A walk through of my forest land

justallan1 · January 28, 2013, 07:08:34 PM

Great pictures, Ruffneck. Looks like you've found a nice place.

m wood · January 28, 2013, 07:45:19 PM

no doubt, swamp donkey, cruising timbers out there is an experience. They say 1.5 miles in that direction and you can count on a three mile treck considering the climbs and drops. Ruffneck thats a dandy chore you got ahead of you...what a view. My dads side of family live across the river, from Baker (city) to Hood River. Myself, I was Pendleton (OR) born and raised mostly west of the cascades. I am curious tho, your in such an arid place, do you expect a blu stain problem as much out there as say, in the more humid regions like south and eastern US? I miss the mountains and even the foothills. 12 years in western NY now and my 90 acres has an altitude variation of nothin! From 63' above sea level to 91'. Just so happens that nearly 30' difference is right next to each other. my wife giggles at me when i go out and climb it just for nostalgia sake.
Absolutely love your view ruffneck...Adams, Stevens, Rainer, St Helens, Hood, The Sisters, thanks...ENJOY

m wood · January 28, 2013, 08:08:55 PM

oops, i meant 863' and 891' elevation. if it aint frozen yet, Lake Ontario would be fillin in my hole by now ;D

Okrafarmer · January 28, 2013, 09:16:20 PM

:D :laugh: I was wondering about that, but wasn't going to say anything. You live in some nice country. I drove through about a year ago.

BaldBob · January 28, 2013, 11:25:54 PM

Quote from: Okrafarmer on January 28, 2013, 07:01:38 PM
Seems like they could make contour maps nowadays by radar, satellite, or something like that. Not sure, since I'm technologically challenged.

Most modern topo maps are in fact made using remote sensing (satelite, Radar, aerial photos, or the latest technology - LIDAR). For a few weeks one summer back in the 60's I worked on a crew gathering data for the 7 1/2 min Quad USGS topo map that covered basically Tillamook county Oregon. Even back then, most of the topo lines were traced onto a map using special equipment that scanned aerial photos on which numerous elevation points had been established by people like me using altimeters at locations on the ground that were identifiable on the photos. The altimeter readings were adjusted for variations in Barometric pressure by referencing our readings to readings taken every 15 min. at at least two USGS benchmarks of known (surveyed) elevation located in the area that the crews were covering that day. We calibrated our watches each morning, and noted the time of our readings (3 at each location) that we could positively identify on the ground from the aerial photos. As I remember the goal was to have altimeter elevation points no further than 1/4 mile from each other. In the Coast Range in that area even 1/4 mile could mean several 100 feet difference in elevation between 2 points.

SwampDonkey · January 29, 2013, 04:03:44 AM

Yes, they have been done since the 1980's here in Canada by satellite. The problem was the scale was too small to be of much use. They were 1:20,000, we needed 1:5000 to see enough of the ground breaks and the dome shaped knobs that prop up on the hillsides. A lot can happen over 200 meters of terrain. I was never impressed by 1:20,000 aerial photos neither because you couldn't pick smaller ground references very easily. You could see small swamps, but at that scale 20 swamps could look almost the same. Thank goodness the choppers had GPS by then. :D

We was pioneers, just for the fact not a stick of timber was ever cut nor road built before where we cruised. All virgin ground. Some of it still isn't touched where we cruised because of some ground sensitivity issues.

Ruffneck · February 06, 2013, 08:47:40 PM

Hello my FF friends, it's been a while since I've visited. For the record, I can get lost with a GPS:)
That is a view of MT. Hood from the East side.
M wood, I'm not sure how this PP is going to degrade in this arid region. I have a feeling I need to just do the the best I can and see what I end up with. The school of. hard knox has. worked for me so far.
Stay safe!

ashes · February 06, 2013, 08:58:45 PM

Sweet views ruff....

Enjoy those, and your property. Looks like you got a pretty good thing started up there.

JuniperBoss · February 07, 2013, 12:53:36 PM

Woodlots are great ;D.

Ruffneck · February 11, 2013, 08:53:56 PM

Thanks Ashes! Lots of hard work ahead of me, but I'm smiling while I do it ;D

You've got that right Juniper Boss... Woodlots are great ;D

SwampDonkey · February 12, 2013, 05:57:42 AM

Any snow out there? Or are you on the dry side of those hills?

Play safe. ;)

Ruffneck · February 17, 2013, 10:55:46 PM

The snow has all melted and the ground is getting soft :-\
It's comfortable weather to work in, nice clear skies and all.
I get concerned about it drying up sooner than usual and having the fire season end. That is the only way to dispose of all my slash.
I don't want to run any equipment if the ground is to soft. The local told me when I moved there that the rocks float in the spring. you hit a soft spot out there you'll get stuck good, I know :D

Ruffneck · March 07, 2013, 12:33:17 AM

Unexpected snow today. Fell trees all day, no fires.
Thank you Sir Ernest Shackleton!
(12 DNR hours)

Ruffneck · March 13, 2013, 02:43:35 AM

Thinned up to the drill rig today:

Fun work

Forrest277 · March 13, 2013, 04:02:53 PM

Quote from: Ron Scott on September 02, 2012, 10:50:38 PM
Great country with great timber. I just got back from skiing on Mt. Hood's Palmer snow field.

wow _ what a beautiful mountain...

Ruffneck · April 21, 2013, 05:07:32 PM

I had just talked to my Forester about the beetles emerging and the time frames. He told me we would need to see a few days of weather in the upper 60s before they'll wake up. Sure enough, the following week it got up to those temps. I was sitting down after a long day of thinning and could see all these insects flying around my new slash I had just created.
After a few days I headed back out to continue my work and noticed boring dust on all my slash:

When I peeled back the bark I could see this Y-shaped gallery:

When I looked closer at the beetle, it was black and the back end was more rounded than what I thought the IPS beetle was supposed to be.

I have since cleaned up and burned a majority of the slash and have started to create some fresh slash to prep for when the emerge again. My understanding its they will have two generations emerge per year. I am trying to keep an eye on these beetle and see when they lay their eggs. I haven't noticed any yet. Not even sure if one can see them with the naked eye.
Any idea what this beetle is? I know the galleries are the key to ID'ing them.

This sure has turned into a big operation. I'm going to bring in equipment next weekend to move my logs to a landing.

I have my new access road cleared and about 3/4's done.

Hope we get some rain, burning can be challenging. We've had some windy dry days.

I have added my first completed project off my mill:

A cedar slab from Colton to the Piney Woods of Goldendale.

Stay Safe!

BaldBob · April 22, 2013, 05:02:03 AM

Those galleries are quite typical of Ips pini.

Ruffneck · May 10, 2013, 12:25:25 AM

My Forester said "You don't need to cut, prune, thin anymore, just finish your clean-up."

Ruffneck · May 15, 2013, 03:59:00 AM

Quote from: BaldBob on April 22, 2013, 05:02:03 AM
Those galleries are quite typical of Ips pini.

Thanks BaldBob!

Die Ips pini! DIE!!!

Trying to heat up the firewood enough to kill them. Stacking it in my "rocky patch" where it will get the most exposure to light. Don't know if I'll be able to split it before they emerge again. Want them to get hot ;D I'm using 10'x25' 3.5 MIL. $10 a roll. If I'm careful, I may use it as a vapor barrier later.
I hope to rent a six inch chipper for just a day. I never ran a chipper before, it'll be fun for the first couple of hours and then turn into work :D

Almost have the truck up and running, all I need to do is find the distributor. :

That's what I get for having to rebuild its' 460 155 miles from home.

Okrafarmer · June 16, 2013, 10:05:04 PM

Ruffneck, that is some pretty steep terrain there! I hope your firewood doesn't roll down hill! ;)

Ruffneck · February 26, 2017, 11:02:58 PM

Wow! It has been a long time since I've checked in. I have had my nose to the grind stone for quit a while apparently. I continue to grind away...

I have started another five acre cost-share thinning operation and should be able to complete it with less pain then the first one I did :D The Department of Natural Resources will cut a check for $3,800 at completion.

Worked a day in 24 inches of soft snow, it was brutal. The snow is more compacted now so I can stay on the surface.
I find limbing to be much easier in the snow so I'm going like mad to get everything down and cut up other than the saw log trees I'll get later.

The stand I am working is near the power and a spot I want to put in the shop. The trees were getting devastated
by the pine beetle in this area for a while now. This is a video showing a before operation: https://youtu.be/IoDFYLtZ82g

Stay safe!