When reviewing a receipt from a mill, how is diameter measured? If it says 12" for instance, should I assume that is the full diameter or some usable portion of it they can turn into product? We're doing a selective cut and I'm trying to figure out what should actually be taken to maximize the long term value of the stand. Our logger is a long term friend of the family and i have absolutely no concerns that he is doing right by us...just trying to make sure we are doing right by us in what we ask him to do. Thanks in advance for your insights.
Logs are graded/measured at the smaller end inside the bark. The mill saws in a straight line, anything outside of the narrowest end is sawed off. You probably want a Biltmore/grading stick. Something like this. Tree and Log Scale Stick If you want to maximize your stand for the long run and you are just starting to actively manage you should probably be looking at a lot pulp wood and firewood on the landing and not much else. If you don't cut the pulp and firewood now they will still be pulp wood and firewood in 20 years. Get the low value stuff out of the way so the money logs can grow.
Thanks, that is exactly what it looks like on the receipts. The property was high graded in the early 90s before I owned the land. I did a cut 9 years ago that was almost exclusively pulp and firewood. This one is intended to be as well. However, this needs to be somewhat balanced with how rugged the land is along with water moving through it. So, I also want to minimize how many times each section gets torn up as the primary use of the property is recreational. 80% of what has gone out so far is pulp and firewood. The majority of logs out have been Grade 1&2 with only a handful of Prime/Select. The only thing that I am a little concerned about is 95% of the logs are in the 11-14" diameter range with only a few in the high teens. Seems like any of the higher end logs should stand until they are in the high teens?
Talk with a state forester or private one. That sounds like mostly immature trees. Might stand to wait 5 more years.
Great advice and I have. We are on that plan and now I am just doing the sanity check after reviewing the first set of receipts. There are a lot of reasons for the smaller trees to come out because of how it was high graded but I am concerned about the ratio. I'm taking a drive up there this weekend to confirm facts on the ground match the plan and make sure the execution of the plan is what we want for the long run - improvement of the stand and recreational use. There is a lot of small beech that gets that disease and will only ever be firewood. But that will have to wait for me to have time.
So long as the small tees are being removed to make space for other adjacent quality trees to grow you should be good. There are bounds to that. You can't thin beyond a certain point. The beech disease is unfortunate. I have a significant amount of beech also. It is a hard tree to get rid of as it sprouts up from roots. Cut one down, let the sun hit the ground and 5 years later you have a thicket of beech saplings.
The beech disease isn't the end of the world as it may very well be my favorite firewood. The problem is when you don't get to it and they become monsters that cover a quarter acre. I loathe balsam for the same reason. The good stuff got cut out 25 years ago, balsam took over and it will be a monumental challenge to reverse it.
