What should I look for ?

[Whitman]

I have a Forester from a lumber co. comimg on Thursday for a wood lot inspection. I know to get rid of the beech dogwood redbud, but what size poplar,maple oak should I keep or harvest . a second opinion is alway welcome.

[Ron Wenrich]

Size has nothing to do with it.  That's where landowners often get into trouble.  They figure a certain size of tree is mature and then get talked into a diameter limit cut.  That's where they cut all trees above a certain diameter.  A small tree can be just as old or older than a large tree. 

If you're doing an intermediate thinning, you want to take out trees of poor quality first.  That would mean trees of low desirability due to species or form.  Leaving them means that's what your next harvest will entail. 

After those are marked, then you want to do something to open the crowns of your crop trees.  A good forester will have a residual basal area he wants to maintain.  For mixed hardwoods, a basal area of 60-70 sq ft per acre would be the lower limit.  If you get too low, you open your stand up for epicormic branching which comes when too much sunlight reaches the boles.  I'm sure you've seen it where trees leaf out on the stems.  Really prevalent in tulip poplar.  That leaves a defect in the lumber and reduces tree quality.  The removal of some canopy trees would allow for crown expansion.  You will only get tree growth through crown expansion. 

There may be areas where the residual stand should not be maintained.  It might be worthwhile to put some openings in the stand to promote regeneration in these areas. 

There is no set answer for what size to keep or harvest.  You have to look at each tree on its own merits.

[WDH]

Dogwoods are understory trees.  They are pretty in the spring and the fruit is a very good wildlife food.  I would certainly leave them.  Just because a tree will not make a salable log does not mean that it does not have value.  The same goes for redbud and mulberry. 

[banksiana]

I may be way off base here but a forester working for a lumberyard may not give you the best advise.   Fox in the hen house comes to mind. 

[beenthere]

I may be way off base here but a forester working for a lumberyard may not give you the best advise.   Fox in the hen house comes to mind.

From the OP

I have a Forester from a lumber co. comimg on Thursday for a wood lot inspection

True, the landowner needs to be aware and if not knowledgeable, then get in a non-company forester. But sounds like this forester is a good place to start.
A management plan for the forest should be a priority, if long-term interests in the forest.

[Whitman]

That is why I am asking for help from the foresters that I can trust, the second opinion. my daughter had a freind who`s dad was a forester for Purdue he offered to walk thru ,but never did it befor they moved back to Laffayette(?). Thanks to all. He is to come Thursday and Iam in no hurry to sell .

[Texas Ranger]

If Indiana has an environmental state agency, look there as well for a forester.  They may not be able to help in the sale, but they can tell you what  you have and how to go about the sale.

[banksiana]

You should get a plan with clear objectives that you want to meet.  The plan should include some recommendations on how to meet those objectives.  Alternatives are also good, so you can explore all your options.  These recommendations should be based on sound tried and true forestry practices and not just some guy telling you what you should do.  Forestry is a science based on sound peer reviewed research.

But the first step is a plan that involves cover type mapping of the woodlot, stand descriptions with cover, species, size, density, age, health at the minimum.  Good plans bring much more to the table such as T and E species, cultural concerns, soils, season of operation possibilities, water management issues, wildlife, exotic species management, and probably a bunch more I can't think of.  If he starts offering you money on the first visit, you better get someone else.

[SwampDonkey]

It's possible that some species react much different to light intensity with age. In our northern hardwood here in NB which is dominated by sugar maple, yellow birch, beech, and white ash, the epicormic branching diminishes with age. In fact almost nothing if the trees are mature 80+ years old and especially if they are dominant in the canopy. If we are talking pole wood and saplings and say substantially younger than 80 years old, then there is a good chance of suckering and branching. I have observed this and also talked with folks that manage thousands of acres for their sawmill about it when they do partial cuts in hardwoods. Same with harvesting the trees, these species won't sucker when mature. Now if we are talking red oak, basswood, red maple it's a whole 'nother ball game. They sucker in every which way to Sunday when released too much or harvested. Just thought I would throw that out there. Up here, large shade tolerant hardwood is old. I mean if it's over 16 inches dbh and forest grown it is well over 80 years old. But at the same time a 6" beech can easily be 110 years old growing suppressed. And they don't root sucker up here. But beech is well known to root sucker in NY state. We had a professor on a hardwood course, that was from NY, and we went into this very discussion out in  a beech-maple stand. I challenged him to find one root suckered beech. He pulled a bunch of trees over the course of the field day, in fact a bunch of us did, and they were seed origin, every one. ;D We do get stool shoots, but again on young trees.

[WDH]

I agree with Banksiana.  You need to establish your objectives for the property and get an inventory (timber cruise) to see what you have.  Your objectives, and the current state of the timber stands, will determine what steps that you need to take and when to take them. 

[Whitman]

Update... it rained all morning and into the afternoon so the walk through did not happen,more when it dose. whitman

[Whitman]

Update. We walked the woods and he was very imformative,noteing how the mature poplure were shadeing out the others (this I knew) .He also said Ash that was the size that I had should be cut
be for the ashborer got to them(24-36in)some hard maple had reached materity and started to
decline,some 40 dia.  5 or 6 white oak  and maybe 30 red oak of a good size.  He did not talk money
but said that if I wanted to harvest we mark the trees and figuer bf on the boyal scale the get
down to the brass tacks.. Whitman

[WDH]

Sounds like you had a productive day.