forward to. I am always trying to get caught up with all my other farm work and fixing busted mechanical stuff so I can go do wood. It's like a woodcation....heh

OK, I admit it, not *quite* as much in the wicked heat, but I still do some. And the winter, I can do it all day if I can get the time and the mud ain't to bad to get back into the woods.

 

[mayhem100]

Time to host a MI get together!

 

[stumpy75]

A tornado went through a local park about a year ago. They were able to sell the timber to a logger, and then held a firewood sale. The loggers took the logs and left all the tops(on the ground). The park crews then cut up the tops and held a firewood sale.

So it is very possible that a logger would do a salvage operation in there. Maybe post on other areas of this forum for more info on that?

 

[dingeryote]

What a mess you guys got over there!
Glad to see so few got hurt, and more trees than homes got leveled.

Personally I'd clear what needs immediate clearing for the short term, and then wait for a couple good storms to shake loose the tangled mess a bit. No point in not letting gravity do some of the dangerous work, and getting crunched while pulling the downed stuff out.

Anything down will be fine for several months.
Anything that rots that quick, wont be good for much anyhow.

In the meantime call around and see if any of the timber buyers are interested, as some might be willing to gamble on the bigger stuff if the price is right and they are in the area anyway.

Just go easy when ya go pulling with a tractor on anything upright, or even felling snapped off stems. Those trees were wrung like a dishrag before they went over, and will unload in the wrong direction often enough. If ya have a crawler it would beat risking a good tractor and a new hat.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[TermiteBuffet]

Glad you weren't hurt , or the buildings .I'm with some others ask some loggers see what they'll do . If not do the share thing as metioned above , i personally would start on grounded trees first, the stuff thats hung up and standing stems will last . I think that skipping less valuable wood , and moving to the good stuff might be a plan esp. with all that carnage.. Most of all be careful ....as has been mentioned some of those trees will probably be like a spring waiting to snap .. that also will get better/ safer overtime

 

[Swamp Yankee]

Tough Situation, Glad you're OK

A medium size tractor equipped with a logging winch would be a good start. While a cable skidder will work, in a mess like you describe the tractor will give you more ability to get around and get close. Uses a lot less fuel too.

Pick a starting point and begin by clearing some access roads and paths. At least being in MI you won't be dealing with side hills and steep terrain. Offer wood for help, but unless they're insured make sure the people going in are people you know. Having a bad situation compounded by a law suit is not what is needed right now.

If possible, get what maple you can out first, it will rot pretty quickly. Bigger maples, at least around here have cores of mush, and are already half rotten.

A logging operation may be interested, but a lot will revolve around how beat up the trees are and how many board feet can reasonably be salvaged. As to firewood, based on the damage to the entire area the firewood market probably just went in the tank much like MA a few years back after the ice storms 20 miles north of here.

My advice is to take your time, make a plan to get as much of the easy pickens out of the way as you can first and then hit the tougher stuff. Don't try to do it all at once.

If I wasn't so far away I, like many members here, would be glad to jump in and help.

Take Care

 

[David (saltas)]

I know the search function is broken
I have posted a small thread "stihl cleaning up"
The reason was it was a 100 days since cyclone yasi Cat 5 had been to visit us.

I have friend with ten archers of broken trees.
I only owned a pruning saw and have been working from the house out and I wont be finished this year.
I bought a MS261 to help speed things up a little, but is like the question
How does pigmy eat an ellephant
answer
Slowly

If you look the other side of the fence you can see some of the mess

this was my street the next day

 

[Oldtimer]

Find a mechanical logging crew to do it. That mess is a bad accident waiting to happen to you.

I wouldn't touch it, and I am a logger with 20+ years of this under my belt.

A mechanical crew can do it quick, safe, and clean.
Contact your state's division of forestry (or whatever agency oversees logging) and get a list of reputable loggers.

 

[leon]

Sunday we experienced 100 mph + winds. The 100 year old farm house and out buildings survived but 30 acres of hardwoods were decimated. Some trees snapped off twenty/thirty feet up. Others toppled over at the root ball. The woods looks like someone was playing a gigantic game of pic up sticks. The skyline looks sparse.

I'm looking to you experts on how best to deal with the carnage. It's such a tangled mess in there, I doubt any logger would want to try and salvage any trees for timber, due to the stress. ???

My niece and nephew both heat with wood and I plan on upgrading our wood cookstove to something like a Jotul 600. Many of these trees are 3' or more in diameter so the number of potential cords is mind boggling to me.

It will be left to me to harvest most of the wood by myself and i enjoy cutting/processing firewood. But at 63 I feel I am too old/slow to make any $$$$ trying to sell it for profit.

Now to the reason for this post. How can I manage this mess and minimize loss due to decay over the next several years. The trees are a mixture of Oak, Hickory, Cherry, and Maple. I can manage inside storage for about ten/twelve cord of wood. I feel I can keep another fifteen or twenty cord stored outside and used up by myself before decay becomes an issue.

Should I concentrate on specific sections of the woods and leave other sections alone since many trees are still partially off the ground due to their limbs and other trees beneath them. ??????

Sorry for the rambling. The magnitude of this mess won't let me think straight yet. The downed trees are so thick, I can't even walk thru the woods. Help me come up with a plan to minimize waste.

Thanks.

You have a very large amount of wind damaged
timber that can be used for lumber and firewood


What you have is a problem involving planning,
harvesting, transport, and use of the wind blown timber
otherwise known as logistics.


First you need to establish a very large landing and
clearing with good solid ground where the logs can
be stacked as they are removed safely and then
graded for quality and sorted for shattered logs and
good lumber separating the bad logs for fire wood
and the good logs for timber to be sold later.

You need to contact someone at the North East Lumber
Manufacturers Association to contact a logger or loggers
with the following types of machines which are:

1. long reach log loader on tracks if possible
2. tracked feller bunchers
3. articulating wood forwarders.
4 tracked excavator(s) with thumb attachments to grapple
the downed logs and lay them down safely so the forwarder
operator can separate the shattered logs for firewood and
the good lumber for the log landing to be graded for the
lumber buyers.

The log loader will have enough reach to pull logs
where required.

The tracked feller bunchers will be capable of cutting to length
the logs that they can physically reach with the boom of the
feller buncher.

The downed wood can be cleared by working the exposed edge
of the clearing/log landing and work from end to end by always
leaving the machines in the open area to allow freedom of
movement as the entire landing and clearing is always open and
the machines are working along the cleared perimeter of the
damaged wood line and never entering the area of blowdown
and continually making a larger arc only as wide as the reach
of the tracked excavators as the downed wood is removed safely
as the machines will always be on the safe open side of the clearing
in the open space previously cleared in the last clearing swath which
is no larger than the longest reach of the tracked excavator with
utilising a thumb grapple attachment.

The tracked axcavators can pull the lumber into the cleared
area where the logs can be bucked up for the mill or the
firewood pile at the firewood landing and then loaded by the
forwarders and transported to the landing to be sorted further
and graded for firewood or timber for the mill.

It can be done one piece at a time just like the Johny Cash Cadillac song.

 

[NCPABill]

Hire the professionals...

Dingeryote has it about right. I'd ask the local loggers to take a look. It sounds like if you can get them to give you a price on whatever they're interested in. In that it sounds like you have more than enough for your needs or timewise abilities, hopefully they can pull the stuff they desire more, and in the process loosen up the mess so that you can have a better go at it.
I find that, in normal situations, I make much better time skidding them out to a field, nipping off the junk, skidding a little more to a landing, then cut, split and stack there - much faster than dragging the trailer back in the tight woods.

Good luck - I'd love to see some pics if you are so inclined.

Bill

 

[dancan]

Tough Situation, Glad you're OK

A medium size tractor equipped with a logging winch would be a good start. While a cable skidder will work, in a mess like you describe the tractor will give you more ability to get around and get close. Uses a lot less fuel too.

Pick a starting point and begin by clearing some access roads and paths. At least being in MI you won't be dealing with side hills and steep terrain. Offer wood for help, but unless they're insured make sure the people going in are people you know. Having a bad situation compounded by a law suit is not what is needed right now.

If possible, get what maple you can out first, it will rot pretty quickly. Bigger maples, at least around here have cores of mush, and are already half rotten.

A logging operation may be interested, but a lot will revolve around how beat up the trees are and how many board feet can reasonably be salvaged. As to firewood, based on the damage to the entire area the firewood market probably just went in the tank much like MA a few years back after the ice storms 20 miles north of here.

My advice is to take your time, make a plan to get as much of the easy pickens out of the way as you can first and then hit the tougher stuff. Don't try to do it all at once.

If I wasn't so far away I, like many members here, would be glad to jump in and help.

Take Care

Great advice Swamp Yankee !
The only thing I can ad is that after we had a hurricane blow through here is that most logging operations took the large acreages first (at a reduced rate) and then cleared the small strips for salvage timber and charged the landowner for cutting .
Some small acreage owners signed contracts and were locked in for a year to have the contractor not show up and then had to look for a new operation when the wood was worth even less .
Since we are mainly softwood oriented in this area the hurricane had very little effect on the firewood market .