Timber fire!
Your picture compared to what IBH83 has are very different...his cedars were completely full grown and useless in a timber setting....your picture is showing "younger" trees in an open "prairie" type setting.....Looks great! You mentioned running a fire through there, how long do you recommend waiting for that?
My Dad and I cut some cedars out of a large cedar thicket and it has some native grasses where sunlight currently hits the soil. We left them lay and were curious how long to wait to introduce fire. We are planning to continue to thin them out over time.
Looks great! You mentioned running a fire through there, how long do you recommend waiting for that?
1) I would get Cost share. It’s around $130 net per acre u get back.My Dad owns about 40 acres and I'd guess only 20 acres would be eligible (the rest consists of cedars). We are more interested in wildlife habitat improvement than logging but we will want to free up walnuts where applicable. We're looking to free up walnuts, open up the canopy a bit for oak regeneration, and remove some less desirable species.
A few questions for you guys with some experience with TSI:
1 - cost sharing - does this make sense to do on small properties? We just met with a DNR forester which helped but do you mark and cut yourself, hire someone, or a combo of both? And for tax purposes, is this considered income?
2 - can you spray stumps in the winter? We have just a few spots of black locust, honey suckle, and autumn olive that we want to remove and I know herbicide needs to be applied to the stump but can that be done this time of year or does that need to be applied in the growing months?
3 - what is a rough guess on how many acres a "novice" can cut in a day?
But I would not worry at all about the amount time...the longer more calculated you are, the better chance you make it home that night...no two ways about it, operating a chainsaw for hours on end with large trees is very dangerous, make sure you have proper protective gear and analyze every cut before you make it
I TSI'd my parents old farm a couple years ago. There was only about 5-6 acres of hardwood timber. The forester came out, made a plan, and then even came back and we marked trees together. I then cut and submitted an "invoice" and received payment.
The particular forester I was dealing with had a great understanding of timber but also had wildlife in mind which is a great combo for what you are doing.
The good thing about having a forester out there to mark the trees, when I was done they typically come and inspect but for us he just said "did you cut the trees we marked", yes...ok Ill sign off on it. Really smooth deal all around.
I am by no means a professional in the timber but I have cut quite a few trees in my life, I would agree with skip, 3-5 acres is easily doable in a day. Also depends if you are hinging, felling, or girdling...all of those take different amounts of time.
But I would not worry at all about the amount time...the longer more calculated you are, the better chance you make it home that night...no two ways about it, operating a chainsaw for hours on end with large trees is very dangerous, make sure you have proper protective gear and analyze every cut before you make it
You do all of the paperwork etc through your county farm service office. Basically just like signing up for CRP etc.Can you go more into detail on how cost share works? I have contacted my forester, just need to arrange a time to meet and look the property over. When you say you submitted an invoice and received payment, what do you mean by that? So they come out, mark trees etc and you do the work or hire the work done and then give the forester an invoice and you get a check? What all can you put on your invoice?
I am not sure what part of the state you are in but I think they paid 130$/ac for the TSI. So after he created the plan i think it was 5 acres total. If it remember right they would pay up to 6-700$ total at 50% cost share. So because I did the work I created an invoice that read the cost was $1200 so that way they would pay the full amount.Can you go more into detail on how cost share works? I have contacted my forester, just need to arrange a time to meet and look the property over. When you say you submitted an invoice and received payment, what do you mean by that? So they come out, mark trees etc and you do the work or hire the work done and then give the forester an invoice and you get a check? What all can you put on your invoice?
Been using the cool sunny weekends to clear quite a few mature cedars lately. Releasing the surrounding oaks and opening up this hillside to sunlight.
The bulk of the large cedars are 0-40 yards in from the field edge. This hillside rolls down from the field making quite a few leeward bedding opportunities as well. Dropping parallel to the hillside aids in leeward bedding as well. The growth should explode on this edge, making stand access even cleaner to the opposite side of the field!
Some are quite large, my foot here for reference.. The cedar just past this one is also perfect example of what we're removing. No cover in the bottom 4'-6' range creates a "biological desert" for most wildlife, with little growing under its shade canopy..
The surrounding oaks rejoicing. Large cedars like these on the ground creates great short term cover and browse, gets sunlight to the forest floor for an explosion of growth and of course releases the more beneficial oaks. Wildlife and timber value both, can't beat that!