New White/Bur Oak etc salvaged from road right-of way PIC HEAVY

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Thistle

Thistle

Minister of Fire
Dec 16, 2010
4,205
Central IA
About 5 weeks ago on gravel road roughly 2 miles northwest of parents acreage I noticed 4 County Road Department employees clearing most everything over 4" that's growing in those right-of way ditches.Some areas starting there its been overgrown & nothing was done in 30 yrs that I remember.Its all pretty much still there in probably a dozen piles of varying size along that route.Green Red Oak,Mulberry,Hackberry,White Elm,Eastern Red Cedar/Juniper,Black Cherry etc. from 4" to 17" or so diameter.Finally last Wednesday I noticed they reached the spot along east end of parents property.I started cleaning some up last week,hauled up about 2/3rd's p/u load to my splitting area.Yesterday I split & stacked that small amount.Along with bucking some 7"-8" Shagbark Hickory found with it.

Some of the best wood is White & Bur Oak,14"-17 diameter.Also found some excellent 5"-6" Hophornbeam/Ironwood in the pile (which will be saved for various woodturning projects in 3-4 yrs time). Guessing there about 2-3 p/u loads here,with possibly 5or 6 in the other piles along that 2 mile stretch of road to the north & west.Doing a bit each week when my work schedule & weather allows,it'll probably be a couple months before I finish.

Some dont look like much,but even though I already have roughly 13-14 cords of dry,dead mixed Red & White Oak in the shed & stacks - I hate to see this go to waste just lying there.Its no trouble to wrap a chain around a couple at a time & pull them free for easier cutting out on the grassy shoulder. :) It'll be great in 2-3 yrs once its dry.

White Bur Oak stack
Ironwood poles
Bur Oak in front
White Oak & Hackberry on right.
Mixed in pile
 

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A couple more.....

White & Bur Oak mostly

More at NE corner of property
 

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Nice!

Great wood rescue!
 
I like cutting that size wood. Not to hard on the back and usually splits pretty good.
 
Thistle said:
About 5 weeks ago on gravel road roughly 2 miles northwest of parents acreage I noticed 4 County Road Department employees clearing most everything over 4" that's growing in those right-of way ditches.Some areas starting there its been overgrown & nothing was done in 30 yrs that I remember.Its all pretty much still there in probably a dozen piles of varying size along that route.Green Red Oak,Mulberry,Hackberry,White Elm,Eastern Red Cedar/Juniper,Black Cherry etc. from 4" to 17" or so diameter.Finally last Wednesday I noticed they reached the spot along east end of parents property.I started cleaning some up last week,hauled up about 2/3rd's p/u load to my splitting area.Yesterday I split & stacked that small amount.Along with bucking some 7"-8" Shagbark Hickory found with it.

Some of the best wood is White & Bur Oak,14"-17 diameter.Also found some excellent 5"-6" Hophornbeam/Ironwood in the pile (which will be saved for various woodturning projects in 3-4 yrs time). Guessing there about 2-3 p/u loads here,with possibly 5or 6 in the other piles along that 2 mile stretch of road to the north & west.Doing a bit each week when my work schedule & weather allows,it'll probably be a couple months before I finish.

Some dont look like much,but even though I already have roughly 13-14 cords of dry,dead mixed Red & White Oak in the shed & stacks - I hate to see this go to waste just lying there.Its no trouble to wrap a chain around a couple at a time & pull them free for easier cutting out on the grassy shoulder. :) It'll be great in 2-3 yrs once its dry.

White Bur Oak stack
Ironwood poles
Bur Oak in front
White Oak & Hackberry on right.
Mixed in pile
Click to expand...

Looks good to me Thistle, some nice btu's out of that.


zap
 
Good for you getting this Thistle. I too would hate to see that go to waste.
 
Get it while you can. It would bug me to leave it until it starts to rot and then watch it rot for the next twenty years whenever I visit.
 
nice load of wood thistle.......keep up the good work recycling!!
 
Sweet score. Take advantage of the opportunity.
 
Nice window of opportunity! Go through the window while its open. Some nice firewood there!
 
Nice Find! Better in your wood pile than on the side of the road rotting.
 
Good one. Alway pays to keep an eye out for a score like that.
Serious BTUs that won't go to waste :)
Good one!
 
That's a lot of good firewood for easy taking. Can't beat that.
 
Well...... sometimes things dont work out like we hoped. :-S :-/

Went out there early this morning,about 2 miles from parents place on that gravel road I noticed 3 County Road Department pickups,5 employees and the big backhoe.

They had several piles burning in various condition.All unattended.Continued on the road toward their property.Every pile was either burning pretty strong or almost gone & still smoldering.

Got to their place here's what I saw: Apparantly they set it alight yesterday sometime when parents werent at home! What was left was still smoldering over 24 hrs later.

Its a good thing there wasnt any strong wind gusts the last 2 days & some snow/ice still covering the ground.If not,those flames would've went up that bank,several hundred feet in the timber & right at their small house,propane tank & garage!!! Told parents,we all were pretty pissed off!!! Went back up the road,talked to one guy asked him "Who's in charge here?" He said "No one is..." Uh huh. "OK then,WHO IS your Supervisor and or the County Engineer in charge of you clowns? Its a damn wonder their house wasnt burned down!!!" :mad:

Long story short,went into town to the Road Department office building, we talked to the Engineer.When we first saw him we couldnt believe it - he didnt look 30 yrs old,I thought "Great,will he even know what the Hell's going on?" He was quite shocked to say the least,gave us his word several times that he'd see that the fires were completly out before the workers went on their way & would drive out there soon today to see how progress was made etc.I still cant believe people are so careless,especially with how dry the ground had been since last summer.One stray spark & several thousand acres of woodland,pasture,cropland & untold houses/outbuildings could be destroyed in just a few hours,no way the county Fire Department could stop a fraction of that.

Made a few more checks to see both piles were OK before I left around 2PM,they seemed to be no threat.You always wonder though.
 

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That's scary. A little bit of wind and this could have been a real bad situation. Totally careless and ignorant!
 
Yup. That would definitely grab me the wrong way...
 
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