A walk through of my forest land

[Ruffneck]

Had my walk through with Dan from the Washington State DNR the other day. I am going to apply for a cost share program that expires in June of 2013. I will need to do fuel reduction on a three acres surrounding my cabin and 50 feet on both sides of my planned access road to be eligible.
It was very educational. The spacing on the trees need to be 15 feet apart from the drip-line. He was saying the trees should really take off after that and that I would need to thin once again after a few years...
After this cost share program is over, I'll be able to apply for a second one that will cover a ten acre parcel at a time... The thing I like about this program the most is the fact I don't have to have my forest in a management plan that has commercial logging as the goal. Like I told him, the only thing that is going to be sold from my trees is a finished product. He seemed to like that...
Buying another MS 290 in a couple of days, my old one has seen better days. 
Looks like I'll have plenty of pine logs to practice making lumber out of! ;D ;D ;D
Stay Safe!!!

[WDH]

Good deal.  That will make for a more healthy forest and more bountiful critters.

[Ruffneck]

This is a picture of the area in need of treatment behind me. This was taken in maybe 2005ish:

 

This is a picture I took this evening. I think the pine with blue ribbon is the same one over my right shoulder in the previous pic.

 

It was a good couple of days in the woods. I was reminded what I am working for with this view of Mt. Hood:

 

The great weather gave me an opportunity to pile some dryer dead wood and cover with viz queen:

 

One thing I've learned is once I get a fire to go "nuclear" I can feed green pine just about as fast as I can stack it. It doesn't run on gas or break down either 

 

Before starting the 155 mile drive home, I had to take some samples of my trophies of the day and bring them home to study:

 

My forester says the drip-line needs to be 15' apart and I think this is a perfect example why thinning is good. The smaller trees have tight grain. If I release these trees and the growth ring get bigger, how would that affect the milling of it?
It was fun falling the 17 incher, but it sure is a funny shape.   ;D

[Okrafarmer]

 :D :D :D
You must be so spoiled with such round trees out west. Around here, a lot of mine look like octopus or starfish in cross-section!  ;D

[SwampDonkey]

You need to bend a little lower to the ground unless your planning on pushing out the stumps with a dozer. Some of them stumps have 3 or 4 feet of good wood left for the toad stools. The first time you hang up on one you'll change your technique maybe. ;D

[Ruffneck]

I feel spoiled now Okrafarmer. I will have to remind myself of that often ;D
My idea is to come back and kick the pine stumps out in a few years SwampDonkey. I may have to cut the oak and bigger stumps flush. I don't care about the stuff I'm cutting at this time. I'm keeping 12 foot steams and burning the rest for the most part.
I am accumulating some saw logs along the way too ;D ;D ;D
15 feet apart on drip lines is going to be lots of trees. I can't wait to see how it ends up. I think I'll have a much better view in the end June 2013 is the deadline :D :D :D

For the record, the battle lines have been drawn:

 

[Ruffneck]

If you mean the sawing of the pine in the cold, well.....lots of the boys on here don't like the cold for anything. :D ;)

Let the winter games begin!

 
24 degrees when I showed yup yesterday

[Okrafarmer]

Have fun in the snow! It rained all day today here, and now I have to go work in the mud tomorrow.  :(

[SwampDonkey]

I know one of the boys from down in Georgia landed up here in NB the other day and commented on the cold and how his southern attire wasn't going to cut it. It was 2F here yesterday morning. I know I was out with ashes at 6:30 am and no wind, but that cold air was burning my ears. ;D

[WDH]

Yes, there is a Georgia Boy loose in NB  :D.

[terry f]

    Ruffneck, how much is the cost share now, when I looked at it a few years ago it was $600 an acre, about half for thinning and half for slash treatment, seemed like a great deal.

[WindyAcres]

Hi-grade... cut the best leave the rest.  the opposite of good silviculture.

That pretty much how it works here.. either take everything (clear-cut) or take the best, easiest stuff. "Who knows whats tomorrow, take it now".

[Ruffneck]

    Ruffneck, how much is the cost share now, when I looked at it a few years ago it was $600 an acre, about half for thinning and half for slash treatment, seemed like a great deal.

My Forester has me treating a five acre area around my cabin and the future driveway. They will pay $2,400 when I complete it. It needs to be finished by the end of 2013. I also need to document $5,000 of cost. $20 per hour for my labor, $50 a day to rent my saw and drive time.

My timing for purchasing my WM LT 35 couldn't have been better. I sure like it when things come together.

Here are some before and after pics of my last trip, 7" of snow and 17 degrees. It really felt good to be out in that temp. Walking in the snow is very tiring though. I just purchased a sled so I can pack everything in at once.

Picture of area before:
 

 

Picture of area before falling big pine:


  

Area after:


 

So, my idea is to keep my saw logs on the ground until I've completed the thinning of the five acre area. I will then come in with an excavator or skid-steer to move the saw logs to the mill, They're 13 feet long. How long can the logs be on the ground before sawing? It's Ponderosa Pine.

Hi-grade... cut the best leave the rest.  the opposite of good silviculture.

That pretty much how it works here.. either take everything (clear-cut) or take the best, easiest stuff. "Who knows whats tomorrow, take it now".

I'm planning on doing it the hard way, that is the way I do most everything :D I want to leave the best, I will end up with some good logs though.

Thanks for all the help all!  :new_year:

[BaldBob]

"How long can the logs be on the ground before sawing? It's Ponderosa Pine."

For as long as the temps are well below freezing. Once temps get above about 40deg. F, they will start to degrade,though except for Blue Stain and end checking, there won't be much effect for several months.

[SwampDonkey]

If those pine seed anything like jack or white pine, that will be a pasture of green pine seedlings.  ;D

[Ruffneck]

I've been watching to much of the Discovery Channel:
http://youtu.be/bYntSfkJsnk  :D
Those crazy crooked pine!

Thanks BaldBob, it's getting up to the mid 30's at times. We'll just have to see. Blue stain isn't to big of a deal, I'll be using the wood for framing and painting over the siding. I'd like to avoid it if I can. I just want to start with good habits as I begin my venture.

Well SwampDonkey, my forester tells me I shouldn't have to worry about replanting my pine, just thin like mad ;D
I can sure tell the difference between the crowded trees and the ones that had been out in the open.
I am starting to get a feeling that my woodlot is going to provide for everything I'm wanting.

I've come across some nests that the forester thinks is Western gray squirrel. He told me they get a buffer of 50 feet in commercial operations but to just be careful and the thinning will benefit them??? Uh, OK... There are three nests 50 feet apart from one another. Makes me wonder how a commercial operation can produce anything at all : I've been falling those trees a little more on target :D :D :D

[WDH]

Maybe you should audition for Ax Men  :D.

[Ruffneck]

I did! They want more anger    They suggest enrolling in a anger-mismanagement class. Don't see how that could ever work with views like this ;D

Design a home around it:

 

Feel like I stole it  8) 8) 8)

[thecfarm]

Start designing. WOW,that looks some pretty.

[rooster 58]

    Wow Ruffy, thats some awesome property you have there. I just love the west. My aunt is trying to come out to Divide, Co. Maybe I should take a looksee ;)

[g_man]

Very pretty western view. Is that Rainier ??

[giant splinter]

Ruffneck
That is a beautiful property and an incredible view, great job on the work and planning your doing also.
Keep up the pace and enjoy every minuet of it.

[BaldBob]

Very pretty western view. Is that Rainier ??

Mt. Adams

[SwampDonkey]

Used to get views like that up on the Nass River in NW BC. Everything else looked flat around them peaks until you had to walk up and down those smaller hills all day cruising timber and laying out road. ;D The contour maps were pretty much useless. We had to make our own. So that meant up and down those slopes to take slope readings to find the best deflection for the yarder and road placement. :D

[Okrafarmer]

Seems like they could make contour maps nowadays by radar, satellite, or something like that. Not sure, since I'm technologically challenged. SD, don't you just hate coming along behind and having to redo somebody's shoddy or incomplete work? Or did you think of it more in terms of that you were a pioneer, and nobody else had probably ever stepped (or crawled) on that piece of terrain before?  ;D