Forest improvement

[jason.weir]

So I've got 50+ acres in that I've been wanting to do some thinning to improve the forest heath, timber quality and open things up for the next crop.

The lot was last cut off in the mid 80's and the harvest was mostly softwood.  From what it looks like to me, they took the good stuff and left everything else.  Lots of 75+ year old weevil damaged pasture pine 24-36+ DBH, some Hemlock and lots of mixed hardwood - mostly Red Oak and Maple with some Black Birch, Beech and Poplar.

I would guess probably 80-85% canopy cover with lots of young pine coming up beneath the hardwoods.

My first thought was to have a logger come in and take out all of the big pines and the rest of the junk which would allow the existing hard woods and the young ping to mature.

Well last week I walked the property with a local logger and he indicated the same, but he also indicated I should remove some of the hardwood to open the canopy and reduce competition.

Well with hardwood pricing around $15 a cord on the stump, I'm inclined to let them grow.  The pasture pine and big beach trees need to go but It doesn't seem worth it to cut any decent tree for $15 a cord.

Today I put a call into our County Forester at UNH's Cooperative Extension and am waiting to hear back from him.

What do you guys think??

-J

[WDH]

Most times, the benefit from the thinning has more long term value than the price you receive for the timber that is thinned.  If you do not thin, you tread water, waiting on the price to go up.  All this time, you are just growing low value pulpwood.  Give the land the treatment it needs to produce the future value in sawlogs that it is capable of.  Plus, you can put the money from the thinning in the bank, and it will grow too along with your forest.

[Ron Wenrich]

Its pretty hard to give a good diagnosis when we haven't seen the woodlot.  So, rest assured that my opinion is worth as much as you have paid for it.   :D

How much small pine is in the understory?  My remembrance of white pine is that you want to allow it to seed in the understory, then release it.  I think you have a 10-15 year window.  That means in some places you might take out the hardwoods, and in other places you might want to let it be.

I would get rid of the beech, as the value of that won't really increase.  Its also a bugger to get rid of.  Everything else would be on a quality basis.  If its decent, I might be inclined to leave it and wait for better market conditions. 

Let us know what the county forester had to say.

[jason.weir]

The forester is coming next Friday to do a walk through.  More to follow..

-J

[tonich]

As we have already drawn our conclusions, please keep us updated!  ;D
Some pictures would be nice, to have a look at.  ;)

[Clark]

Its pretty hard to give a good diagnosis when we haven't seen the woodlot.  So, rest assured that my opinion is worth as much as you have paid for it.   :D

A very true statement on any online forum!

I'd tend to agree with Ron on the pine.  To delve further into that issue you may have to put in some fixed radius plots to find out how many young pine/acre you've got.  If they are getting taller (say 12'+) and there are ~150 or more per acre I'd release them as best you can, probably by taking beech and low quality trees out, and probably take out the large, gnarly pine.  If you don't have that many per acre or they aren't tall enough yet to be released, keep the large pine around until you've got enough small pine to be released.

Clark

[SwampDonkey]

Of course oak and pine mixed forest are quite common in that neck of the woods.

Just from my experience, I'm not used to white pine regenerating under hardwood unless it's in under white birch, red maple, aspen mixed stands. We don't get it taking hold on sugar maple-beech-yellow birch stands. Oh there will be one here and there in canopy openings. If any softwood takes hold it is balsam fir up this way and red spruce to a much lesser degree. In our situation, a hardwood site can easily be converted to softwood once the fir understory is established. I wouldn't bother with a release though if the fir is 3 feet tall and 50 years old  : .

But none-the-less, Beech is hard to control if it takes over the regeneration layer. It will grow while the pine stagnates and dies under canopy. A lot of harvesting that is done up here leaves that 4-5" beech standing when it should be cut. It's all diseased and near impossible to work in when the new regeneration gets growing good to a point it needs a pre-commercial thinning. They literally look like apple trees, and why anyone would leave that junk is beyond me. Well I know why, it's easier money to cut the 14 inch trees and walk away.  :

[Rick Alger]

I agree with Swamp Donkey that beech regen can be a problem.

I've been told there is a NH research forester by the name of Bill Leak who has studied this issue extensively. Suggest you ask the Extension Forester about Leak's findings.