Waving goodbye to a piece of Americana — the lumberjack

Waving goodbye to a piece of Americana — the lumberjack

In forested parts of the country, the lumberjack is an endangered species. As markets for forest products change and high-tech machinery replaces chain saws, which themselves replaced the ax, a generations-old way of life is disappearing.

“It’s dangerous, it’s hard to make a living and everybody hates you,” Snyder said of logging. “Who’s signing up for that?”

 

We don't hate them! Maybe we need to be more vocal than the haters.

 

http://lumberjackday.net/celebrate/about/

 

Whenever a so called "environmentalist" talks about the ills of logging and how bad it is, I ask them how they manage without using TP to wipe their A$$ after doing their business. When I only get a quizzical look in return, I tell them that they can thank a logger and the forest products industry for the luxury they are afforded of using soft cushiony paper to wipe their A$$ instead of using their bare left hand like some cultures use..

 

Throwback Thursday - McCulloch Super Pro 125,Coast Redwood somewhere in Northern California or Southern Oregon mid-late 1970's.

 

I guess the printers and copiers just create the paper put of thin air too! And their , and their checks, and their post its, envelopes, etc...

 

I always ask these idiots "Do you use plastic bags for TP? Do you own any books,newspapers or magazines or are you too stupid to read them? Do you live in a wood framed building and/or own any wooden furniture?"

 

Lumbersexuals are making the look in style again though.

Thank god for that.

 

The vast majority of those twerps couldn't even lift an axe,much less know how to use it.The thought of any manual labor is beneath them.

 

I agree.

 

I love driving around the country looking at trees, the lakes, all of nature really and at the same time enjoy dropping trees and processing firewood. I used to love squirrel hunting walking through the big mature hardwoods we "used" to have around here. Now, everything seems to get logged about the time a woods gets mature enough to enjoy it, but I also understand that there is an age were the tree starts going the other way as value for lumber and we need lumber. So I think the loggers, environmentalists, corp. and government all have their place and are necessary. The hard part seems everybody understanding each other and working together for the common good. On a side note, my kids went out to the pacific coast on vacation and seen the majestic coast redwoods. As I understand it(could be wrong) if it wasn't for the private groups like the Sierra Clubs and philanthropy individuals like the Rockefellers and left to the timber corp. there probably wouldn't be any old growth(virgin) redwoods left. And that would be a shame.

 

Hickorynut , you are absolutely 100% correct about the only reason that the old growth majestic redwoods and sequoia trees are still there. John Muir, Roosevelt, and conservation clubs and those like them are reasons why we have these trees.

Anyone that has not seen these trees in person needs to.

It's a very humbling experience to be in their presence.

Some trees you hug, some you let heat your family.

 

I plan on visiting them later this Fall if everything works out.

 

That's why crap like this pizzes me off.

This is on my family's land. My parents sold the house and one part of the original full lot that I lived on from 7 until college. The woods is not the new homeowners.

They just had to pick one of the healthy beech trees. This tree's been around a lot longer than SD and AM will be a couple.

Yes, they'll be hearing about this.

 

ok, I've met the man, dad's camp is less than 10 miles from Hardwick.. Unfortunately Vermont has a certain group of non natives that come up from cities and tell old timers how to live. Fact 100 years ago Vermont was 12% forested not over 60%. As farms have given way to urban area and trees grow on old crop land. more over Rockefeller (lawrence) owned half of town of Woodstock before turning it into national park. The logging industry is hard. and will change with the times as mechanics used to fix cars with wrenches and timing guns and now need 6000 dollar computers to tell them what's wrong... The other guy that needs recognition is president Roosevelt who put so much into national parks! OK I got to stop now so this doesn't get political.

 

Here's another aspect. I think the land granted state universities - Forestry Professors need to speak up. They have the data to support the concept that timber is a crop. It is not like iron ore or copper that once it is used it is used. We can and do regenerate the forest, albeit the crop is 50 to 100 years in the making but it is still a crop.
I am a member of the Builders Association and a few years back we had a Forestry Professor from the University of Minnesota give a great presentation on the "net timber usage". In other words are we using timber at a faster rate than we are regrowing it? Hard statistical data that the United States is even. We are not cutting more than we are replenishing. Canada is a plus and Mexico is a minus, meaning Canada is replenishing their forest at a higher rate than they are cutting it.
The professor did also suggest that the forest size and structure is changing. Eventually, every tree will die as do all living things. Harvesting a tree near its maximum life will help the next generation of trees to get a great start.
Afterwards, I asked the Professor if he speaks to groups often? he said, yeah but to only those that want the truth.
Stay warm gang!

 

Things are changing stuckinthemuck , but up here in our neck of the woods it's still hanging in there. There is lots of forestry competition at the fairs, especially Deerfield and Fryeburg. My son was in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) as was I as teen, and he competed in the forestry skills at Deerfield. As you know there is also a lot of logging/processing/c/s equiptment there as well. There problem is enviromental folks have gone wacky to the extreme, you know, walking is the leading cause of earthworm mortality. Education of our youth and those rational adults who can think for themselves when presented with facts, that, is our future. That's part of why we're all here at FHC. P.S. I hugged it before I cut it.

 

hehehe... it's in the back window of my truck. I did it just to wind up my sister, the tree hugger.