http://www.9news.com/story/money/2014/11/24/firewood-shortage-colorado/19473267/ It blames the floods from fall 2013 for ruining too much wood, though I know there is still alot of beetle kill that was not contaminated from flood waters but it is a much longer drive ($$ fuel, time on road). Interesting.
"One theory they have is chopping wood doesn't pay a lot so companies aren't finding enough help, therefore there's less wood." Maybe the new immigration "executive order" should help the cheap labor market , well maybe not, some will be getting some federal tax money ,financial aid now, free $$$. "One worker with Fred Bustamante Wood Products in Boulder County says he believes the shortage of pine has to do with the shortage of loggers." We here know It's hard work cutting wood, should pay more $$, that would help reduce the shortage of loggers. Price of wood goes up but the some of the increase in the price would go to those doing the hard work to process the wood, "The owner attributes some of the shortage to trees that are unusable because they were compromised in the 2013 floods and are considered contaminated." Use Stihl RM chain for cutting dirty wood & split/ stack & season it a year "A full cord is $250 this year, compared to the $220 they've been charging in years past." Price should go up, the pay for woodcutters should go up. I'm not gonna cut wood for minimum wage! I do it for much less a full month of 10 - 12 hour days for 8 cords before expenses, Estimate: $2,000 for 8 cord, minus $500 for expenses, 300 hours to CSS $1500/300, $5.00 per hour. I DEMAND A RAISE ! LOL
And the perils of the profession. I assume Fred is one of the brothers? although the father could still be around. They lost a son to a piece of machinery in the 1970's, heartbreaking.
Exactly . 15% hazard pay I figure $20.00 an hour for the minimum , 15% increase when operating a saw & another 20% if felling Makes you think eh? At $250 /cord, pretty cheap wood. IMO
Enlighten me...contaminated. With what, botulism, ebola, herpes? Will it not burn er what???? Or is it just that they are using too much medicinal green leaf to have the ambition to cut something down with leaves on it....pass the Cheetos.
I can't say for certain, maybe someone can elaborate. I assumed because raw sewage had soaked into the logs? And that is an excellent question, guess it could be dangerous to handle? but in CO and being mostly pine it should dry quickly.
The raw sewage thing seems a bit extreme to cause a statewide wood shortage, I assumed log jams from flooded rivers. I would assume dogs , shrews, mice, & birds visit everyones wood pile & leave evidence. And I don't eat my firewood Anyway , Dung burgers burn fine (burning dung): LOL
Yea " You burn what you got " (" wood or not ") LOL I just looked up "burning dung" & grabbed a picture.
remind me to pass on dinner if i ever come for a visit. j/k its fairly common in other parts of the world to burn dung.
Ok, my input as follows- Contaminated wood- guy is really reaching there, don't know where he pulled that one out of. It's a false assumption, period. Lack of wood- sure, but really in accessible areas only. There's thousands if not millions of acres of Beetle-Kill all over the place, ready for the harvesting. But..... You can't get to it, and bring it out unless you haul 1 round at a time, on a back pack. Sounds funny but the terrain in not exactly "level" around here. For the last few years the pro-loggers have cleared out vast areas, and that all went to mills and pellet plants. It was more cost effective for them to load trucks and drop off at a mill, than deliver to an obscure destination (my yard). The accessible areas are mostly on N.F. roads, and they clear up to about a 20 deg. angle. We get to deal with the rest. I have access to a nice bit of land around here, but it's 25-35 pitch slopes, so it ..uh..sucks to get anything out of there. If I could figure out a way to bring home the dead-standing I walk through in one day of hunting, I'd be set for life.
Another thing- There has been a large push-back against clearing out the dead-standing, 'cause it leaves large sections of the hill sides barren and ugly. Yet they're all concerned about fire mitigation. I don't get the mindset of a tree hugger. They really are -" and to prove my point.......oooo look, a squirrel!.." a special kind of stupid.
Here, ATVs are allowed in the cutting area, Not near as bad as what you describe , but , by no means level. Have elk hunted in NE Oregon , in the lodge pole thickets. Thousands of dead standing , bent standing & down trees. Giant pixie stick arena, walking thru it is an experience, add snow , almost impossible to say the least. Elk run thru it at full speed. And the size of some of the mule deer, 10 , 12 pointers knowing deer season is over Standing 100 yards away looking at you No idea how to salvage it, but work uphill from the truck.
Dave, I hear ya' about ATV access, but they've closed off a lot of the FS access roads to motorized traffic. We're fighting back, but the smelly hippie, dreadlock sporting tree huggers have more time on their hands than us folks that work, so they get more face time in the council meetings it seems. Like I said, we're working on it.
