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North vs South

Started by Don P, November 06, 2001, 10:21:59 AM

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Ron Wenrich

Gordon

2 months ago, we had a hard time getting rid of our low grade.  No one wanted pallet cants or boards.  2 weeks ago, they cleaned out our yard.  Prices might be low, but stock is moving.  If you can move your stock, you keep your capital moving.

Prices have not moved, but lumber has moved.  There was a time that prices were OK, but no one was buying.  It reminds me what an egg farmer told me.  When they need eggs, prices are low; when they don't need eggs, prices are high.  The egg farmer figured out that he lost less money by not having chickens; so he retired.   :D

I don't see these markets improving anytime soon.  I see steady markets and steady demand.  A heavy, snowy winter could change that somewhat.  But, for the next 6 months, more of the same.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

woodmills1

only quoting what the firewood people who have dry left are getting right now.  tonight i heard one say he got paid 235/cord.  i only deliver a little and got 195 on my last. :D  10 years ago i was only firewood. woodmizer changed that.  :D now i am looking at lots of trees that all have tops.  ;D when times are bad it seems firewood prices go up.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Ron Scott

Yes, my timber sales are quite rigid. All selective cut northern hardwood sales have all merchantable wood to a 4" top removed. All wood is paid for in advance by lump sum sale.

Slash is looped and scattered to 4 feet high maximum horizontal with the ground. Remaining trees are not skinned or damaged. Future timber quality for the landowner remains to the best effort possible. Jobs are sometimes adjusted along the way depending upon specific logging equipment being used at the time.

I agree that slash is good and should be left on a sale area. It has benefits to help regeneration, protection against deer, replace soil nutrients etc. It just needs to be managed so these objectives are met in a timely manner.

The number of short wood operations in quality sawlog stands are increasing here and they are removing and marketing the pulpwood. That is if they want the timber. I don't have an unsold sale to date and many yet to prepare due to landowner wants.



~Ron

L. Wakefield


QuoteTom

snip.

A 10,000 acre co-op could support a small to medium sized sawmill.  All the logs and lumber would be processed locally instead of exported to another area.  

snip

-   Whoee, you guys have been busy while i was away. I went up to Rockland for the EMS conference (got my certification for ambulance operation- squashed a few cones, I did..)

and I come back, and here's this great thread!

   So one of the things that plagues the northern towns here in Maine is multinationals buying and then selling woodlands and also mills. If the mill closes down, a lot of people are SOL. It happens too often.

   As I quote you above, Ron, you are getting me thinking. I don't know if the co-op approach has been tried up here. Granted, your typical mill worker may not be the same as the landowner who can get into a co-op. BUT. Local people have a vested interest in keeping things going. And they've gotten the short end of the stick very, very often. I'll have to ask around. The mills I'm talking about in the north woods here are pulp and paper mills- at least the biggies that I've seen go under. Another thing I honestly don't know the answer to-yet- is how many sawmills specifically operate- or could operate- out of the same area. It's a very different industry.

   I didn't like the 'US/THEM' profile of operations with coalmining down in WV, and I don't much like it here for paper. Have they ever done a coal mine as a co-op? (I suspect that comes under the heading of 'a dumb question'..)

   lw
L. Wakefield, owner and operator of the beastly truck Heretik, that refuses to stay between the lines when parking

Ron Wenrich

The only co-ops that own mills are out in the Midwest.  Seems to have really caught on in Wisconsin.

In areas that don't have large, industrial woodlands, the industry must depend on the non-industrial woodland owner.  The best way to keep prices low is to keep them fragmented.  And the information coming from professionals gets to be so muddled that landowners do nothing for fear of doing the wrong thing or getting cheated.

But, if woodland owners would band together, they could dictate price (to some extent), mgmt schemes, and general forestry practices.  At a minimum, they could own their own foresters, and save commissions.  Plus there is an advantage to managing in bigger lots.

The community approach to forest mgmt is a win/win for an area.  It can offer a steady stream of fiber, if that is a goal.  Or it can use it in house.  It also offsets the need of having someones demands legislated to an area.

I have yet to see a local govt that is very well informed.  Their legislation is really messed up.  Legislating at the state level does even less good, and legislating from the federal level is the worst.

For more information on community forestry and co-ops, try this link:  http://www.forestrycenter.org/

Of course, you could pay me a modest consulting fee, and I would gladly help you set one up.   :D
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

L. Wakefield

   Thank you much for the reference. I will try to pass it along to SWOAM- the small woodlands owners alliance of Maine- I finally joined them this Oct after thinking about it for 3 years. My forestor had been instrumental in setting it up. I have yet to become active (in what lifetime?...) eh well- got this one life- I sure do use it hard- it's ^full^ tho if I gave up one of my favorite operating systems- procrastination- I could do more ::)

             lw
L. Wakefield, owner and operator of the beastly truck Heretik, that refuses to stay between the lines when parking

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