cleanup after logging

[TADDR]

I am wondering if there is a market for the tops and other logs that were left over after having our 80 acres cut off.  the property got cut off before we aquired it and are wondering with all the stuff left over if there is a market for someone to come in and clean it up for pulpwood, mulch, etc(unsure)? i am not looking to make anything off it obviously, what can be taken out that is on the ground can be taken for free for their own profit. my benefit is for a lil better looking property. my neighbors next to me and 2 sides (each 80 acres) did the same this year so there would be opportunity there as well i would assume. can someone help me in the right direction or am i out of my mind?

most of the left overs are cedar, hemlock, and other hard wood...not exactly sure

[treefarmer87]

i usually put my tops into pulpwood

[Chuck White]

Quite a few business's around here are going to burning biomass for heat and domestic hot water.

You might check around your area and see if anyone is in the business of chipping, especially for free!

[John Mc]

While cleaning it up does look a bit better (depending on your point of view), leaving it on the ground, or in brush piles makes some great cover for wildlife. People may like the "park-like" look, but most wildlife doesn't.

It also returns nutrients to the soil: pound-for-pound, more nutrients are in the smaller branches and leaves than in the trunk, which is why a lot of the sustainable/green forestry organizations specify leaving anything 3 or 4" diameter or smaller to rot in the forest.

Something to think about, anyway.

BTW... welcome to the Forestry Forum, TADDR.

John Mc

[treefarmer87]

i agree with John Mc also when i was cutting on the farm i left tops for the quail and rabbits and deer to bed in

[fishpharmer]

TADDR, welcome to forestry forum, good question. 

You possibly could open it up for firewood collection.  I used to attain most of my firewood from areas like that before I had my own property.

[WDH]

At this point in most places, it is not financially viable to come onto a site after logging and chip/mulch the residue.  The equipment costs too much to operate for the amount of material that you are likely to recover in just a clean-up mode.  

However, there are some harvesting systems where there is a small chipper or tub grinder on the logging deck that can process that material into biomass while the logging is taking place.   That is more economical since the material is already being delivered to the loading deck while the sawlogs and pulpwood are being processed for loading.  That is about the only way to viably capture logging slash/residue on an economical basis on a conventional logging crew.

This may change as the biomass markets develop and significantly increase wood demand.  At least here that has not happened yet.

[Jamie_C]

As said before, leave the logging residue to decompose naturally it is natures own fertilizer and makes for pretty good wildlife habitat.

[SwampDonkey]

Also in these parts if that brush gets piled up in burn piles and not burnt your inviting the porcupines in to dine. And they will stick around a long time. The worst sites for them are old stroke delimbed sites with yards of slash in an endless chain roadside. The porkies move in and if there are some groves of older softwood like fir, they will strip them clean. And hardwoods get a good stripping to. I can remember thinning a couple sites and one or two of the guys would be cutting along. Then all the sudden, come face to face with a fur ball of quills in the process of denuding a tree they were about to snip off.  Rabbits know enough to crouch before the blade passes over the stumps. Can't say an ear or two never got clipped. What's real fun is the mother partridge flying up in your face as you approach their nest. Ok, gotta have a little drama you know.

Oh, the joys.

[chain]

We wait about a year or so before we go in and do some cleaning up around the log yards then, sowing down in grass-legume cover. Also, will cut down or girdle any cull-trees left standing unless they are den trees. Tops are generally left or cut/pulled back if they're hangers. The idea is to get most all waste-wood down low to the ground, it will decompose faster and provides good cover for wildlife. If you have lots of slash and waste is to develop a few strategic fire lanes, using a skidder or dozer to push out debris  from existing  trails. Important to get around quickly to halt a fire.

We're fortunate in this area, our logger takes tree length to 6" dia.small end. to the mill leaving very little tops, mostly limbs. At times, cull logs were hauled to chip mill.

[DirtForester]

"Eye of the beholder" 

I don't know what part of the country you are in, but as mentioned, it is very hard to clean up this residue after the sale is completed.  Whole tree harvests will leave less residue than a conventional or cut-to-length operation will but there is still a lot of slash left behind.

You may find someone willing to come in and get some firewood but depending on the area of the country, this may be a wasted effort.  I think if I were in your shoes, I would clear the areas you would like to use as trails, etc and pile the brush from these areas.  As mentioned, these piles are great wildlife habitat, especially if placed in an open area, with trees on an edge for raptors.

[wolfram]

In addition to returning nutrients, if you have a deer problem, leaving the slash spread around has been shown to help with regeneration.  Deer appear to move on to easier browse.  Gives your seedlings a chance to grow through the slash above their mouths.  Sometimes I think we would have no regen of certain species here if it were not for slash piles.

[Bobus2003]

Chipping the slash piles is becoming a big thing here.. Ship the chips to a Particle board facility, or a reload facility to ship it out west for Co-Gen

Otherwise every winter we Burn the piles.. I have burned a few hundred tons of tops slash this winter already, and have another 100 to burn if we get anymore snow