iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Pine Thinning & Clearcut, Pictures

Started by Gary_C, September 20, 2013, 01:37:37 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Gary_C

Just finished a white pine thinning on state land. It was an operator select to remove about one third of the basal area. Lots of sick, dying, & blister rust trees. Estimated volume was about 157 cords, sold as appraised, and I was just a tad short, but needed to move on and it looked good. These are the after pictures.


 


 

I stayed too long and got trapped there on opening of bow hunting and small game season.


 

But I got to see how to cook squirrel-on-a-stick.


 

So now I moved on to a clearcut on private lands where it will soon be a new interchange on the freeway plus housing development. A place where they sell the land by the square foot. The trees to be cleared are at the top of the hill. Had to carve a road thru the corn.


 
There were a few rows of spruce on the outside


  
The stand has had no management and no one seems to know how long ago it was planted.


 
This is what the soil looks like at the highest point. Didn't know corn could grow in rocks.


 
You can see downtown MPLS from there.


  

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

sprucebunny

MS193, MS192 and an 026  Weeding and Thinning. Gilbert Champion sawmill

thecfarm

You run the forwarder?  How did the squirrel taste?  :D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

GRANITEstateMP

Gary_C  We generally grow all of our corn in rocks (not by choice!)  Some years we produce way more rocks than corn...
Hakki Pilke 1x37
Kubota M6040
Load Trail 12ft Dump Trailer
2015 GMC 3500HD SRW
2016 Polaris 450HO
2016 Polaris 570
SureTrac 12ft Dump Trailer

mesquite buckeye

I've seen corn in Mexico planted in the cracks between the boulders and outcrops. Looked fine. ;D 8) 8) 8)

Corn is good. ;D
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

Gary_C

I run both the harvester and forwarder and truck too. But on this job another guy is bringing his forwarder to do most of the forwarding.

And that is as close as I got to that squirrel, with a telephoto lens too.  :)

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Clark

Looks like a good job, Gary. 

I'd say around here only about 70% of the privately owned pine is in the unmanaged condition. 7" diameter, 65' tall and not a chance it will ever amount to anything.

Clark
SAF Certified Forester

mesquite buckeye

Quote from: Gary_C on September 20, 2013, 03:19:45 PM
I run both the harvester and forwarder and truck too. But on this job another guy is bringing his forwarder to do most of the forwarding.

And that is as close as I got to that squirrel, with a telephoto lens too.  :)




Where is moose? bat-smiley
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

beenthere

Probably those guys with that squirrel over the fire didn't get much closer either.
Maybe an attempt or two to chew it.
Cooked like that, it can be the toughest meat known to man. Nothing like putting it in a pressure cooker before rolling in some flour and then hit it with the fry pan.
But just over the fire, doesn't work the time I tried it as a Boy Sprout.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Ken

Thanks for the pictures Gary_C   I always like to see pics of other operations.  The pine thinning does not look like a 1/3 removal in the pics unless there were a lot of smaller understory trees that were removed.  Nice stems remaining.

The softwood stand looks like a good harvester block.  Lots of stems and few limbs.

I too would be happy to pass on the tree rat.
Lots of toys for working in the bush

Peter Drouin

Nice pics. Do a lot of people go camping for opening day of hunting .
In NH we go hunting but not camp like that. with all the smoke and noise there would not be a deer for miles around here :D
A&P saw Mill LLC.
45' of Wood Mizer, cutting since 1987.
License NH softwood grader.

Gary_C

Quote from: Peter Drouin on September 20, 2013, 06:13:34 PM
Nice pics. Do a lot of people go camping for opening day of hunting .
In NH we go hunting but not camp like that. with all the smoke and noise there would not be a deer for miles around here :D

I'd say that 80-90% of the groups in that small camp area or rather trailhead parking area are Hmong families. And I would estimate there were 40-50 vehicles with associated tents there over the weekend. It's busy on most summer weekends but nothing like during hunting season. It is mostly family outings with lots of kids and really not much rowdy behavior.

The little boy in this picture is looking at the deer that dad just brought back from the morning hunt.


 

There is no fee for camping in a state forest and very limited facilities. They do have a hand pump water well, a one seat outhouse, and the state just brought in a dumpster for the trash. There is also a nearby designated trout stream that is stocked. And it is in a valley just one mile off the Mississippi River. Nice place if you know where to find it and don't mind a crowd.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

SwampDonkey

I'd say those folks all look forward to it, even the crowd around. Then there are others that like to hunt and camp away from the crowds.  ;D

The pine looks nice. Our white pine up here gets trashed by the bugs and rust. There are some places here that have seeded heavy to white pine, like old fields, and look like a mass of giant cabbages. Thus the name 'cabbage pine'. :D Been thinning a site that had big pine left (scattered) along with the hemlock (they blow down ::) ) and I try to save a nice pine, but never find one.  The tops are usually chewed up or resin oozing off a rust infection on the stem. ::)

The only way to help white pine in these parts is to start it in shade, prune the lower limbs up, thin and release it from shade at pole stage. The shade stops the weevils, the pruning and thinning gets more air flow and reduces rust. Rust begins in the needles and migrates to the stem. Now, the moose that needs harvesting. They'll destroy pines of any kind. ::) ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

barbender

Was that C.R. Magney park by chance, Gary? Where do you send your pine products from down in the bluff country?
Too many irons in the fire

beenthere

barbender
Maybe this helps, as in the OP Gary mentioned:

QuoteYou can see downtown MPLS from there.

and
Quoteclearcut on private lands where it will soon be a new interchange on the freeway plus housing development.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

barbender

That's the second job, I was wondering where the first one was.
Too many irons in the fire

Gary_C

barbender, haven't heard of that name. Far as I know, the little parking and camping area doesn't have a name. It's on Trout Brook Road just south of Weaver and north of Minneska and a mile off Hwy 61.

Pretty much all my softwood goes to Wisconsin. Some of the bolts eventually get to Bemidji, but this job was all white pine.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Thank You Sponsors!