I have 70 acres in North Carolina piedmont region. About 20 acres looks to have been clear cut maybe 15 years ago. There are way too many trees in this area and i want to thin it out to let light in and put some groceries on the ground as well as provide some bedding areas. What are some good rules of thumb as i go in and take out trees. Species to keep, species to remove, minimum spacing between trees, etc. Thanks!
15 year old cutover
- Thread starter wrboone
- Start date
Thank you. 60% is more than i thought so that is good to know. The elevation is a consistent slope facing east, maybe averaging 15-20%. There are pines, oaks, maples, poplars, elm, birch, black locust, hickory, etc. There are small areas that are exclusively pine or poplar. In order to reach the 60%, would it be safe to say that the low hanging fruit would be to clear these pockets of pine and poplar out, saving maybe 10% for diversity. And then where i come across a good specimen oak to clear everything around it for say a thirty foot radius?
Brian662
5 year old buck +
I think you can get by with less than 60% but an east facing makes that a bit more difficult.
Sounds like you have a nice mix of hard and soft wood trees. You may consider thinning it out like you mentioned and run a fire through every few years to keep the regen in early succession stage. Releasing oak trees is always a good thing, might spend this fall going through to figure out which oaks are the better acorn producers and mark them. It's not always the beautiful oaks that drop the most acorns.
Yes ive heard and noticed that about the oaks. I do plan to use fire once i get the stand whittled down. Im wondering how mature to the trees need to be before a fire would not kill them? I would imagine it to vary by species...is there a good resource for that kind of question?
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Yes, there are some great podcasts from the "deer university" where they talk fire at different points during growing or dormant season, how plants respond and what time is best to kill or save mid story trees. I'll find the link
Depending on how many white oak trees you have (and especially if you don't have many), I would not cut a WO tree until I watch it for at least 3 years and - for my money - far better to collect info/data for 5 yrs before selecting any to cut. But hey, that's just my approach and you know what they say about opinions. L:et me explain my rationale ... you may have a tree that fruits only one year out of five and this year it is loaded. Another tree may throw acorns 3 out of 5 years and this is a down year with no acorns. The removal of which tree would be the wiser choice?
Yes number 69, of course! I just started listening to these last week and have made through a dozen or so. Ill skip to my favorite number for this info.
I think is a better safe than sorry approach. Honestly with the number of oaks i have, i could probly just not cut any for a while and stay busy with the no-brainer culls. Its a lot of work and im limited to about five hours of labor per week.
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
You can get a ton of work done in that amount of time. I did a basal bark spraying throughout about 22 acres this year targeting junk and invasives. I went through 5 backpack sprayer fulls in 3 days. I used an EQIP program through the NRCS, and it paid really well. I made money off the deal that I can use to put back into more habitat work.
Had not heard of that. Im on the EQIP - North Carolina web page now. Im really ignorant about this, but to tell you the truth my spidey senses are going off. How much of this is just a way for big gubment to get in my business and dictate what i do on my land? Sorry, i think COVID gave me PTSD. Ill have to do some more research, thank you for the suggestion!
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
I've been really pleased with the entire process. Maybe it's just the people in the local office, I don't know, but they've been out of their way helpful. I've done pollinator plantings and forest stand improvement and controlling invasives. For FSI, you want to have what they call a CAP-FM done. It basically puts you working with a forester (you can choose and interview different ones they work with). They're on a list called TSPs (technical service providers). Find one you like, explaining what your goals are for wildlife, and they do a forest management plan. You pay for that, but NRCS pays you back for it. Just make sure those amounts are pretty close to even. Then, from that plan, you can do programs like below to meet your goals and objectives. These are just a couple I pulled from the NC EQIP payment schedules and practices. Those amounts are per acre below. As you can see, the money is pretty good!
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
I wanted to add to my post above, those 2 programs I took screenshots of are bedding thickets (patch clearcuts) and opening the canopy to promote browse, oak regen, and additional cover.
Well, that is exactly what im trying to do....and i would get paid to do it while receiving professional help...and if a lot of what everyone here seems to be trying to do is included in some form as well, why isnt this what everyone is doing...or maybe they are! Im just a fawn with promise here!
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
It does add to the time. Instead of doing it right now, you have to get enrolled, accepted, and then do the process. It can set you back a year or so. But, for me, it was worth it since I had no plans to turn around and sell in a couple years. The programs do have contract dates, but they're not like CRP. These EQIP contracts are one time up to 10 years. Mine have been 3 and 5 year contract end dates. I found it helpful because it paid for itself plus some.
I see. Well im not in that big of a hurry. What is CRP? Sorry, im looking for the dictionary on here and cant find it. I suppose the only risk would be in the time invested in the application process if i were to be rejected. I wonder what the likelihood is of acceptance for me and my property, that is, what is the criteria matrix for evaluation? Am i correct to say that after the contract is up, there is ZERO interest in my property for the program, notwithstanding another subsequent voluntary contract?
BenAllgood
5 year old buck +
CRP stands for Conservation Reserve Program. Typically, it's taking ground out of production ag and putting it into a mix of NWSG and those are longer term, like 15 years or so. But, you get payments each year. EQIP is, you do the practice, they check it, you get paid, they make sure you haven't changed anything during the life of the contract. But, after the contract end, you're free to do as you wish. I've been awarded mine in the same year I applied. The application process was pretty smooth. If you don't have a farm number, you get one from the FSA office which is typically where the NRCS office is. Being out of state, I did almost every bit of the paperwork process online, and it wasn't a big deal at all.
Wow, ok. And they use the term "farm" loosely i suppose. My land is just trees and a narrow shooting lane about 600 yards long with one path down the middle. I dont even have a barn. Thank you for the information, this very interresting....alright you other 5 year old bucks, time to chime in before i sell my soul to the devil.
