i wasn't belittling them for what they felt, it was just a shame to see some nice trees go to waste and just rot there.
I understand. My dad bought the barn and remaining 23 acres of an old farmstead from a guy. The guy had previously sold the house and ~5 acres to a family that could barely afford the house. They wanted the rest of the land but could not afford it after ~20 years so my dad bought it.
Well they were pizzed! They quickly drew a line in the property and harassed us every time we got near the line. No need for that, they were welcome to use the land and the barn any way they see fit, but they were being :censored:s about it so my dad let it slide.
Then one day when the price of walnut logs was sky high they cut down logs covering about 2 acres of thier land of big honking 150 yr old walnut trees. Prime veneer grade logs. My dad suggested to the guy that he call a logger friend we knew and sell him the logs. The guy flew into a tirade and quickly sawed the logs up into firewood.
Just to needle the guy my dad had a relative that was logger stop over and visit the dude and told him that despite the hatred he had for my dad, he should really stop being an idiot because base on his quick assessment of the logs he could see from the road, that there was >$50K worth of logs that were now cut up into firewood. And if he had been smart instead of holding a grudge, he could be paying for his kid's college education with those logs.
The logger was so upset to see the logs go to waste he had 3-5 of his friends stop by over the next few weeks and tell ask the landowner if he had any more logs because they were so valuable and they wanted to prevent him from cutting up any more tens of thousands of dollars worth of walnut. It pays to buy firewood from the local loggers and thus know them well.
30 Years later and that family still treats my step-mom like garbage about that land.