You are granted access to a beautiful 160 acre homestead in your locale that has not been cut in 150 years and it's all woods. Big woods. There are species on the tract that you were not even aware are growing in your locale (but they are native, not planted trees). Subject to the rules, you can take any trees you wish for personal firewood or other personal use only. You can only do it if you harvest six species annually. You can harvest 50% of any oaks that fall or die while alive; if it's dead standing and devoid of limbs when you first start, you can't take it because it is left for the critters. If you take any oak, it is not counted as one of your six. Lastly, you plant two native trees for each tree taken during the year. What are you going to cut for your own enjoyment and if there is a reason for any species, list it. I will play later, have fun, lol.
Oh my!!!! If Oaks aren’t counted, I’d say Sugar Maple, Black Locust, Osage Orange, Beech, Shagbark Hickory and Ash
If it's 160 acres, that is a large tract; square, it's one-half mile by one-half mile. Lots of room to play and enjoy the woods. There shouldn't be a worry about harvesting a tree because you can't 'log out' a tract that big by yourself using for personal use. If it hasn't been cut in 150 years, there are some very large trees, and even trees that are not normally seen in large size would be much larger than normal. Like ironwood. Ironwood -- because it burns good and makes good tool handles; big size would be awesome Sassafras -- because it is uber light, super easy to split, smells good, makes good shoulder season wood; a large one would be so awesome because I don't get to see big ones on my land Locust -- either species because it makes great firewood, tools and fence posts Bois d'arc (osage orange; hedge) -- same as above Ash -- any species; seasons quickly, burns good and I rarely see them anymore Cherry -- smells good, is attractive, good shoulder season wood, makes good lumber and I never see big ones My harvest would also include oak. Blowdowns alone, the trees would be huge! It would be cool to enjoy a variety of species like i do now but also have much bigger logs available. All of these trees, I, typically, do not harvest any of them live unless there are many of them in a spot; I usually only take them if dying or blew down. A large tract like this would mean it doesn't matter! It would be very cool to see a huge cherry tree or whatever and take it to enjoy its bounty without feeling guilty, lol. (We just do not have that many hardwood tracts around here anymore, the vast majority are pine plantations, which means devoid of character! I am overly protective of hardwoods.)
In all honesty, I have to side on the "cut closest to the road" group. However, for the sake of the game, I would say my teir list is: 1. Ash- good all around wood that dries quickly. 2 Mulberry - Dense wood that burns well and hot and can also be used for other things 3 Locust - Same as above 4 Spruce - quick starter with hot fires 5 Sugar Maple - nice hardwood that splits good. 6 Cherry - good smelling wood that burns nice. And I would take what ever Oak I could find. I love getting a variety of trees and love the local tree dump for that reason. It's fun and interesting to learn and burn a few different types.
Firewood "hoarding" is about the "hunt", "harvest", and "consumption" and I enjoy hiking for the "hunt". "Hunting" is looking for downed wood ("felling" is more like a chore, necessary but not fun). Being near the road is a high priority for me too but I also like a blend of different woods and favor wood types which dry in two years. 160 acres would have plenty of downed wood for the "hunt". In preference order: Sugar/hard maple - dries the best in two years, not hard to hand split, good weight Bitternut hickory - a little heavier than maple and easier to split while drying in two years Slippery elm - dead and bark free and ready to burn in less than one year, easy to split 80% of the time (harvested 3 poles and one top this fall, only 1 pole last fall) White ash - I haul wood by weight and white ash brings home the most "wood" and least water while easy to hand split *** White oak - less moisture than red oak, dries faster, and is heavier while splitting easily by hand Hackberry - another lower moisture tree which is easy to split and can dry in one year *** Red oak will replace white ash after all the EAB wood is gone but would be number six in the list because of the high moisture content but splitting is easy My rows have lots of sugar maple, white ash, and red oak (the most available firewood here). Supplies are limited for white oak, bitternut, and hackberry. Slippery elm, dead and bark free, dries so quick that I can not keep much in the rows.
X4 or whatever we are up to. After that I'd work on the rest of the dead/ down trees. 160 acres will make way more than you could even burn in a year just from dead and downed trees. You'd get more than you need from less than 10 acres of old growth like that.
Rope, did you sell all your chainsaws and buy one 362? Have you seen any chestnut lately? Anyone... do you have any chestnut trees? I guess there are a few left here and there? Isn't it something how the once dominant tree in a huge area gets killed off. And keeps happening.
House fire took them, I have only bought 1 so far to replace. I am waiting of the word from my porter huskihl to get back into the ported saw game.
I'd be looking at that woodlot from an entirely different perspective - especially if there were big trees native to my area. Cherry - harvest for lumber, cut tops for firewood and BBQ wood. Walnut - same Hickory - same Sugar Maple - for syrup, lumber and firewood Beech - for lumber and firewood Black birch - for lumber and firewood Only other species I'd like to have would be white pine, but those big multi-leader wolf trees are pretty much useless. They'd have to be single-trunk specimens, 20-30" dbh, very few knots, mostly clear and straight. You can keep all the oak. I don't usually bother with the stuff unless it's free, and I normally won't use it for lumber.
It's just an attempt at creating an interesting post. Rules like this are common to tracts dedicated to conservation. That is, if any cutting is allowed at all. I personally know of a large tract like this whereby no cutting is allowed other than taking a deadfall near the headquarters; going out into the woods with a vehicle to haul it out is considered too invasive to the tract. Big woods are awesome; more people should try to get out more into forests in their area and enjoy trees. They are more than BTUs. In this example, the one with access to the tract not only gets to appreciate growing trees but also as firewood, lumber, sap, etc. It's kind of a utopia for one who loves trees, especially big trees, which are hard to find in my neck of the woods; they've been logged out. The biggest oaks I ever saw were just awesome, right on a creek bend. When they cut them, now, that was a sad day. Oh, no! They're gone! Will not be the same for another 150 years. Being under that canopy was magical. I have as a personal goal to visit some old growth tracts before I die. Visiting the Redwoods on the west coast was awesome, yes, it was. But it's not home. What would be even more awesome to me would be to find old growth tracts I could hike within, say, 200 miles of my home... similar habitat to what I knew as a boy.
One year I got a permit to cut at our local wildlife slough and bird conservation. They dedicated a plot for me to cut in and told me that I was allowed to cut any Oak that I wanted because it is considered an invasive species here. I cut a decent amount of dead standing Oak. My trailer was loaded down pretty good by the time I drove out of there.
Oak an invasive? Now, that it interesting! I actually enjoy a wide variety of trees, so, I kind of get it but I've never heard of that. Was the tract owned by a charity or the state or other government body?
Its government. The thought behind it is that it was believed to once be prairie grasslands. That being said, they believe Oak to be brought in during settlement and not native, so they are trying (not very quickly or actively) to get rid of it in the preserve. They concentrate more on the bird situation there and there is not a ton of Oak, so they are more passive about it, but its cheap to go get a permit and cut some up on a weekend.
