I am amazed at how much wood is left behind when hardwood tracts are logged around here. Mostly I am talking about clearcut tracts. Ugh! I am not a logger and don't mean to cast stones but it seems SO wasteful. I admit I hate to see hardwood tracts logged around here since they are becoming very rare! Anyway, what about getting firewood from those tracts? It would be really difficult to get around, it is such a mess with tree trunks and big tops everywhere. How would you get to it and get it out? I have thought I might could use my JD Gator to an advantage in getting around. Looks like plenty of good limbs of good species.
Does anyone scrounge on recently logged tracts?
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Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I havent, but i would try. There can be a LOT of firewood in a top. Terrain can be a challenge for sure.
We have a select cut harvest every now and then on my parents' farm, and the mills only want straight logs. The treetops stay where they're dropped, which is standard (boilerplate) in every logging contract around here. It can get pretty hilly in western PA, but the payoff is prime hardwood firewood from those treetops.
Depending on your vehicle (skidder, tractor, ATV, pickup, etc.), things that help are a logging winch (Farmi, Lewis, Warn, etc.), cables, ropes, snatch blocks, skidding cone, sled, dray, choker chain.
Since treetops are can be a lot of work, and unless firewood is difficult to come by in your area, I wouldn't pay much (if anything) for the right to take them. Some have made deals to take X number of pickup loads for the cost of leaving one pickup load for the landowner. As always, get permission from the landowner.
Depending on your vehicle (skidder, tractor, ATV, pickup, etc.), things that help are a logging winch (Farmi, Lewis, Warn, etc.), cables, ropes, snatch blocks, skidding cone, sled, dray, choker chain.
Since treetops are can be a lot of work, and unless firewood is difficult to come by in your area, I wouldn't pay much (if anything) for the right to take them. Some have made deals to take X number of pickup loads for the cost of leaving one pickup load for the landowner. As always, get permission from the landowner.
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I had a neighbor that asked if I wanted to take out some wood off his land that he had recently cut. It was OK . . . and free . . . but honestly it was mostly small stuff. I suspect whether it is worth doing depends on the cost (free is always good), size of the wood, condition of the wood (recent harvest or very old harvest), accessibility and how much one really needs the wood.
Right now I have access to a friend's wood lot . . . but that said . . . I am looking over a lot logged this past winter to see if it would be worth asking the owner for permission to cut some of the left over downed wood or not mainly because it is so close.
Right now I have access to a friend's wood lot . . . but that said . . . I am looking over a lot logged this past winter to see if it would be worth asking the owner for permission to cut some of the left over downed wood or not mainly because it is so close.
Depends on the part of the country and if there is market for low grade wood. In northern new England there was a very active low grade wood market with pulp mills buying the big ugly stuff prime fire wood and everything else would go in the chipper for biomass power plants. Both markets have collapsed and a lot of landowners just plain aren't cutting and if they do they are leaving more in the woods. I have picked log landings in the past and usually the wood left is quite muddy with dirt ground into it. Its heck on a chain.
Do note that some landowners want the tops and low grade wood left in the woods to keep the nutrients in the woods so they regenerate faster. The majority of the important minerals that the tree takes up ends up on the crowns, if a landowner can leave the crown wood it is better for the long run as other wise the soil gets depleted. Most landowners are not into long term forest health so they just cut it hard and don't worry about the long term. Farmers have figured out that if the don't rotate their annual crops and amend the soil that after a few years the soil will loose productivity, same thing happens to woodland it just takes longer. Down in South America where the pulp market has shifted to, they grow short rotation trees for pulp that are harvested in 10 to 15 years or less, they can only get 3 or 4 rotations off this land and then they have move on and cut down another rain forest as they have stripped all the key nutrients out of the soil. The soil left is low productivity and mostly grows weed trees. It is also more prone to erosion leading to flooding and siltation of the local streams and rivers.
I have read some pretty interesting research on the long term impacts to the New England forest from the conversion of formerly forested land into farms during the 1800's. More than 100 years after these lands have gone back to forest, key nutrients are missing in the soil removed by farming and have shifted the forest type to lower grade trees. Apparently sugar maples are very dependent on calcium in the soil and on heavily farmed soil its depleted to the point where the woods have shifted to red maples.
Do note that some landowners want the tops and low grade wood left in the woods to keep the nutrients in the woods so they regenerate faster. The majority of the important minerals that the tree takes up ends up on the crowns, if a landowner can leave the crown wood it is better for the long run as other wise the soil gets depleted. Most landowners are not into long term forest health so they just cut it hard and don't worry about the long term. Farmers have figured out that if the don't rotate their annual crops and amend the soil that after a few years the soil will loose productivity, same thing happens to woodland it just takes longer. Down in South America where the pulp market has shifted to, they grow short rotation trees for pulp that are harvested in 10 to 15 years or less, they can only get 3 or 4 rotations off this land and then they have move on and cut down another rain forest as they have stripped all the key nutrients out of the soil. The soil left is low productivity and mostly grows weed trees. It is also more prone to erosion leading to flooding and siltation of the local streams and rivers.
I have read some pretty interesting research on the long term impacts to the New England forest from the conversion of formerly forested land into farms during the 1800's. More than 100 years after these lands have gone back to forest, key nutrients are missing in the soil removed by farming and have shifted the forest type to lower grade trees. Apparently sugar maples are very dependent on calcium in the soil and on heavily farmed soil its depleted to the point where the woods have shifted to red maples.
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sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
We selectively log a property. They leave tree tops and branches. There is TONS of heat in branches, but no money.
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
Time is money and it's expensive to the mills and the loggers. Plum Creek (before they were bought) was selling cheep permits and I know guys who would venture out and gather wood but it's a lot of work and miles.
Mead (Oxford) used to be quite generous to people who leased spots for camps in western maine. When one of the colleges bought the land for a retirement fund they required a 1 million dollar liability policy for anyone doing salvage for firewood after cuts. I was looking at buying some land about 21 miles in on a logging road surrounded by that land and the lack of ability to cut wood for the camp factored in.
All I do is follow a logger friend of mine around with 2......4 wheel drive trucks and a ATV and winches...my beater log skidding truck is a 1996 2500 Ram with a 8.0 and 12k winch...nothing is safe....I cut lots and lots of tops...if I have to and lots of times I do..I cut my way into a top thats off of the original skidding trail...there is a lot of wood in a big mature white oak top..its worth it to me. You would be surprised at how quickly you can fill a 14K dump trailer with 4ft sides with a ATV and a pull behind .trailer
blacktail
Minister of Fire
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