Whole Tree Chipping

[NH Landowner]

First time poster here, though I have been reading the post for quite a few years.

My question is I have approx. 60 acres of mixed hardwood/softwood woodland near Lebanon, NH which has been cut and slightly high graded over the past 35 years from what I can tell. Since most of the trees are of lower value i.e. beech/red maple/ash/white birch for hardwoods and hemlock/spruce/fir for the softwoods and are all in the 8-14 DBH range. These trees are on the older despite their small size. I am planning on doing a pulp harvest to thin things out and get more light to the ground in hopes of starting a new stand and stop spending time growing low value plup wood. I do have some decent seed trees of yellow birch, red oak and sugar maple scatter throughout which will be left. I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to how much a landowner gets paid for their wood, but generally how much should I be looking to get for each the softwood pulp and hardwood pulp per ton (green) or cord, and the biomass chips? This woodlot is mostly flat to a very slight downhill pull to a landing in a small field using existing skid trails. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for all of the great info this site has to offer.

[Magicman]

I'll let the Foresters answer your question but Welcome to the Forestry Forum, NH Landowner.   

[Chuck White]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum NH Landowner.

As you've noticed there is a world of info here to pick from.

[Holmes]

Welcome to the FF.    You can google wood chip pricing for NH. I was looking at some pricing last week and chips were being bought for $ 1 to $ 4  a ton.  A trailer load is around 40 tons so on the high side you might get $160 per load.

[Okrafarmer]

My dad had Kendall Davis do whole-tree chipping on 5 acres of his land 20 years ago, Clinton Maine. It was $1 / ton back then. For 5 acres I think he got around $300. There was no huge timber on it chipped, mainly 9" trees and under. Two neighbors also ended up having him clear some land for them.

[snowstorm]

the ash and white birch isnt really what i would call low value. hemlock yes its never been worth a lot. the logs arent worth much more than pulp. i am not a fan of chipping. if your clearing land its great. here in the northeast hw will bring as much as sp fir pulp. we  just dont have much of the high dollar wood that grows in other states

[Okrafarmer]

Are there not any saw-log trees on the property? If there are, I would see if someone could get them off before having the rest chipped. Chipping is a fairly efficient way to get your land cleared off, tops and all, if that is your objective. You will still be left with the stumps to get out and a certain amount of undergrowth, broken saplings, etc. to clear out. If you go this route, ask your chipping logger to be as thorough as he reasonably can with the saplings, dead trees, etc. but generally there will still be a mess to clean up, but often less mess than with certain other methods of logging.

[SwampDonkey]

Around here around 20% of roadside price for the chips. Some chips are worth more than others. If it's biomass maybe $30/ton and if clean pulp chips, as much as $50/ton delivered.

[Holmes]

I believe PSNH pays $28 and up per ton delivered to the power plants. I wonder how much of that is hauling fees?

[thecfarm]

I can't speak for your land,but when I cut an area hard,white pine comes up so thick you can't hardle walk through it. Than I have to go in and thin them out so I don't grow low value plup wood,as you say. Could you thin it out yourself or hire someone to do it? You have that opened up and I think you will still have to thin it out in 3-5 years.