How long after logging does the land look natural again?

[SwampDonkey]

I prefer it dispersed, it breaks down quicker than in piles. The piles become dens for porkies to move in. I've thinned with brush saw around those sites with piles and nothing more surprising to meet porky at face level up in a fir tree.

[Ed_K]

Lumberjack 48,the deer may travel thru some of it but they can't posibbly get at all the regen.I dropped a lot of junk hemlock crisscross and a lot of s.maple up to 10" that are 5-8 feet off the ground.My nice looking logging job of 2010 is now mess but the NRCS makes the rules and pays the landowner to do work like this.

[lumberjack48]

Ed_K, i understand, i've had to do work on Federal land that i didn't agree with, even the Ranger didn't agree, but rules are rules.

When we started clear cutting in the early 70's, people would jump me about it. I tried to explain that i was only doing what the contract said. And if i didn't completely level it i would be charged for damages. It was the best thing that happened to the big Aspen sales, cut it all down so that it all comes up the same. 
In the 60's we cut a  lot of Diamond Match wood [ saw bolts ] We'd go though a stand of Aspen an only cut the sound trees. Cut 3 or 4 bolts off and leave the pulp in the woods. I've gone though 100's of acres only cutting the bolt timber out and leaving the rest stand. This was a very poor practice by the State and the Feds, it should have been all cut down.

[ashes]

^^^Just curious why it is better to cut it all with the aspen. I am guessing that the regen is really fast in full light, but correct me if I am offbase.

[Ianab]

^^^Just curious why it is better to cut it all with the aspen. I am guessing that the regen is really fast in full light, but correct me if I am offbase.

I'm not familiar with Aspen, but many species of tree only regenerate properly in full sunlight, like a clear cut area. If you selectively cut single trees you may get some other species growing in the shelter of the remaining trees.

A selective cut also tends to take the best trees, and leave the weaker suppressed trees which don't grow on well even when released.

So few new trees, and poor growth from the trees you left means it's not good management.

If you choose not to do a large clear cut for whatever reasons (wildlife, aesthetics etc) then normal practice would be small clear cuts of 2 to 5 acres in size spaced through the forest. It then doesn't have the "wasteland" look of a large clearcut, but the clearings can regenerate properly. You can do a series of cuts 5 to 10 years apart, and once the whole forest has been cleared the first patches are getting close to harvest again.

Ian

[Phorester]

Here's a picture of a clearcut forest;



28 years after clearcutting.  There is a baseball cap hanging in a tree near the center of the pic for scale.

Remember, at the same instant a clearcut is the end of one forest, it's also the beginning of a new one. Just a forest of little trees instead of the big ones that were there immediately before.

Regeneration clearcuts need to be cut as clear as possible, everything down to 1-2 inches diameter cut, to maximize sunlight on the new trees.

[WDH]

A clearcut is also a boon to many species of wildlife.  It can be a very good thing as a part of the broader landscape.  Disturbance is natural in the system and required for balance.  Clearcutting gets a bad rap, but used wisely, it is a great management tool and good for the critters, birds, and the bees, too.

[JOE.G]

Looks like there is a lot of stuff on the ground in that pic, I am guessing that is just branchs and leaves/pine needles from the new trees.

[Ianab]

Looks like there is a lot of stuff on the ground in that pic, I am guessing that is just branchs and leaves/pine needles from the new trees.

Yup, like a natural forest.

The trees naturally shedding branches, weaker trees are being suppressed and dying off, undergrowth plants are establishing under the canopy etc.

Difference between a Forest and a Park

Ian

[Phorester]

I modified the post of my clearcut picture to mention the baseball cap near the center of the picture I hung there for scale. (I was by myself that day   ;D
The loblolly pines average 8" - 10" diameter, some range up to 14" dbh.

And as IANAB says, this is how a pine forest looks at this age.

[SwampDonkey]

About the only differences in vegetation I see on clearcuts is the scale of the trees and some sites have lots of pin cherry. As far as the plants on the ground I see no difference. Right now the prominent ground plants are the bunch berry in bloom, lady slippers, and wintergreen and earlier the triliums. Also see lots of blueberry bushes, which look real lush and green. Lots of bumble bees, hummers and song birds, a few partridge, lots of bears and moose and more deer this year than there has been. Almost stepped on a fawn with the chaulk boots. ;D

[Sixacresand]

My dad had 30 acres clear cut in the early nineties.    The pines reseeded and the place is like a jungle   Without some serious timber management, it will probably be another 30 years before there is any more useable timber.  I won't live that long, so right now just plowing roads thru it for trail riding and food plots. 

[WDH]

You could thin it with hack-n-squirt herbicide if the timber is not merchantable.  That would help immensely.