Which "trash tree" is your guilty pleasure for firewood?

A lot of people don't like red alder but I burn at least some every year. It grows all over the place, splits easy, dries pretty fast, diesnt have a lots of branches, and is generally clean. It also doesn't get too big so it's easy to work with. Most of the alder i get is under 18" diameter.
The main complaints are the short burn times and the amount of ash it leaves.
I had a USFS employee tell me this spring that most people with firewood permits don't want alder. It's still very common for people to burn it around here.

 

Tulip poplar - it grows like a weed and dries down to 20% or lower in 3 months after C/S/S around here. We have plenty and burn whatever nature gives us. Yes, it burns like paper, but with our super efficient PE stove it makes great shoulder season fires and is perfect for mixing in with the high BTU Oak, Black Birch, etc. As a bonus, I'm learning that it makes for a great substitute for softwood framing lumber and siding. For example, most of the framing lumber and all of the siding on this little sheep barn came from home grown and sawn tulip poplar.

 

Yep

 

Yep people don't realize that its more of a smoking wood. The coastal natives used it all the time still do, its a low temp thing so their fish doesnt cook and dry out by fire but by air.