It's a crying shame

[oakiemac]

Last friday we had a huge storm blow through our area. knocked out power and phone lines for miles. My power was out for almost 4 days. Many trees were blown down and quite a few roads closed.
Anyways, what's bothering me about the whole scenario is the waste of the good logs. I saw a county road crew out cutting and dumping logs into a truck. I went up and asked what they going to do with the good oak logs and was told they all were going straight into the county dump. I tried to explain that they have some value, but the foreman said they didn't have time to "mess" with it.
Next I asked if I could go to their dump and retrieve a few logs but was told it was off limits.
It just kills me to see this kind of waste. If they don't have the time they should at least offer them free to the public. Instead the logs and firewood is just left to rot in a fenced dump.
I left my card with the foreman and after talking with him for awhile, I think I finally convinced him to save a few of the good ones and call me. He probably won't call, but it was worth a shot.

[Ron Scott]

I agree, they and the utility maintenance crews waste a lot of "good" wood. It would help if they just knew enough to cut it in merchantable lengths and make it available rather than "butcher" it in odd sizes and roll it around in the dirt to the point that it isn't any good to anyone.

I've seen some concerned publics in some areas take them to task for it to where they have become more aware of the wood values and possible utilization by interested wood users.

You may have made them more aware.

[Kevin]

It's probably the liability that scares them.

[Stan]

The way it works around here is if'n they cut a tree on a right of way the tree belongs to the property owner. Road crews or utility crews or even the Forest Service, they gotta leave it right where it falls.  8) 8) 8) The 'lectric company usually leaves any old poles they replace also.

[David_c]

like stan around here they leave it where it fell or was cut down unless theres a reason to move it. around here though they are really good about keeping right of ways pretty well open. dont know if its to keep moose/car accidents down or to prevent storms taking them down then folks beign without power. but the reason i quess dont matter becuase it helps on both accounts. in 5 years of living here i only lost power once and that was becuase the insulator on one of the polls down the road was on fire. man that was weird i'm comming up the road i see smoke and i'm like theres no house over there to be burning wood then as i get up there i see its the insulator get home .5 miles call NHPS they where out there within 20 minutes (not bad considering you cant get anywhere around here any quicker) within an hour of calling power was back on.

[Jeff]

I forwarded this thread on to Kevin Sayers of The MDNR

Kevin! Anthony! The Forum is at your disposal!!

Thanks Jeff.  It's a problem we've been trying to overcome for some time now.  With all the ash trees coming down as a result of EAB, the interest in utilizing 'urban timber' has been growing rapidly.  Anthony Weatherspoon has been heading this effort for the DNR.  He's been working with several private individuals and businesses to capture the value in this often overlooked resource.  Railroad ties seems to be a good market at the moment.  In fact one southeast MI company just sold their first load of ash cants for ties (see pics).  Appreciate the heads
up.  

kts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin T. Sayers
State Coordinator: Urban/Community Forestry
MDNR, Forest Mineral, Fire Mgmt.




I also heard from Anthony

Hello Jeff,
I visit your web site often but have not responded to any of the articles. One of the rising concerns is Utilization of urban trees. Extracting merchantable logs out of the waste stream. Our commercial Sawmills will tell you all of the reason why they are not interested in logs from and urban environment especially street trees.
This where the portable band mills will play an increasing role in utilizing urban logs. We also need help changing minds of people like the county crew foeman who thought it was not worth the time to mess with logs they are required to remove.
We should do a forum on urban log collection and processing?
Anthony Weatherspoon
 
Anthony Weatherspoon
Forest Products Technical Services Specialist
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Forest, Mineral and Fire Management Div.

[Furby]

I get a lot of free wood from utility and right of way cuts/trims. Mostly just firewood but some other. It's ALWAYS cut odd! To long for firewood, but if you cut it in half, it's way to short.
Like stan said it belongs to the property owner. I just knock on a door and ask sometimes yes, sometimes no. In areas where there are no houses around, but are close to the road, the road crews usually haul it away.
In your case Oakiemac, I'm thinking you hit them at a bad time. They are in a hurry to get things cleaned up, and sometimes there really can be a real liability issue. If you have the guys name, or can get a hold of a foreman and talk to him when things aren't busy you'll have a lot better luck. You don't want to talk to someone from the office, just the guy in charge of the crew.
Now the best thing, I think, is if we just had open dumps for wood. I think Mark M. has them out by him (do I have that right?).
There used be a few small ones around here, but they are now gone. That way the crews can still do their job, and us smaller guys can still get free wood.
My 2 cents, anyways.  :

[Ron Scott]

A new book is available on utilizing urban trees. The title is "Harvesting Urban Timber; A Complete Guide by Dr. Sam Sherrill.

http://www.harvestingurbantimber.com/book.html

[ksu_chainsaw]

Back at my parents house, we had a small section of ground that was not farmable, and grew very little grass anyway, we had a dump site for the tree guys and for other brush.  We took and cut firewood from what we could, and burned the rest for a big bonfire.  Dad is now keeping the better logs for a shed that he wants me to build, and cutting the rest into firewood.  The county likes the fact that we are not juct trashing what they dump there, and the tree guys like it because they dont have to pay to get rid of it, and the power company likes it because it takes the liability off of their hands.  The DOT also dumps trees there, and they like it because they dont have to watch the fire until it burns out.

just my thoughts

charles

[oakiemac]

Furby, you are probably right. I might try later when the dust settles a little. Right now we have power crews from 4 different states helping to restore power. I went over to look at one poor old ladys house and couldn't believe it. She lost every tree on her gorgeous property that over looks a small lake. It look like most of 'em landed on her house. My partner has a crane truck so hopefully he is going to help her out. Lots of nice Red Oaks.
I think education for the public is key. If we could just get the word out not to throw away or cut up good saw logs everyone could benefit. The owner could walk away with a little cash or reduced bill from tree service, The local sawmills would benefit. The county would benefit by not having to fill up a dump or burn tons of large logs.

[SAWYER_SLIM]

yes it is a shame. I am a lineman at a utilty comp. and I just got home from 4 days of storm work in the south. I seen a lot of nice trees go to fire wood,cherry,walnut,oak. It would make you cry. I was able to buy about 400 bdf of nice cheery from a property owner before he cut it up,it was all I could fit on the truck. The property owner has about another 1mbft, I would like to buy it, but it is down in coldwater 2hrs away from me. If I cant find away to get it home I wiil post it here. im sure someone here would be interested.