Fabtek cut-to-length timber harvester at work behind my house.
FT 153 with FT 240 dangle processing head - Rod Lampe of Westminster VT. Rottne 6WD rapid forwarder - Jason Franklin. Chainsaw - Mike King
Elysian Hills Tree Farm, www.ElysianHillsFarm.com
Music - Galaxy, by Fear Of Ducks, from PaganFest 2007 www.FearOfDucks.com
WOODLOT TIPS
SPRING 2010 Newsletter
WOODLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION
11 University Way, Suite 4
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Harvest at Elysian Hills
By Bill Schmidt, former WOA president
In the spring of 2009 a harvest of an almost five-acre red pine plantation and some white pine in adjacent stands occurred. The red pine were planted with white pine in the plantation in 1965. Most of the white pine, which weren't growing well, were harvested in 1980-81. The goal for the remaining red pine was to produce quality saw logs. The red pine continued to grow well, but it became apparent about six years ago that even with the removal of the white pine, the heavy stocking was causing a decline in diameter and crown size. It was obvious that a serious thinning was in order.
At the same time a major invasives problem was noted, especially in the southern third of the stand. Buckthorn were prevalent along with some honeysuckle and barberry. Our forester recommended that the thinning be held off until the invasives were under control; the opening of the stand to more sunlight would exacerbate the spread of invasives even more.
In September and October of the next four years, effort was put into controlling the invasives by hand pulling the smaller buckthorn and by foliar and cut stump spraying the bigger buckthorn, barberry and honeysuckle. These efforts, paid for in part with a WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) grant, were 75-90 percent successful each year, with the understanding that the buckthorn in particular would never be totally eliminated. This is so because of the nature of buckthorn itself (my experience) and the proximity of a great deal of well established buckthorn on a neighboring property.
A decision was made to proceed with the thinning with the goal of harvesting at least half of the trees in the stand. In talking with our then forester about how this harvest would proceed and what the remaining stand would be like, the conclusion was reached that we would be better off to skip a thinning and instead harvest the entire stand. Red pine prices seemed reasonable given the sorry timber market, so a contract was drafted and Jack Bell, of Long View Forest Contracting, was shown the stand along with parts of adjacent white pine stands that might be included in a harvest. We let neighbors know that a harvest was in the works, and support was secured from the two neighbors who owned the access road to the red pine stand. In early April a contract with Long View was signed, and immediately thereafter a landing area was decided upon and improvements to the access road (a former town road) were made. The improvements included ditching and the placement of a temporary bridge over a seasonal stream.
The harvest then began and was carried out over about a six week period by logger Rod Lampe with his Harvester. Some of the white pine were felled with a chainsaw, being in a stand where special care needed to be taken be save as many young white pine (that had regenerated from an earlier shelterwood cut) as possible. The logs throughout the harvest area were removed by a forwarder and stacked on Elysian Hills land along a town trail. The work was machine intensive and not man-labor intensive.
The harvest went smoothly and quickly. The site and plantation were ideal for Rod's machine. He was able to cut each red pine to length, limb it, and stack it in less than two minutes, or so it seemed. These were trees 10-12" dbh, some even larger. With the crowns being as small as they were and the machine doing what it was designed to do, the resulting slash was minimal.
There were also four cords of hardwood and 200 tons of white pine pulp. The red pine went to a Canadian mill. Its value after the logging and trucking was $40 a thousand and the white pine $80 a thousand, making it a minimally profitable venture given the 35 years of the plantation's life and the management work and time that went into it.
We're now looking forward to the stand's regeneration. With white pine on the north, east and west borders and the remaining white pine near the stand's center, it's likely that white pine will take hold. This past year was also a good seed year for white pine. The site is clean and manageable enough to control any new buckthorn or other invasives that appear. This is something I did not envision when the harvest was first thought of and planned.
I have to confess that I'm still getting used to the openness in the area harvested. The views from the log roads and trails that pass by it are considerably different!