Effective signs?

[theorm]

here is one sign I use

Jeff,

Those signs would probably keep everyone except in-laws from coming in.

Theo

[breederman]

I wonder if you could hire someone with a HEAVY cut a way disk to chop it up, that would deal with the ruts also.  You would still have to spray any regrowth.  I doubt you would ever be able to plow that stuff under, the way it is.

[stonebroke]

maybe a tractor mounted rototiller?

Stonebroke

[pappy]

Congrads you guys !!! Nice chunk o' land ya got dere  8) Ya got cedar and tamarack just like northern Maine do  8) man that area looks just like around here...

On the issue of signs yer best not to unless there is an issue with unwanted use... Like others have said get to know the locals ... Breakfast / lunch at the local eatery etc. If the snowmobile trail is one that is used alot and it's gonna be a pain get in touch with the local club for a possible reroute... We've got a heavily used trail about 100 yards or so crossing our land behind the house and we hardly even hear them... The club has signs that state "Please stay on marked trail" and the sledders do just that...

With the liability issue Maine has a no liability law for land owners, Maybe Michigan does also..
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/rv/atvlaws.htm#liability

For a couple suggestions where traffic can see down the power line ROW maybe plant some lilac and rose bushes and other short growing vegetation that'll block line of site from motorist and at the same time won't be a pain to the power company... Maybe stager in rows so they can get their equipment through...

As far as the tall grass beg, borrow, rent or buy a rough cut mower that ya tow behind your 4 wheela. Friend of ours lent his to us last year and what a job that rig did to the unwanted growth and that dang thing can really chop er up and go just about anywhere !!!

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_404001_404001

Our friend Bob showing the doubting Thomas's it could be done..

He made a few passes and it started looking pretty good!!!


Then Jennie took over and bush hogged for 3 days and did about 4 acres... Some of it was to rough and wet for a 4X4 tractor to even think of attempting!!!

[Bro. Noble]

Canarygrass not only spreads by seed and roots,  but the joints will also sprout if they are chopped up and worked into the soil.  Discing or rototilling would just be reseeding it.  On thebright side,  it makes good hay and pasture.  If it were mine,  while visiting the neighbors,  I'd ask if there was anyone that might be interested in cutting it every spring and fall for hay.

As far as burning,  I wouldn't worry about the poles,  the fire will burn fast and when it cools a little,  throw a bucket of water on each pole.  What I would worry about would be keeping it out of that beautiful timber.

As for the ruts,  I'd see if any of the neighbors have a blade or bucket loader.  If not you might be able to hire a backhoe to smooth it out.  I think I'd try the power company first.  If it's like it is here,  it's your land,  they just have an easement.  If they put the ruts there,  they should remove them.  Our local REA would  the first time they had the equipment in the area.

[breederman]

Thats why you would have to spray the regrowth,  looks to me like the mat of old stuff is pretty thick. He is going to have to chop it up or burn it before any thing else. A bush hog won't chop up the matted stuff.

[Jeff]

This is a aerial of the area our property is in. 


The red dot is our property, its easy to find on any satelite map as the powerline comes to the corner.
The white dot is Lime Island. I've talked about it many times on the Forestry Forum. It sits in the St. Maries River, which seperates us from Canada in that area.
The light blue dot is Carlton lake and is one third owned by our neighbor Lou Kurtis.
The Dark blue dot is Caribou Lake, known in the area for its walleye perch and northern pike.
The pink/purple dot is the Cranberry floodings I talked about alot while bear hunting. Its about 4000 acres of public land.
The yellow dot is De Tour Village, the local town
The lime green dot is Drummond Island, know for its great fishing waters and abundance of public land.




Here are a few pictures we took while at our property this past weekend, while no on the property, they are all within a mile or two as the crow flies.  One draw to the area for us has always been the close proximity to lots of state land and the great lakes and several inland lakes and streams.
















I think it should be a fine area for future pig roasts and forum events. Maybe not for a year or three, but some day.

[Kevin]

Howdy neighbour!  ;D

That's my place just a little up and to the right of ya'll.

[Jeff]

Aint it closer for you to get there if you came to our place then went by boat? 

[Corley5]

I was gonna suggest sorghum and atrazine to control the grass but there's a chance that atrazine wouldn't phase it.  Some grasses, switchgrass is one, aren't affected by triazines.  Another thing to try would be one treatment with a glyphosate at the first green up after a controlled burn, followed by a heavy tillage and a light discing a week or so after the pesticide treatment.  Let that sit until the first week in June, spray the green up again, let it burn down for a week or so, disc it light and broadcast buckwheat at 100lbs per acre, and cultipack it.  Pull a soil test for analysis at the Extension office and apply fertilizer and lime per their recommendation.  Ph probably isn't much of an issue with all the lime rock in that area but you never know.  In mid August plow the buckwheat under, drag it and plant rye at 100 lbs per acre and fertilize accordingly.  I'd stay away from nitrogen as much as possible.  Grass loves it  ;)  The following spring work the ground in late May and let it sit to see what greens up, spray it again and start over with the buckwheat.  The first thing that needs to be dealt with is the residue on the ground.  If fire isn't an option then heavy tillage has to be it.  It'd take a substantial disc to cut that mat up and a plow would need good sharp coulters and trash boards  

[Jeff]

Do you think dragging with a brush rake could possibly rip it up and pile it?  If I gould do that, I wouldnt feel bad about trying to burn.

[Corley5]

I don't know if that would work or not.  Might be sorta like chasing your tail    You said that there was a farm close by  ???  Might be worth a visit.  It's gonna be that intial beak up that's tough.  Once that's done smaller tools will do the job.

[Gary_C]

There really isn't a good option to start with other than burning. I have used tillage on very small areas and it is easy to make a huge mess with all that thick mat on the surface. A plow will just plug up and slide over the top. Even a heavy disc will have trouble cutting thru that mat and will usually just roll over the top. A chisel plow or digger will just pull up huge mounds that will be difficult to spread out later. You can burn a lot of fuel and end up making the problem worse.

One thing you might try is going to the nearest DNR office and see if you can get some assistance for a controlled burn and/or creating wildlife food plots. Where I am the feds hire someone every spring to burn lands that are enrolled in the Wetland Reserve and the state DNR does some burns on other lands. There may be some assistance available if you are trying to create some wildlife food plots.

I have seen how they do the burnings and I am sure there are others that can give you advice on how to do it safely. Yes there is always some risk, but with proper preparations you can reduce that risk to near nothing.

One thing you can do to prepare for burning is to use a bush hog or heavy mower around the long sides to make a fire break. Then mow paths across at intervals to break it up into small areas. Then rake the clippings off the paths.

[WDH]

Nothing like owning timberland, eh Boss?

[SwampDonkey]

Ph probably isn't much of an issue with all the lime rock in that area but you never know.

You wouldn't think PH would be an issue is soil with calcareous bedrock. But, even our soil with calcareous rock as rich as it is still needs lime. I guess a lot of it is out of reach of the roots and we don't have a fluctuating water table on the good farmland to transport it into the upper soil layers. I would think though, on virgin soil it would not be a problem.  You have a good crop of northern white cedar (we call it eastern white - Ce) where you have calcareous bedrock and the water table fluctuates. We have a higher concentration of cedar in Carleton county than any other county in the province in the low ground, also some of the best farmland in the province on the high ground. This is the spud belt. Marginal farmland will most often grow back with cedar mixed in if there is a good seed source.

[Cedarman]

There is a thing called a  or brush disc.  They are like a disc except very heavy and they have big cutters on them.  Used in woodlands for cutting up slash before replanting.  Old timers used to use disc plows.  They were 2 or 3 bladed that the blades rotated as they moved cutting through the material as they turned over the dirt.

[Patty]

As Norm mentioned earlier about the canarygrass. They told us that the only thing that would kill the canary grass is repeated burns with roundup, and after you've done that a couple three times, overseed with another, less invasive ground cover, or try to plant corn or any crop that you will be using major herbicides on to keep the canary grass from coming back. It is very invasive, and tough to kill.  Ours is along the crick bed, so we can't put row crops in to keep it back. So we are having an especially tough time with it.  :-\

[stonebroke]

I used to notill corn into canarygrass with very heavy ( 4 quarts to the acre) applications of atrazine. I think the legal limit is one and a half quarts now. Four quarts will kill it and most everything else.

Stonebroke

[Greenedive]

What is that stork-like animal, Jeff? Some kinda Crane?

[beenthere]

Sandhill Crane, appears to be.

Doubt there is a reason a stork to be hangin around der.......... : : :D

[Corley5]

The DNR will not become involved in controlled burns on private land due to liability reasons.  There was a private firm doing them in the Lower but the cost was astronomical due to their liability insurance.  Maybe a visit to the local VFD is in order  ???  Burning a strip at time back onto an already burned area wouldn't be bad.  I wouldn't start at one end and let it burn the whole length at once  ;D  I've used a 12' JD offset with 26" blades in conditions similar to this with good enough results to allow us to plow it.  It required several passes (many) with the disc and it wasn't real pretty after plowing but got us started.  Later tillage smoothed it up  ;D  The NRCS has some programs for which you may qualify.  Their should be an office in the Soo or a visit to one at home would give you an idea about what they might assist you with.  You may even get some $$$$ help.  If the power company planted the mess maybe they'd help get rid of it  ???  They should anyway  : and have pesticide contractors  

[Kevin]

Jeff;
I have to drive an hour to get to my place and then depending how high the waves are I might get there, I might not.  :D

[Greenedive]

Doubt there is a reason a stork to be hangin around der.......... : : :D

I dunno, Beenthere......when I 1st bought my property a stork visited.....Twice!!! ;D

[Handy Andy]

  Here in Kansas, all we have to do is paint a fence post purple.  Means the same as No Hunting or Tresspassing without Written Permission, only better, and the cops
won't give a ticket without the purple. 

[Tom]

Cedarman,

That disc you were talking about witht he minimal, but heavy, blades is what we call a bush'n bog.  It cuts almost like a new ground plow (disc plow) but can be made to throw and turn to either, neither or both sides.   With heavy weights layed on top of it, it has even been used to cut up Palmettos down here.  That is almost an impossible job.

I would still be leary of mowing or turning this grass, whatever it is, over.   Mowing can be like seeding and turning the ground is almost like planting.  A good burning will get rid of the mass and kill the exposed seeds. A little time for the stumps and viable seeds to sprout and then the application of an herbacide would be the most effective. 

Many times there are weed seeds waiting just beneath the surface.  Even if you kill the original crop, plowing or disturbing the ground will allow these seed to sprout.   In a lot of instances, you find that ridding the soil of weeds requires more than one season.