Forestry - Managing the family property

All the stuff I want dead (buckeye, honeysuckle, and multiflora rose) is leafing out now. All I see is work when I look at the woods.

I can believe how many buckeye trees I missed.

 

I got all of my NRCS contracts completed (and paid) since I was last here. A nice payday plus the relatively small stumpage from my forester. It was only a improvement cut ("thinning for wildlife and forest improvement") on 30 acres that was $616/ac from nrcs with 4 patch cuts totalling to 5ac. @ $794/ac.
That with the 4ac @$891/ac. of mulching and the 2 water crossings thats basically rip rap on fabric and some approach roads to them it all added up to just under $43k. with the stumpage @ $4500.
Don't take this as bragging but as encouragement to explore these programs. Besides some slash cleanup that's to be expected along the skid paths we're very happy with the results and look forward to seeing the results of this work in regrowth in the patch cuts and the "release" of the remaining trees in the 30ac thinning.
I'm not too hopeful for more govt participation as most of the staff was gone with my last visit to their office a month ago. (DOGE)
That's probably a correction that's long overdue.
This was all low grade logs, ie; firewood, hw pulp, sw pulp and mat logs. I made a deal with them that I'd clean up the landing for 50 pretty nice hemlock logs that I'll saw into lumber. It was a small, young 2 man logging outfit that had a fair bit of equipment problems and they finished when everything was well covered with snow and frozen to the ground and my excavator was on the property and would clean it up better than a skider.

 

Kind of interesting that you got $43k from the gov programs, but yet say it was long overdue to cut the staff that administers said programs.....

 

Cut, rein in or revaluate and adjust, they spend too much money and it's just about too late for a correction.
This process for my work was started well over 2 years ago
FWIW.