Can anyone recommend a forester in the Alger, MI area. Alger is about 15 miles south of West Branch where M-33 meets I-75.
Here's the situation. My brothers need a second opinion on an 80 acre parcel that's about 80% wooded. The soil is very sandy and close to the water table. Much of the land is 1-2 ft. hummocks and would be tough on equipment. The place hasn't been logged in over 50 years, but the productivity is very low. There's red pine, scotch pine, aspen, red maple, green ash, jack pine and black oak (in order of decreasing quantity), but most of it looks "open grown". Due to the low productivity, the forester who looked at it is "on the fence" about having a sale because he has to drive so far for so little gain and because it might take a long time for my brothers' objectives to be met. I don't have a problem with that, but it probably means that it wouldn't be worth it for any forester to come from more than one hour away.
My brothers want to improve the deer and turkey hunting. They probably won't want to lose any of the oaks, because they need the acorns, but there isn't that much oak. There's little food at deer height and the woods have an open feel. They would like to get strong aspen and red maple regeneration, but the sandy soil won't hold water or fertilizer. Neither the first forester nor I know what the chip market is like in that area, but I'm guessing it's about equally far from the nearest cogens at maybe 90-110 miles. The scotch pine really needs to come out so it won't take over.
Any recommendations?
Cedar Eater
