One of our neighbors is doing some logging on his land. The land is part of our snowmobile trail system. My wife and I went for a hike today and I took a bunch of pics. Cool curve on this tree: This tree was massive! There’s a few of these along the way. If this tree could talk.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Looks like he's doing some selective thinning. I need to do some here. Mostly pines though unfortunately.
You guys are good! He is doing some selective thinning. We hiked the land back in the warmer months with my neighbor who works in the timber industry. He said based on the smaller trees being taken down, it's selective thinning. And that is a "G" on the tree; Girdle cut. It's done to kill off the tree and give wildlife a place to live. There's another variation of that cut I've seen on another neighbors land. Instead of that plunge style cut around the tree, they'll use the saw to shave off the bark in about a 12" section around the entire trunks.
We're very fortunate to have access to that just short walk from our front door. I don't think there's a chance I could get that wood. However, our immediate neighbors behind us did some logging over the winter. I need to connect with them and talk "leftovers" that the loggers left behind.
It's very interesting to see that kind of cut used. Back in the early colonial days of New England "girdling" was the standard way of felling when clearing out farmland. Strip the bark around the tree and wait until it falls on its own.
No kidding? I never knew that. Amazing to think how those guys had to clear the land with nothing but hand saws and animal power. It must have taken ages. And then to move rocks of they were going to grow crops.
It's funny when you walk through the woods in New England. All these tall trees and seemingly endless stone walls crisscrossing the forest. My wife and I were walking the dog the other day on Mt. Archer in Lyme. Tons of tall maples and oaks, a few elms, cedars, birch and poplar. I told her to try to imagine the forest as farmland, as virtually none of these trees were standing in the 1700's, and stone walls separated the fields and livestock corrals. It's a fun thought exercise, as we sort of take these stone walls for granted. But they are a unique window into the past to see how property was laid out. And no, I can't even comprehend the amount of back-breaking labor involved! Start plowing your field, hit a rock, dig it up, throw it on a cart. When you have enough start building a wall. Repeat endlessly!
Gramps hand cleared farm in northern eastern VT farm. In old 8mm film he would walk out with a stogie and a box of dynamite
That should be uploaded to YouTube! It's wild what you can find walking around in the woods. We've stumbled upon a few old apple trees in the middle of the forest. I'm sure it wasn't that long ago that the land was clear and other things were growing. Nature doesn't take that long to reclaim things. There's an old ski area near our house and the rate things have grown in is pretty amazing.
