Cutting Poplars

[Early Bird]

Nope. All about the habitat and he knows that. Maybe I am wrong but I would think a DNR forester would be more about habitat or should be than board feet.

Ray

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Late to this thread but it just caught my eye. Every winter I do a few poplar regeneration cuts on the 150 acres I hunt and manage to create grouse habitat. I only have very mature 70 or 80 year old trees scattered randomly throughout the land, and no young stands at all. Generally what's good for grouse is also good for deer, so it's just a great project. What you do is remove, drop, or girdle all trees in a 20 yard radius of a mature poplar. You clear a bit more to the south of the tree so that it kind of looks pear shaped when you're done. One you have cleared the small plot of all trees you then drop the poplar. I always leave exactly one drumming log for grouse, and usually it's that last poplar if it's the right DBH...about 10"

Not sure exactly what your objective is, but these can be real successful at creating SUPER thick aspen stands fairly quickly, as poplars regenerate as clones through their roots. If successful you'll get poplar clones popping up year one and will in just a few short years have some great deer and grouse cover. Best time to do it is before green up. Leave a few snags for woodpeckers. And by doing a few a year I have always various stages of aspen somewhere on the land.

 

[Early Bird]

Thanks!

 

[j-bird]

Yellow poplar is an early successional tree in my area. You cut down one and a thousand come to the funeral! They will stump sprout and they grow pretty fast. The deer will browse the leaves (at least they do here) but once they get above the deer's reach they can simply turn into a tangle to sticks until they mature and shade out the weaken ones. Listen to what the DNR guy says....but keep in mind even though he SAYS he understands what you want....use your own judgement. My DNR guy said I needed to wait 10 to 15 year to cut. My gut told me otherwise.....we cut and I was thrilled (I did a selective cut and not a clear cut) If you are trying to promote your oak regen....that is going to be a battle against yellow poplar. Poplar simply grow SOOOOO much faster and they can get dense enough to shade the ground so your going to have to address this every few years around your oaks to give them a chance. You will have to mark and possibly protect your young oaks and then simply go in every couple of years and cut the poplar back to give them oaks a fighting chance. Like was mentioned - address any invasives you can BEFORE you cut. The new additional sunlight can make a bad situation worse when it comes to invasives. Jap bush honeysuckle comes to the top of my list. You open up the sky and the stuff can/will explode. Also do your cutting with a plan in mind that work WITH what the deer already want to do and your access and hunting plan for the property. Also I was told that cutting alone tends to only produce more of what you already have. Meaning if you want a different variety of trees or the like you will need to plant them. This isn't 100% accurate but from what I have seen it is 95%+ accurate. Cutting will re-set the stage of the growth, but without some help I doubt it changes the species mix much....at least from what I have seen. The conditions you have the mature species you have tell you that they like those conditions, the soil will be full of seeds from those same trees as well. And the stumps of some will re-sprout as well. So if you want to see a different diversity you may have to give mother nature a helping hand in that process. As far the tops....leaving them is better for your woods, but if you want to cut some for firewood that is fine as well. Most tops will break down in a few years anyways. Use this opportunity to improve the access to your land or help with other improvements as well.

 

[Early Bird]

Thanks J bird. Once I meet with the DNR I will bounce some things off the forum.

Ray