I have 7 acres but would like 100. I'd pay the extra tax if it meant not having to deal with neighbors and having more privacy. Back to the original question, I've read that 1 cord per 2 acres per year is sustainable on most woodlots. Again, that's a very general estimate and your results may vary.
I assume you mean cleared and lawn area? Not that I know of. The tax rate is the same weather you have a lush lawn or woods. It looks as though NY has some sort of forestry management tax reduction program but it must be 50 or more continues acres.
In PA we have clean and green areas. I think it has to be at least 10 acres. I am not sure all the rules and regs to it but taxes are significantly lower. I think whatever land is entered into can't be built on. It sure about logging and that type of stuff.
I built my home in the 1970's when the children were small. Knew I wanted to retire here, so built the home I eventually wanted, Doug Fir Construction, 2 x 6 walls, double layers of 3/4 inch plywood on the floors, good windows, etc. We put oak floors down in the kitchen, and finished the kitchen: Rutt cabinets, good appliances. Put Rutt cabinets in the bathrooms, and good fixtures. Didn't finish the walls anywhere else in the house, including the bathroom. Had blocking between the studs, that we used for bookshelves. First year we didn't even have stairs : I carried the baby up a ladder to the second floor. Easier climb than from the lake up the cliff to the house, anyway. Summers I had someone care for the children during the week, drove the 425 miles every Friday night from NYC to Ontario, and every Sunday night from Ontario to NYC, arriving in time for work Monday morning. Spent Easter and Christmas at the lake. My children got to grow up in the country, where they explored, walked for miles, got to know the local farmers, had escapades and independence and learned how to cope with problems. We had very strict rules about the water, but other than that they were free. The area was very safe, and at the time we did not have ticks or bears or wolves or fisher to worry about. My aunts owned the 120 acres adjacent to mine, and the aunt on the closest 40 acres built shortly after I did. She and my uncle were like grandparents to my children. Also gave the children a family destination 50 acres from our home, about 2000 feet away along the lake. We gradually finished the home over the next 35 years. I've never regretted the decision.
I have 21 acres, and about 14 of it wooded (mainly hardwoods), no pine, only a little poplar. I do harvest on it, but if you are going to be seriously burning you may come to find what i did years ago. It is easier for me to harvest almost everywhere else, and since i am tied into homeowners and arborists, i don't cut frequently on my land unless something goes down. On my land, its cut and drag, and sometimes time consuming to get equipment to the actual wood etc... Where as homeowners i cut at are accessible with my big dual axel trailer. I cut any place i can, just saying that once you become a known scrounge you will get more wood off the diminishing population of wood burners, faster and easier sometimes than running a mini logging operation off your own land. This year between myself and two buddies, we harvested over 35 cords. And of that, about 4 came from my property from trees that came down. I do have my property in what is called the clean and green program in PA, similar to the programs others have mentioned. Big saving on taxes. One note however in PA, if the property goes into clean and green, say for 7 years, then you sell the property later to someone that wishes to develop or use the land, or you yourself wanted to use it, then they/you would owe all of the tax savings you had on it for the past seven years. This is of course a deal killer which is how states can stack the deck that once in clean and green it stays there. In short I love having my own wood lot for supply reasons, beauty, and most importantly to be able to burn wood with a buffer to reduce the possibility of local govt wanting to shut me down.
We paid $300,000.00 for our 22+ acres put in the utilities was able to get three form A lots we sold off two at $150,000.00 each so our 18 acres ended up paid for. Yes we now have two neighbors but they are over 500' away and we land locked up another 60 Acres that will never be built on as the only access is now thru our land. We looked for years to get just the right land to make it work out this way. I think it was worth the wait a place to hunt,cut wood,walk logging roads and spend our older years in peace and quiet.
Agreed. I have 57 acre camp property. There is more junk wood on it than I'll use in 10 lifetimes and I rarely cut any wood . I have cut and drop junk wood just for timber management purposes and do clean up trees that fall across trails but my wood dump that tree crews haul into is just way easier and less time consuming than going out for wood. I think if the OP got hooked up with the right tree service a life time of easy wood delivered is possible. I'd probably be inclined to find the "right" property for a house build rather than size for firewood independence . A lot with or potential for an out of site from house wood dump area.
My primary concern is certainly a nice property for a home. I'm considering a super insulated, contemporary log home and would like the property to fit that. I do currently have a couple of tree service buddies that drop at my house when they are in the area or I show up to their job site with my dump trailer when I can so between that and friends that call me up with trees they had cut down I do have enough wood. I also recognize that energy costs could spike drastically in the future and free wood may not be as easy to come by. Being self sufficient is appealing for me. My other concern is safety. I would prefer a wooded lot not just for firewood but also to assure it has been unused for a period of time and less likely to be saturated with pesticides for the safety of our children. There is a childhood leukemia cancer cluster a few towns over from us and the current theory from the CDC is that pesticides from apple orchards are to blame. In fact a friend of mine has an auto body shop on the edge of the orchards and has told me the run off from them is bright orange in color. It might just be my tin foil hat coming out but I figure if I am not in a hurry I might as well be selective.
I thought I would post an update. It looks like we found 21 wooded acres with all nice hardwoods in an area we would like to be in and it looks like we will be able to make a deal with the owner. Forget CAD, you firewood hoarders are about to cost me some serious money!
Let us know when you close on the place. Okay? We want to know when you have more issues! (I bought a second piece of property about a year and a half ago now. You may have a few more "issues".) It will be all gooder though!
Will do! Did I mention the 1200ft driveway to get into the lot? My list of issues is about to grow...
I think ya'all got me waaaaay beat with your woodlots!! I own 0.10 acre (yes, 1/10th of an acre)! My taxes are $12k How ya doin!!! But I live surrounded by mostly woods(2000 acres of it)! Some county, some state and most federally owned. Sure am glad I'm not paying taxes on that land!!!
Those issues will be nothing compared to the energy created from doing what you're gonna do. Got to be in my top 3 all-time, best times of my life... buying a piece of land and building our home on it in 1978... and then keeping my very pregnant honey warm during that first winter with the woodstove... can remember it like it was yesterday. Have a blast haveissues ... sure do wish I could re-live it too...
Hey, Stinny, I built my home right around the same time (just pre-Tyvek!) and I couldn't agree with you more.
My drive is just a bit longer than that. Went quite a while before I had to put any money into maintaining it (except plowing): about 38 years, then I had to give in and get a few loads of gravel. Of course, Terry who plows for me and owns a trucking company took advantage of the fact that I wasn't home when he was delivering and leveling the gravel, and cut a whole bunch of saplings and removed a bunch of turns from the road, widened other areas. I couldn't believe the difference when I got home. I knew he didn't like plowing my road, but I didn't know he disliked it THAT much. The road won't be a problem, as long as it is fairly flat. And you don't drive on it too much when the frost is coming out of the ground.
