Starting new work area

[Maineloggerkid]

THe snow is starting to settle in our area to the point that I can get back in the woods with my tractor, but I have one issue. I am working on my own land, which is 170+ acres. THe problem is that I am moving to a new area of the property and need to assess how much wood is there. I know htat it is enough to keep me busy this summer until college starts, but I need to get a realistic idea of what Im looking at, so as not to "over-harvest" the land, if you will. I dont really have the money to hire a forester because I have  been out of work for the past 4 months, and still have to pay payments on my machine, and my Instructor at my logging course at school hasn't been all that helpful because I don't think he really understands what I am asking him.

SO, can anyone give me some ideas on what my dad and I can do to get a figure on board foootage or truckload volume???

[ID4ster]

You need to do some timber cruising. The easiest way is to go through that stand of timber on a systematic basis and take a series of fixed plots. If you go through the area on a 5 chain by 2 chain grid you'll be averaging a plot per acre. If you feel that you need more than tighten it to a 2&1/2 chain by 2 chain grid. Use a fixed plot which means that you establish a plot center and then take a circular plot from that point. Depending on how thick the trees are you can determine how big  plot you want. (1/10th ac, 1/5th ac, 1/4 ac) I'd probably use a 10th acre plot which has a radius of 37.2 feet. Count and tally all the trees inside that circle and determine which ones you'd leave and which ones you'd cut. You'll also need to establish, on the trees that you'd take out, what their volume is. The easiest way would be to use a Biltmore stick to determine DBH and # of logs and then you can go to a cruise program and plug the figures in to determine gross volume. Or you can simply take the tree count per plot and use that along with your experience to determine if that is enough volume to keep you going. With a 10th acre plot you would take the number of cut tally trees per plot, average them, multiply by 10 to get the average # of trees per acre that you'll be taking out and then multiply that by the # of acres in the stand to determine how many stems you'll be removing. If you determine the average board foot per stem that would give you a rough calculation of how much volume you'd be removing. If you calculate the total volume per plot than you can determine what percentage that you are planning on removing and then adjust your cutting regime accordingly. It takes a little work but it can be done in a rough way to give you the information that you seek. Good luck, have fun, cruise before the black flies come out.

[Maineloggerkid]

ID, thanks

I have already started cruising, and I like what I see. THe timber growth is pretty thick in some ares, so I think I will be able to pull out quite a bit of wood.

To do a fixed plot you need a really evenly growing plot don't you, because I would tend to think that it would throw the figures off if it wasn't an even density. THere is another type of plot you can use, but that s seemed quite confusing, the way it was explained to me.

[Ron Scott]

Do you have a local Conservation District Forester or DNR Service Forester that may be able to assit you at no charge? What type of timber stand do you have?

[Maineloggerkid]

Ron,

 About the only one that could help me at no charge is a freind that is also a logger, but he uses a forestor. I will have to talk to him, thanks for the suggestion.

 Our lot is mixed one. We have Spruce, Fir, Cedar, Poplar, Pine, a little hardwood, and not enough hemlock to bother with.

[Ron Scott]

Quite a mixture. Do you have markets for the diversity of species and products?

[Maineloggerkid]

I have a buyer hat has a market for all of these species and more. HE has quite a market to fill, as he keeps four yards across the state, and even exports out of the country.

I cut a load of cedar for him this summer that went to China on a container ship

[stonebroke]

Just remember. cut the worst save the best. Words to live by.


Stonebroke

[Maineloggerkid]

So true....So true

[stonebroke]

See, You already have some experience, That is what you need to determine what trees to take and what to leave. And you will learn something new on every job you do.

Stonebroke

[Maineloggerkid]

I know what trees to take and leave, but I'm still new at the volume estimating. I am only 17, you know.

[ID4ster]

If your timber stand varies dramatically then you would split the stand and cruise each section seperately, otherwise you just take enough plots so that variability in the stand evens out meaning that you get a nice Bell curve when you calculate the variability. Variability is something you would have to deal with no matter if you are using a fixed or variable plot cruise. If your stand is really variable than you will need to take more plots. If its like the plantations in Texas you can take one plot every 20-30 acres. If all of one species is concentrated in one area than you might want to measure enough of those trees to determine the volume per tree and then calculate the area that they are in so that you don't commute a few trees over the entire acreage where they aren't growing. The other type of variability that you might have to deal with is radically different age classes or sizes within one species. There are ways of dealing with that also but the stand you mentioned sounds like its pretty even aged so that variability shouldn't be a problem.

[ID4ster]

The toolbox here on this site can help you determine the gross volume per tree as long as you supply the measurements that I've outlined. Have fun you'll never learn at an earlier age.

[Quebecnewf]

 oh  to be 17 and getting into forestry and logging and sawmilling.


when i was 17 i was not into anything other than school and maybe trouble

you have time on your side

Quebecnewf

[zackman1801]

not sure really how accurate they are but some scalling sticks have small marks on the side so when you stand a certain ammount of feet away and hold it just far enough away from your face it shows you what your looking at with a tree. but there are soo many variables in that you could easily go wrong and fast.

BTW im in maine too where are you located?

[thecfarm]

Another member from Maine.Welcome to the forum.Both of you update your profile to show where you are from.We'll out number them grits lovers yet.    

zackman1801,do you have a sawmill?

[Maineloggerkid]

I reside in the little town of Kingman.

[mad dog]

                                                                                                                                                   Call the maine forest service,ask them about woodwise,they will be helpfull

[Deadwood]

I have always had good luck with the Maine Forest Service too,showing up within a week of when I called them/emailed them.

That being said, for what you are doing, I don't see a need for a forester or the Forest Service. I live in Maine too,so I know a few hard and fast rules that will get you by.

In a decent sized spruce, you can get about 3 good sized logs, with the rest going for pulp...In a hemlock, you can get about 2. Pine about 4 (scaled but not graded)

It takes about 100 logs to make a tri-axle load of wood (5500 bf)

Firewood or hardwood pulp equals about 10 trees to the cord

Fir and small hemlock...about 18-20 trees per cord

With my tractor I get 3 twitches per hours at about 3/4 of a cord per hour (short twitch to yard)

If you take the numbers I have given you here, you should be able to cruise the woodlot (on snowshoes right now  ) and just count the trees you think you will take. You can get a pretty good idea of what you will be harvesting by these numbers.

With thickly wooded areas, its often hard to judge how much wood is actually available to cut.  Most of the time as you open these areas up, you "find" way more wood then you thought. Last year I harvested what was pretty much just a clump of good sized Spruce. The more I cut this clump, the more wood I realized was there. In a few hours time I cut 1500 bf feet and there is still more there! I figured 5 or six trees at most, but the more I cut, the more I found!

Sometimes though, if the woodlot is thickly wooded with small firs or whatnot, you end up with less wood then you thought. You also end up harvesting at a much slower rate, because with a tractor, you have to cut better roads (versus driving over small stuff with a skidder) and all this takes extra time and effort.

For what it is worth, I am quite similar to you. I started cutting wood in high school on my family's property and still harvest wood to this day. I have pretty much always used a tractor too. Its a little more challenging though because with a skidder, you can power your way out of difficult spots. With a tractor you really have to plan your harvests. Everything from good twitch roads, to how you are going to fell the tree. One hang-up with a skidder and you just pull it down. With a tractor fussing around with that one tree can eat up a lot of time.

My advice is to plan a good landing, plan a good, safe set of roads , take your time felling, and land the trees in the best possible spot for twitching. If you do those things well, you will save yourself a lot of grief on the other aspects of logging.

[Maineloggerkid]

Deadwood,

Last summer I cut wood, and I had the EXACT same productivity as you. 3-4 twitches per our at 3/4 of a cord per twitch. I think I have decided to cut cedar and poplar as soon as the snow settles a little more   because I have an abundance of this right next to the yard to get me through until warm ,dry, weather. I just talked to my buyer, and they are taking tree-length cedar and poplar at the lag yard 2 miles from my house, which means one thing....LOW TRUCKING COST