Fire season is upon us

[Ron Scott]

A sad time. Stay strong, trees are renewable, and nature heals. 

[nativewolf]

Any Updates @WhitePineJunky ? I have been thinking about you pretty steady and wondering how you are making out.

I appreciate it. It ain't good, worse than I ever could of imagined. House is still there, but everything else is gone, all my outbuildings and barns with lots and lots of valuables,  gone. The only other thing that survived was the bandsaw mill somehow even though the fire wrapped right around it and melted the gas jug to it. All the trees are dead, the whole 160 acres, scorched black even the large pines are dead, it feels like a wasteland, and I'm definitely hurting today and will be for awhile. I plan to cut down and mill some and also replant over the next 5-10 years. Really bad day today

WPJ-  Very sorry to hear but don't wait to replant.  I cannot suggest strongly enough that you go ahead and seed in with acorns and other forest tree seeds.  Much much faster than seedlings, a fraction of the costs.  You can design the next forest in much greater degrees of freedom.  It's what nature will do in any case, help it along.  I am guessing that some acorns and pine seeds will have survived and sprout.  Walk the forest floor carefully looking.  I'd also go ahead and apply some native flowing plant seeds.  A little tiny bit will do you.  Garret Seed in North Carolina is one of the best and I am sure they could point you to a seed source for your needs.  

[Southside]

WP - sorry to hear this.  Don't give up on those pines yet.  A fire started on our place a bit over a decade ago from a tree falling onto a power line.  It was a bad day and there were fires all around the are.  @Wudman can tell you more about the event.  Anyway the fire got into pine and from the looks of the scorching on your trees wasn't a lot different than what happened here.  Anything over 12" DBH survived and many smaller ones did too. Had a bad ice storm come through two winters back and did a LOT of damage all around, no power for three weeks and I had stood outside and listened to tree after tree after tree snap off, it was bad.  Many of those snapped off pines are now falling on their own, but the natural re-gen that has come up really hides them.  A friend had me come over this spring as he thought he had some type of bug as he only now noticed the dead trees.  Even the oaks have dropped the dead limbs that snapped off but didn't fall.  One has to know what happened and then look for the evidence now instead of it being everywhere, and it's only been a bit over two years.  Things will get better quickly. 

[WhitePineJunky]

Thanks everyone. I've been laying low last couple days got a stress migraine and can't eat much or sleep with cold sweats and hot flashes, but I'm coming around a little today, I had to leave the property the day I saw it as it's too depressing for me to see right now. 

I'm going back this week though. 
I already had 5000 seedlings of red/white pine to plant this season but they don't get here until September, I am probably calling them back up and adding 10000 to the order I'm not sure exactly how many yet though. 

I really hope some of the big pines come through but I don't have high hopes, here's another picture that shows the crowns, all the needles are orange


 If anyone has experience with white pine being hit by forest fire badly let me know what you think

[SwampDonkey]

My grandfather had white pine on his property and that of cousins, that went through a fire about 100 years ago. One was gutted enough to be able to stand inside. The pines are still alive. They are 36" + diameter pines. Then, I have seen white pine forest on the upper Miramachi that were standing ghosts with 60 year old spruce growing up since the fire. Old dead standing pine everywhere. Depends on the heat, a slow moving fire does more damage than a wind driven one that mostly jumps in the tree crowns.

One of them white pines.

[Old Greenhorn]

WPJ, what I am seeing in that photo looks like a fairly fast moving mid-story burn, some creeping fire on the ground but not a lot, that took out the saplings if there were any and some smaller trees. Look like most of the stuff on the ground may have been litter before the fire? The crowns of the trees are all brown BUT they re there. This tells me that fire was not hot enough up in the crown to do a complete killing burn. This I see as all very good news. Give it time and see what pops. I also see green in the background so perhaps there will be some regen coming from that side also?
 Yes, quite a blow and extremely depressing, but at least you are there to fix it. It will take time for sure. Now would be a good time to clear up all that litter, before the grass pops up and covers it. Miserable and dirty work, but much easier now than later.
 In my experience white pine is quite resilient and grows like weeds. I have a patch 50' from where I sit right now where the saplings are popping up 14" apart and choking each other out. I am considering it a mini nursery ;D.
 Best of luck man. Stay strong, you will get through this.

[WhitePineJunky]

The photo was thick understory balsam mostly which I was working away at to get some pine regen, it was working. If the trees survive and they can seed that understory within a couple years it won't be all that bad. I had about 10 acres I recently cleared and planted and sadly all that hard work is gone. The green in the background is across the road they made a stand against the fire on the road and succeeded in that spot as there is 3 houses over there. I'd reckon my thinning in the front helped the firefighters tremendously 

[JD Guy]

WPJ, I want to add my thoughts and prayers to others. I can't hardly fathom how this must have felt when you first laid eyes on your property. It's easy and normal for the rest of us to try and find the small victories in this tragedy but it is a miracle that your home is still standing! Hopefully you will be able to survive this gut punch and soldier on with your work. Wishing the best for you and will follow your progress.

Kindly, Ed

[Ron Scott]

Set up some camera points on the burned area to retain a photo history of the property's restored vegetation over time. If you determine that the natural regeneration of the desired species on your soil types is inadequate over the next 5 years, then you can pursue an increased planting program to increase stocking.

 

[thecfarm]

I have a lot of white pine on my land. When my father and me started to cut it, you could see out through the woods and go just about anywhere with a tractor without cutting many trees.
As Old greenhorn said, white pine is like a weed.
When we deturbed the soil, those took off like weed!!!
The land changed. 
I would like an update on this in about 5 years.
Well, I bet we all would.
You will know in just 2 years what is going to happen.

[WhitePineJunky]

I have a lot of white pine on my land. When my father and me started to cut it, you could see out through the woods and go just about anywhere with a tractor without cutting many trees.
As Old greenhorn said, white pine is like a weed.
When we deturbed the soil, those took off like weed!!!
The land changed.
I would like an update on this in about 5 years.
Well, I bet we all would.
You will know in just 2 years what is going to happen.

It does react pretty wildly. I've thinned areas few years ago and they were regenerating nice trees. I've read I think every thread on this forum regarding white pine and iirc it was you who said it's like kicking a hornets nest, I think that describes it perfectly.
I will make a separate thread with pictures and my plans for the land for here on out, and do follow up intervals for the coming years as a "documented study" so to speak 

[newoodguy78]

White Pine I'm sorry to hear of your loss can only imagine the feelings involved, certainly not a roller coaster I want to ride. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to natural disasters. Mother Nature is the ultimate healer of the land. Just keep working with Nature like you have been and I assure you your efforts will be rewarded. You certainly got a kick in the shorts yet the silver lining of this cloud will show up eventually. 

[Ron Scott]

Analysis: Canadian Wildfires Shutter Sawmills, Drive Up Lumber Prices
Reuters, June 12, 2023
Canada's worst-ever spring wildfire season has forced its forestry industry to shutter sawmills, driving up lumber prices and setting production back for months just as housing construction has slowed due to higher costs and a tight labour market.

READ MORE

The E-Forester

[WhitePineJunky]

Noticing a lot of this: all the needles dead on pines but new candles shooting up. 

 

Still plan on making a new thread just been busy with immediate tasks after the fire. Just got back from a end of day walk to take "inventory" and seen this and more like it. Amazes me the resilience of the pine, hopefully we get a wet summer because they could use it 

[Andries]

That could be the first 'silver lining' that newoodguy78 was talking about.
Here's hoping you see many more.

[customsawyer]

Yes Sir those new candles are a site for sore eyes. Leave the chainsaw in the truck for a bit longer.

[WhitePineJunky]

 

 

 

 

 

6 weeks after fire and a lot of maples are recovering also, the maples had long enough this spring before fire to create seed so the seeds were everywhere, the result is carpet of red maple. Some mature white pines are recovering also. 

[Andries]

I'll bet that it makes you feel better when you see all that life springing up from a blackened earth.
Thanks for the update.

[WhitePineJunky]

I'll bet that it makes you feel better when you see all that life springing up from a blackened earth.
Thanks for the update.

It certainly does and makes me excited for next spring when they all really have the opportunity to take off and grow. There are areas that are a loss where the fire burned really hot, it’s spotty. Near the front about 4 acres of mature white pine had crown fire and no sign of life from them, so I’ve cleared most of it now and have the logs laying on the ground ready to be skidded in the coming weeks, then September the area will be replanted with white pine seedling.

A good chunk of the junk wood will be left to rot to give nutrients back to the land, create breaks from erosion happening during heavy rain, and make it harder for the deer to get to each individual seedling, they are lazy so I’m thinking they’ll choose a path throughout the downfall and stick to it mostly and leave a lot of the seedlings alone that are divided and Barriered with the junk wood.

[Andries]

It looks and sounds like the forest recovery is coming along just fine.
I hope for you and yours that the insurance and personal recovery is working out just as well?

[WhitePineJunky]

It looks and sounds like the forest recovery is coming along just fine.
I hope for you and yours that the insurance and personal recovery is working out just as well?

Personal recovery is good, insurance wise there was some loss but also some coverage. 2 separate parcels of land, everything on the small parcel with my house was covered, stuff on my woodlot, not so much. I'm over it by now though and rebuilding 

[WhitePineJunky]

 

 

 Big tooth aspens coming up quickly 

[sawguy21]

It is really amazing to see a burned area recover so quickly. Some species depend on heat to slit the husks and release the seed. Another year your stand will be looking healthy again.

[SwampDonkey]

Big tooth is the better of our dominant aspens up here. Grows 30% faster and does not get cankers as bad and nice orange foliage in fall.

[Stephen1]

My son was evacuated from West Kelowna last night and the fire came within 200 yards of his house. That was this morning report. His family is safe 1 hour away waiting to go back. Waiting to hear more