11.5 Acres of what i believe is white pine - how to manage?

[TommyTreeTime]

Hello all, new here. Looking for some advice on what to do with our 10 acres of what i believe is white pine? It's about 30 years old and I don't know the original intention. We've owned it for 1 year. Plan is to open up several acres, a few small openings here and there, and a trail.

 But the trees are planted in rows about 7 feet apart and each tree is also only about 7 feet apart.

 We'd like to keep a healthy population of them up around the perimeter of the property. It is a 11.5 acre perfect square.

 I have terrible photos I'm now realizing. They are all from winter or early spring. None with the trees with full canopy in the summer. Probably 5-10% dead is a real rough estimation.

Thinking i should at minimum take down the dead ones and thin the entire thing. Southern Wisconsin area.

 Trying to figure out posting the photos...

 

[doc henderson]

Welcome.  i am not the expert you seek.  A bit more info will be great.  do you know an average and of range of diameter and height?  can you get a drone photo.  might help with dead vs live.  pics of bark and leaf (needle) pattern up close.  @customsawyer @Southside 
there are tutorials on photos but there is a learning curve.

[TommyTreeTime]

[doc henderson]

Updated Photo Posting Tutorial (forestryforum.com)

oops I see you got it.  great job.

[TommyTreeTime]

Welcome.  i am not the expert you seek.  A bit more info will be great.  do you know an average and of range of diameter and height?  can you get a drone photo.  might help with dead vs live.  pics of bark and leaf (needle) pattern up close.  @customsawyer @Southside
there are tutorials on photos but there is a learning curve.

Average diameter is 11-12in (many larger, many smaller), average height 30-40ft (less certain on this). I believe I can find some drone photos from the purchase.

[doc henderson]

assuming average height (human in pic) , that looks about right.

[TommyTreeTime]

Drone views and one other I found from 2 years ago. More dead than i recalled, some is also bare poplars that snuck in...

Photo with mark ups:

yellow - clear
red - trail
blue - driveway

keeping most everything else.

[doc henderson]

nice property.

[beenthere]

What you want to do, won't be cheap. Depends on if you want the trees and the stumps removed for some cleared land.

Talk to the DNR forester and ask for some help finding a local logger with the equipment to harvest pulpwood. Some loggers can do row removal which fits your plantation for thinning out this stand.
If also cleared of stumps, then some thought about finances to do so will likely need to happen. Gets more expensive.

Mostly white pine from the pics. White pine have needles in bundles of five. You may have some red pine too, as the bark pic implies.

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

[Ron Scott]

Not sure of the markets for white pine pulpwood in your area to interest a commercial thinning. Chipping might be another alternative.

Seek out the services of your local DNR Service Forester, Conservation District Forester, or a private Consulting Forester to advise you on the recommended timber management to meet your objectives. They will know the best commercial opportunities that may be available in your area. 

[timbco68]

If it was my own stand, I would take out every 5th row and then every 3rd tree in between that. I thinned many many acres of plantations this way and it turns out real nice.

[barbender]

 It definitely looks ready for a first thinning. Hopefully you have pine pulp markets in your area. 

 A pine stand like that up here would bring $25/cord stumpage or better, if it was red pine. But that is with about 40% making stud bolts. 

 Markets here aren't as good for white pine pulp. 

 If you don't have any markets, it's not the end of the world to just let them grow. The stand is thinning itself naturally. Thinning promotes faster growth by taking out suppressed trees and releasing the crop trees so they don't  have to share resources. 

Figuring out the local markets and if any loggers would cut it is your first step in figuring out what direction to go. You could contact your local state and county forestry departments to get information and leads.

 

 

[rusticretreater]

Nice plantation.  I wonder why it was of no interest to a mill somewhere.  You have a future harvest well on its way.  A couple of resources for you to read:

https://www.nswooa.ca/uploads/5/9/6/9/59690537/how_big_should_white_pine_be.pdf

Wisconsin Woodlands: Pine Plantation Management

As Barbender noted, check out the local markets and sawmills.  

Making the trail shouldn't be all that difficult.  Trim a bunch of low branches, pull a tree here and there.  I think your main issue is stump pulling.  Especially in the area you want to build.  Maybe do your cutting and then follow up with a bulldozer hire.

[TommyTreeTime]

Thank you all for the input! Hopefully update sometime in the future even if i just end up thinning it myself. I'll start with getting the dead stuff on the ground at least.

[barbender]

The dead stuff isn't hurting anything, as far as stand management goes. 

[Magicman]

Just please be careful when removing dead stuff.  Tops breaking off are not called "widow makers" for no reason. 

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like a lot of nice w. pines to me. Ours up this way get beat up bad by weevil, rust and moose. I would be careful and thin as I go for firewood. Heck, the stuff will burn if you're interested in heating with some firewood. Maybe in a shop? I think w. pine pulp is a rare market. Might be a chip market for hog fuel, pellets, biomass? Low money. Pine up my way here in New Brunswick, Canada east coast, is only worth good money as logs, and nothing like walnut or white oak (we don't have those in my region, only ornamental). Get a good land clearing crew to clear a right of way to then punch in a road, cut and stump your building lot/field. That's probably pushing at least $3500/acre these days.  Otherwise to save a little $$, burn the debris piles yourself when they dry out some when you have some snow cover in early spring. It's going to take time, be handy if you had your own excavator to manipulate the piles. Of course you doing that work still costs because of lost opportunity from your regular work hrs, fuel burned, machine costs. Can you saw any of that pine for sheathing on a shop or something? Don't need a $60,000 sawmill, a $3500 will make boards. But you need a way to handle them, get them to the mill and so on. Storage to dry? Man, if you want a pile of work, you got it that's for sure. No illusions.

[barbender]

 Wisconsin has suffered a lot of mill closures over the last decade. There were markets for pine stud bolts and pulp in that part of the state, but I'm afraid they've gone away.

[AndyVT]

If you are comfortable working in the woods then I echo the other guys to thin out the poorer quality trees and take a pole saw to trim limbs from the best trees up to 16 feet, 
I have been managing my 30 acres of pine since the 60's and the saplings we limbed back then are now 80 foot tall beauties with multiple saw logs in each and that limbed butt log will bring premium dollars. I am also fortunate to have a pine pellet mill nearby to send my pulp to.
Take your time and enjoy the work. It is a long term project and trees grow slowly.