Advantages of owning hillside property

[Wlmedley]

My little piece of heaven is 20 acres of mostly hillside.I used to fill a little bit sorry for myself being I didn't have a lot of flat ground until I helped the surveyor plot it off and started asking some questions.I asked what would happen if someone took a bulldozer and cut the hills completely off.Who would own the (overlapping I thought)land.He informed me that the survey is done as if the land is flat and they only allow for the curvature of the earth.This means that the surface area of my 20 acres might equal 30 acres or more of flat ground.This might be common knowledge to most on here but maybe not.Anyway if you own hillside consider yourself lucky.Nonrelated picture but I think it's pretty and won't be getting another until next fall.

 

[moodnacreek]

Wow, I'm a big landowner after all :D.

[thecfarm]

 

 

Guess I'm in the money too?   ;D
But this is in front of the house.
Behind the house is a lot better for hills.

[barbender]

 Ray's property is about double the acreage because of the curvature of all of the rocks😂

 I've often pondered the surface area of hills on an acreage, especially out West. When you have a 40 plotted on top of a ridgeline that drops at 60° on both sides, that ends up being a lot more surface area. Whether it is worth the trade offs is a subjective matter😊 

[Southside]

You might not want to let the County tax assessor know that, especially around here. 

[WV Sawmiller]

  My property rises over 450' from front to back. I tell folks I have 40 acres but if I could lay it flay I'd have 80 acres. 

   It is common to see game on the other ridge and say "If it comes over here I'll shoot it but if it stays there it is not worth the effort to go get it."

[Resonator]

Keep in mind everything is based off a map that was drawn on a flat sheet of paper. Going back to when the US was first surveyed (read about Lewis and Clarks expedition to learn how much difficulty the early land surveyors had). From atlases to plat books, it is the same standard system, regardless of whether it is miles or acres. 

[Ron Scott]

Most of our wartime battles were always for the "high ground".

[Ianab]

There is a land description here. 

"The parts that aren't vertical are overhanging"  :D

[twar]

Yes, Norway (and New Zealand) is actually a very big country--if just stretched and flattened out a bit.  :D

[dougtrr2]

Actually, I think you would lose ground.  Think of a situation where two land owners had land that met at the peak of a hill.  Take away the hill and they can't both gain land.  They would both lose a little.   ;D

Doug in SW IA

[SawyerTed]

My FIL used to say, "Most of what we own is just good enough for holding the rest of the world together."

There's around 300 acres here, 1/3 or so is pasture, the other 2/3 are mostly steep hollows with timber that's next to impossible to get from the top.

Wouldn't trade it for double in flat land though.  

[WhitePineJunky]

The way I think of it is you have crinkled up sheet of paper, that's your hills, you put it on a table and flatten it with your hands, much more spread out.
Hill is more land and with the slopes it's like vertical gardening with trees
More yield 

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't count on more yield. Trees still grow toward the vertical, not perpendicular.

Map area is based on two dimensions which are on the horizontal plain, no third dimension. Like drawing a graph, it doesn't climb off the page. All distances when surveyed on the ground are recorded in horizontal distances by correcting for slope. Surface area involves all the peaks and valleys within a defined perimeter. That's not what is being measured. You would have to survey the whole area with a grid of strip lines to gather elevations to get the shape of the land for the surface area.

[WV Sawmiller]

Actually, I think you would lose ground.  Think of a situation where two land owners had land that met at the peak of a hill.  Take away the hill and they can't both gain land.  They would both lose a little.   ;D

Doug in SW IA

Said the man with no hills in sight. :D :D :D

   We had foreign exchange students and one looked at a map of the USA and saw all the odd shapes of the states in the east where the state boundary lines were all mountains and rivers and curved in all directions then she looked at the states out in the midwest and they were all straight along azimuth lines and she decided that would be boring. ;)  ;D :D

[Brad_bb]

Notice to all residents, [color=var(--text-tertiary)]Kanawha County, WV tax assessment formula has been changed to surface area for assessment purposes.  The county would like to thank WL Medley for pointing out our error for correction.  In all seriousness, don't give them any ideas.[/color]

[Wlmedley]

It might not be much good for growing corn but I am pretty sure tree production does pretty good.I think comparing to a roof explains it best.The steeper the roof the more shingles it takes even though you're covering the same size house.I don't eat that much corn anyway  :laugh:

[sawguy21]

We lived on a hillside property and while the view was outstanding I don't miss it. The yard was difficult to maintain and snowplowing was a challenge. The 4wd SCUT was too light and wouldn't climb the driveway even with chains and a weight box.

[barbender]

Our property is relatively flat compared to many of yours. It might change elevation 20'-30' from high to low. Even at that, my little "hills" create challenges when milling and siting my firewood processor- both operations that require a large, flat area. I can't imagine the challenges of mountain property😬

[SwampDonkey]

Mom's dad's place was all hillside and gully once you got away from a few acres of cleared ground. Even the fields all climbed uphill from the road. Down here on my other grandfather's place you climb very gradual or none at all. I like flat ground as long as it's elevated some and not wet. When thinning with a brush saw, I like a little bit of a hill, 10% or so, and the trees just fall where they should. Of course direction of cut helps, but it's easier than on flat ground. ;D

[B.C.C. Lapp]

We usually refer to our land as "rolling".   That is to say its all hills and valleys.   Very little is even close to flat.    Years age I chose the flattest driest spots for the wood yard, the barns and Mrs. Lapps gardens.  Makes for good timber land and timber does grow fast here. Its great for pasture as well.   What I refer to as tillable around here no flat lander would ever try to plow. :D :D

[SawyerTed]

The total elevation change on my farm is about 160'.   Only thing is there are places  the elevation changes 100+ feet in less than 100'.   Some hillsides are much greater than 45°.  

Here's a spot that's nearly impossible to walk on.   It's interesting to look at though.  

The red line is about 80 feet long. 



 

[doc henderson]

We have three acres.  corner to corner (prob. 800 feet), it drops 6 feet.  and across the back it drops 24 inches over 240 feet.  It drains well.  :D  sorry our topographical maps are kind of hard to read (boring).  

[SwampDonkey]

This fall the front of my last thinning section was flat for a few feet, then 20% for 400 feet and 10% or less for the other 900 feet. I was on the peak of the hill at about 1700 feet elevation. The start of the strip was a bit over 1500 feet elevation. The block was shaped like a boot and the toe of it had 20-30% slopes where I cut last year. Lots of benches here on some of the bigger hills.

[Peter Drouin]

 

I cut the hill back to the chipper. Now I have a flat spot to get the chips.