I've been missing out on a bunch of wood!

[rdust]

It's the time of year where our county is cutting all of the tree's they have marked for removal over the year. Just driving around today I passed a big black walnut(actually talked to that guy first thing this morning on my way to work and he was milling the larger pieces), passed a huge oak that was just dropped today, a bunch of ash trunks and oak trunks down on varies roads I travel.

Unfortunately between working late and my schedule I haven't had time to stop and pick any up! I hope some of the wood is still around tomorrow or this weekend so I can load up the trailer and saws and go after it! Some of the wood was large so some of the people may not want to deal with it. I don't really "need" any wood(3 years worth on hand)right now but I hate driving by wood that is an easy grab!

I just had to vent! :lol:

 

[Thistle]

I feel your pain. :lol: Just seen on local CL this afternoon barely a mile from my house in someone's front yard a big White Oak trunk that looks to be around 2ft diameter & 7' long at least.All the small stuff is gone,which is fine by me now.Hoping to get some time tommorow to check it out,looks like its worth putting the Alaskan mill,Poulan 475 & that 2 x 12 guide plank in the truck for a short trip.

 

[woodchip]

I don't really "need" any wood(3 years worth on hand)right now but I hate driving by wood that is an easy grab!

Nothing wrong with starting on your 4th year stash, free wood is free wood..... think of how well it will burn in 2015 ;-)

 

[Jeff S]

rdust,living in Michigan you and I are only going to see our Ash trees wiped out in the next couple of years by EAB ,and sadly much of that wood will go waste.I'm trying to harvest and store what I can and encourage others to do the same.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

rdust, I'm sure you can find room for a little more wood there! Like you, I'd hate to see that stuff go to waste.

 

[fireview2788]

JeffS, same problem down in OH. Our local MetroPark system has started a "stewardship" program and have people fostering baby ash trees. We have a big and small ash trees on our property and I will make sure every little one grows. To everyone where the EAB is attacking be sure to keep the baby ash trees growing.

rdust, they're doing the same thing here. I've just got to get the nerve up to go ask for the wood!

 

[woodchip]

I've just got to get the nerve up to go ask for the wood!

Just go over and ask them if they have any plans for the wood that is cut down.
Just swing the conversatoin round to how a couple of rounds would help keep you warm next winter, and see if they bite on the bait.

If you never ask, you'll never know

 

[rdust]

rdust,living in Michigan you and I are only going to see our Ash trees wiped out in the next couple of years by EAB ,and sadly much of that wood will go waste.I'm trying to harvest and store what I can and encourage others to do the same.

Yep, it makes me sad that some day when my son is older I'll have to explain to him that we "used" to have these awesome tree's called ash. I have a bunch to cut on my property and a bunch on my brothers, I'll have ash to burn for some years still. I just dropped one that has been dead since I bought my house in 2007 and it is still solid, the bark was just starting to fall of the top parts of the tree. The ones are my brothers property still had leaves last year so hopefully those have a few more years of standing in them.

rdust, they're doing the same thing here. I've just got to get the nerve up to go ask for the wood!

I door knocked a couple houses on my way home and no one was around, I'll try again tomorrow. Just remember the worst people can say is no.

rdust, I'm sure you can find room for a little more wood there! Like you, I'd hate to see that stuff go to waste.

I have plenty of room, just missing the motivation right now. BUT when wood is sitting near the road just wasting away I can find the time and room.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

I've just got to get the nerve up to go ask for the wood!

Just go over and ask them if they have any plans for the wood that is cut down.
Just swing the conversatoin round to how a couple of rounds would help keep you warm next winter, and see if they bite on the bait.

If you never ask, you'll never know

I grew up with and raised my daughters with the adage that "If you don't ask, the answer is ALWAYS no".

 

[Intheswamp]

Yep, it makes me sad that some day when my son is older I'll have to explain to him that we "used" to have these awesome tree's called ash. I have a bunch to cut on my property and a bunch on my brothers, I'll have ash to burn for some years still. I just dropped one that has been dead since I bought my house in 2007 and it is still solid, the bark was just starting to fall of the top parts of the tree. The ones are my brothers property still had leaves last year so hopefully those have a few more years of standing in them.

The EAB situation reminds of a man-made plague that struck the south.

Back in the late 60's and through the next few decades our EAB was named CAT, John Deere, etc., of the families Union Camp, McMillan-Blodel, Georgia Pacific, Rocky Creek, etc.,. It decimated hundreds of thousands (millions?) of acres of southern forests...it had no specific tree species appetite as it consumed any and all trees. It would consume a tree or slash it down to be pushed up into big windrows and burned in preparation for replanting of nursery engineered hybrid pine saplings...fast growing and weak but good for paper. Being young teenagers back then, a friend and myself foretold that our kids would think that pine trees naturally grow in rows.

In the process of reforesting the environment if giant ancient oaks or stately hickories or whatever were found that were "too big" for the mill they were simply chopped in pieces, piled and burned. Later on they developed an even better strategy to insure the weak pines would have a better chance of survival...they started the practice of defoliating the land to kill any hardwood (competition) saplings that might be trying to regrow...that practice is still being used. The majority of the southern pine forests of the south are predominately lab engineered "paper" wood forests...which are suddenly becoming less profitable ('reckon the glut on the market has anything to do with it?). The hardwoods that were considered trash "back when" are suddenly becoming a bit more valuable, though...of course the vast tracts of the mixed forests are gone now...the sporadic droughts over the last several decades have allowed many of the hardwood covered river bottoms to be stripped.

Something to note is that if you go out in the middle of a pine "plantation" and scratch back the pine needles to expose the earth you will find it to be extremely dry and dusty unlike the moist leaf mold of a deciduous forest. Not much variety of food for the critters, either...

We used to walk the clear-cuts looking for arrowheads...it was amazing and sad at the waste involved and the ancient trees that were simply left to rot because they were "too big".

And today...most pine trees grow in rows down here.

Ed

(sorry to have ranted or whatever and don't know what really got me going)

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ed, there was a lot of that in other areas too. It seems especially back in the fifties they all thought replanting with pines was the really great thing. It did not prove to be and now a lot of the forested areas are pine trees in rows.