Forest management

[barmstrong2]

Reading the Schooling Myself thread, I have questions about managing tree growth in order to promote a healthy future of the lot.

My brother recently bought as home which includes 5 acres of heavily wooded property directly behind the home. We both burn wood, so, this is a huge plus. Walking through, the growth is 75% beech with the rest being eastern white pine, oak, white birch and maple. I've also seen a couple poplar. We've cut a road in and have been cutting selectively, starting with the obviously sick trees, clearing underbrush and thinning the area. The entire area is thick with beech saplings.

Should we cut the eastern pine out to allow sunlight and open the area up, or is there some advantage to leaving them?

I'm looking for solid management ideas to help him plan this 5 acre lot for future harvesting of firewood.

 

[Longstreet]

Is harvesting firewood your only goal? Do you have any desire to promote wildlife? Maybe even some small scale lumber production? Start with a list of goals, as some may have actions which hamper others.

My understanding is that 1 cord per acre per year is about the upper end of what is sustainable for firewoood. Obviously, your first few years will be higher as you clear the unwanted trees. Your best bet may be to have a forester visit the property and give advice, but 5 acres is fairly small.

Edit: Should have asked for how many cords per year is desired from this woodlot.

 

[ElmBurner]

The list of trees you provided are generally shade intolerant, so it's likely that the beech (and possible the maple, depending on the species) will eventually choke out everything else. The mix you are seeing suggests that this plot was once actively managed (probably long ago, when it was cut for firewood), but has since been abandoned to Mother Nature.

Generally, the idea should be to promote a mix of species. If the plot is 75% beech, then any beech disease would wipe out most of your trees. That's a bad thing. So I would suggest that you leave the white pine, oak, white birch, maple, and poplar. I would start thinning the beech, with a focus on release (cutting down trees with touching crowns in the canopy) and removing "wolf" trees (trees which are much larger than the trees surrounding them and are suppressing the trees below them). This will help all the trees grow faster, help the other species spread out, and generally improve the overall health of the timber.

The bonus is that beech makes good firewood.

Depending on how deep you want to get into it, there are different strategies. The simplest is going out with a 20 ft tape and walking the plot in a grid pattern, marking the best tree every 20 feet and clearing out the rest of the canopy. That's obviously a very drastic action and I'd suggest a more subtle approach to it.

You may want to throttle down on clearing out the underbrush also. People tend to want to make a forest look like a park...that's generally not a good idea. Shrubs, saplings, and pole sized timber that make up the understory are an important part of a forest, so unless your brother really wants it to be wide open underneath the trees, I would try to discourage him. All this understory is going to provide wildlife habitat and give your next crop of trees. And dead/down trees provide cover, nesting sites, prevent erosion, etc. So there's value there too.

I can ramble more...let me know if you have questions.

 

[Oldman47]

Contact your local SWCD office and ask them who works as a state forester in the area. I have used a state paid forester twice now to develop forestry plans. One was for a new planting and the other was for an established wood lot. As Elmburner said, you definitely want to maintain biodiversity but it can be far more complicated than that. A sustainable wood crop around here is about 100 trees per acre but that is for the typical soils that I see, not necessarily for what you will see.

 

[barmstrong2]

If I may pull this thread back, the one species of tree that is missing here, that would be nice to have, is ash. I haven't seen even one. Is there any reason I shouldn't bring some saplings out and introduce some ash among these other trees?

 

[Longstreet]

I wouldn't bother with Ash...Emerald ash borer. Maybe after it passes, you could plant some, but I wouldn't think right now would be a great time.

 

[barmstrong2]

I've heard of this but it doesn't seem to have reached here. Ash is plentiful and healthy. Can anyone tell me the range of this parasite?

 

[Applesister]

Its migrating its way thru lower NYS. It orginated in Michigan off the lake and has spread outward.
Black Ash is a wetland forest type Ash and Maine might be part of its natural range. And you might be able to get White Ash to grow in your area.
Look for a bare root seedling program in your state for cheap seedlings. Or dig up and transplant volunteers.
I have Green Ash in NY and so far our trees are okay.

 

[Applesister]

I read that it (Emerald Ash borer) came into the country on shipping crates from cargo ships on the lake.

 

[barmstrong2]

I'm not sure which type we have here. The wood is very light in color, I would call it white-ish.

Anyway, around my house, they are everywhere. I was thinking a dozen or so transplants.

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm not sure which type we have here. The wood is very light in color, I would call it white-ish.

Anyway, around my house, they are everywhere. I was thinking a dozen or so transplants.

We have white ash and green ash . . . I think we may have black ash as well . . . but I am not 100% sure.

Big ash lover . . . especially white ash . . . stuff practically splits itself if you give it a dirty look.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I've heard of this but it doesn't seem to have reached here. Ash is plentiful and healthy. Can anyone tell me the range of this parasite?

It's "range" is anywhere ash grows. As it is a "new" parasitic insect species in the US it hasn't completely spread out to it's full range yet. It's only a matter of time. Once it has first been discovered in your area you will be hard pressed to find a single living ash tree anywhere within 3-4 years. It works fast and efficient at wiping out any living ash tree.

 

[peakbagger]

There are free resources in Maine to assist small woodlot owners. A real nice magazine to subscribe to is Northern Woodlands. They are based out of VT but cover NY to Maine. Their back issues are on line and its worth spending some time going through the articles. They also have some resources for small woodlot owners. The biggest challenge on such a small woodlot is that you cant manage it for everything. The other issue is timespan. If you are managing it for 50 years versus 10, your management will change. Soil types and exposure also play into the decisions. A sunny lot with southerly exposure is going to grow different trees than a rocky north slope.

Generalizations are dangerous but for unmanaged woods, expect that you ultimately are going to remove 2/3rds of the trees over 10 years. That will open up the crowns of the remaining trees. If you have mature woods already I wouldn't worry about the understory as its probably shifted over to shade tolerant species already. Usually the first 1/4 to 1/3 of tree removal is easy, just get rid of the trees with major wounds like broken branches or rubs where two trees are growing up against each other. A very important and hard thing to do is plan your felling so that you don't damage the good trees. One major broken branch on an otherwise good tree can introduce disease and ultimately staining in the trunk. Learn to use your saw so that you can drop trees where you need them and use cables and straps to guide trees if you cant do it with the saw. If you do have two smaller trees growing together, you can usually cut one of the two being careful not to cut into the bark of the remaining tree. Then dress up the stump so that water sheds away from the split. I wouldn't do it if there is a good tree nearby but if that's what you have got then its worth a try. The bigger the trees the higher chance that the remaining tree will end up with rot in this area.

A "good tree" is straight for at least 20' with no stubs, splits or wounds in that 20 feet. Anytime you see a major jagged break off the main stem, its firewood. Once you get the obvious trees out (which will take you several years, then it time for spacing out the remaining trees. The goal is to slowly thin out the remaining trees so the best trees have an area about the size of the canopy of the tree with no competing large trees in this zone. As you thin them out in a few years the crowns will fill out. Ultimately in 20 or 30 years you end up with a "city park" type woods. The remaining trees will be much larger and healthier and then if you are lucky you can start cutting sawlogs to contribute to your grandkids education. That's the real downside to forest management, unless you start in your twenties most folks wont see the results in their lifetime.

Unfortunately some species are doomed like beech, unless you happen to have blight resistant beech, once it gets mature and looks healthy the blight will move in and damage the bark and ultimately kill the tree. Beech is tenacious cut it down one year and the stump will sprout the next. Ash is ultimately doomed but you probably have 20 years if you are central Maine . I wouldn't manage for it but if one pops up its worth letting it grow in hopes that some of the natural pests being introduces will knock back the borer. Odds are you have white ash as brown ash tends to grow in or near wetlands in eastern maine. If you want to take a chance, pick up a couple of blight resistant chestnuts to plant. They were one of the dominant species in the woods until the blight wiped them out and since they have been absent for 100 years, the pest that ate them are probably long gone.

I have mixed feelings about white pine. Unless they are in dense stand, they get bushy with lot of branches. If you prune them carefully, they can grow straight. There is also a pest that eats the terminal bud of the tree leading to less than straight wood. Unless you have very sandy soil that wont grow much else I would manage for hardwood but that's where a pro can take a look and see what types of trees are best suited for the soil.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I have 8 acres and it is a ton of work clearing out trees if you have a canopy, which I do. Lots of small to medium sized trees.

I wish I had rented a bulldozer and just pushed them all over instead of dealing with huge brush piles and constant burning from bucking trees.

 

[Oldman47]

I read that it (Emerald Ash borer) came into the country on shipping crates from cargo ships on the lake.

It did arrive on packing materials not very long ago. So far all attempts to prevent its spread have failed. With 15 years for even a fast growing ash to become a large enough tree to be worth having in your yard, I would avoid it. If you were in the west where it had to cross a desert area to get to you it might still be worth planting, but not when you are as close as Maine is to NY.

 

[barmstrong2]

Thanks everyone.

 

[Longstreet]

Even this one is out of date from 2011. EAB has rippled out just like a water drop. You may be safe for now but there's no way I'd spend the time and money to plant any. Maybe the cold of ME is cold enough to keep them out.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Interesting chart. I have at least a thousand ash trees (and many others) on my property and have not seen a single hole, larvae or beetle. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I have also never had an ash tree die mysteriously.

 

[barmstrong2]

Thanks. Reading on the state of Maine forestry site, EAB has been confirmed just 30 miles out of the state, in NH.

We've only just started bringing this 5 acre plot back to a healthy state. There are many beech trees that are sick, damaged, standing rotting and just overcrowded. That's probably the best place to start. I'll encourage my brother to contact the state forestry service for more advice.

 

[firefighterjake]

View attachment 162700

Even this one is out of date from 2011. EAB has rippled out just like a water drop. You may be safe for now but there's no way I'd spend the time and money to plant any. Maybe the cold of ME is cold enough to keep them out.

It's a nice thought about the cold . . . but Michigan and New York can get plenty cold with temps rivaling that of Maine so sadly I wouldn't bet on the Maine weather keeping the buggers at bay.

 

[ElmBurner]

Thanks. Reading on the state of Maine forestry site, EAB has been confirmed just 30 miles out of the state, in NH.

We've only just started bringing this 5 acre plot back to a healthy state. There are many beech trees that are sick, damaged, standing rotting and just overcrowded. That's probably the best place to start. I'll encourage my brother to contact the state forestry service for more advice.

It's hard not to get excited and want to do a bunch of stuff at once, but thinning a stand is often the best first step. Gives you time to think your plans through too, before you rush headlong into something.

Lesson I learned the hard way...

 

[Wood Duck]

I would manage my woodlot to retain all of the species that are present, and I'd select nice specimens, removing trees that crowd the ones I want and trees that are misshapen or damaged. So, that means I'd keep at least a few White Pines, which in my opinion are attractive trees and the only evergreen you mentioned. I'd save nice tall, straight pines. I'd also thin other trees to encourage the oaks, assuming you don't have lots of oaks. That probably means removing some Beech, which are nice trees but it seems you have a lot of them. Also, as Peakbagger says, there is a Beech disease that is killing a lot of Beech and so I wouldn't want a woodland that is mostly Beech.

My goal would be a woodland of nice, big trees that includes all the local species. This would result in different management than if I were trying to maximize firewood or grow the most marketable timber.