Managing My Woodlot

[1 stihl nut]

Sounds like a good plan.

Some might argue that "hand split" and "leisure" aren't exactly compatible terms.

How much snow do you have up there now?

 

[svk]

A little over a foot.

 

[svk]

Well there are now 42 aspen left. Then I'm through cutting low BTU junk wood until the next batch of aspen grow up.

 

[svk]

As an update all of these trees are down, hauled, split, and most of them burned. There ended up being a lot more than I originally counted because we went all the way to the back line of the property. Most of the logs were full of core rot but a few could have gone to the mill.

I have a very healthy mix of young maple, birch, and aspen coming in.

I also have way too many young balsams coming up.

My plan is to completely remove the balsams. I'm not trying to grow Christmas trees so there's no reason to have them competing with real firewood species.

To eliminate fire risk I figured I'd hire my unemployed HS friend to drag and pile them for burning.

Am I missing something or does that sound like a sound plan to improve the quality of the future firewood trees on my lot?

 

[Erik B]

As an update all of these trees are down, hauled, split, and most of them burned. There ended up being a lot more than I originally counted because we went all the way to the back line of the property. Most of the logs were full of core rot but a few could have gone to the mill.

I have a very healthy mix of young maple, birch, and aspen coming in.

I also have way too many young balsams coming up.

My plan is to completely remove the balsams. I'm not trying to grow Christmas trees so there's no reason to have them competing with real firewood species.

To eliminate fire risk I figured I'd hire my unemployed HS friend to drag and pile them for burning.

Am I missing something or does that sound like a sound plan to improve the quality of the future firewood trees on my lot?

You could leave a few of the balsam trees to grow to give you a Christmas tree each year. You could call it a full service wood lot

 

[svk]

You could leave a few of the balsam trees to grow to give you a Christmas tree each year. You could call it a full service wood lot

There are zillions of small balsams around me. I suppose if I found a perfect one I would keep it but it seems balsams always have a better and worse side. Almost like they always grow up against another tree causing the limbs on one side to be lighter and less bushy.

 

[Tenderfoot]

There are zillions of small balsams around me. I suppose if I found a perfect one I would keep it but it seems balsams always have a better and worse side. Almost like they always grow up against another tree causing the limbs on one side to be lighter and less bushy.

They make good kindling. I tend to make a pile of 10 or 20 and burn them in the end of january.

 

[reddogrunner]

I think someone already said it. Only drop a handful at a time. Start at one side and just drop a "row", limb, buck to handling length and stack them for later processing like Cantoo showed. I started doing this and its a BIG help. If you have a tractor or skid steer with forks, this is a VERY easy process. Try not to leave any laying around too long.

 

[svk]

I think someone already said it. Only drop a handful at a time. Start at one side and just drop a "row", limb, buck to handling length and stack them for later processing like Cantoo showed. I started doing this and its a BIG help. If you have a tractor or skid steer with forks, this is a VERY easy process. Try not to leave any laying around too long.

The aspen are all gone now. Just need to thin the balsam and wait for things to grow!

 

[svk]

Late next week I'm planning to thin out the balsam. I figure a half day of cutting and a half day of hauling/piling then we can have a nice bonfire and roast them up.

 

[svk]

Here's some shots of my woodlot that were taken yesterday. As you can see it's mostly young maple and aspen with a little oak and birch as well. Those pesky balsam have really sprouted up in the last two growing seasons since I dropped the geriatric aspen. As mentioned all of the balsam will be coming out soon.

If you look in the top middle of photo two you can see an old Norway pine snag that's near the back border of my property. I may drop that this spring to give a bigger saw a workout but it's probably beyond salvage for firewood.

 

[svk]

Update. I can't say I've made it as far as I'd like to have at this point but I've made progress nonetheless.

Last Monday and today I spent time removing aspen from one block of the wood lot. There are three more blocks of the woodlot which is intersected by a road and a power line right of way. The good thing is this is the thickest area of balsam and for the most part the largest balsam trees as well. The other blocks have larger saplings and fewer balsam so it will go quicker.

Last week-took out the first half of the trees. It got so thick in there with downed trees that I didn't want to keep dropping more.


Last week's work dragged out and piled.


Two different shots of this week. Lots of sunlight to grow those deciduous trees now.

 

[svk]

A little perspective.

Here's the before (use the small oak in each photo for reference).


And the after.


Many of these balsam in the 4-7" diameter range already had core rot and ants.

 

[chucker]

looking good steve! it was so thick you couldn't see the lake standing on the hill by the big red pine before..... might even say it was thicker then the hair on them wolves backs you share the wood lot with as neighbors! lol

 

[svk]

Yeah those pesky balsam had to go.

Hate cutting that stuff too. Sap everywhere!