Your spring photos look completely different then the winter ones. The canopy really fills in. I don’t have quite that much of a canopy issue but I found a tree or two only makes so much of a difference.You can see where I made some progress cutting a lane through it. You can also see how the canopy keeps it dark and moist in there. Kicking around the idea of cutting a lane clear to the edge of the creek and getting something like SWO going that like wet feet. Thought about trying Kanlow switch but not sure it would take. Get some of that growing and you could get fire to carry.
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Will the flood waters carry the hinge cuts down the river. Just thinking if the water is high it has moving power and could pull hinge cuts off the stumps and move brush piles down stream.
Another good reason to have a hook.Those hinges will last a lot longer if you fell them in the basic direction of the downstream flow and aren't forcing the hinge to "fight" the current to hang on to the stump. Not always possible due to tree lean and other factors, but a very good practice in general.
I’m not familiar with sericea but with the area being 1.5 acres I would think a 4 gallon back pack sprayer would help to knock some of that down.The ash area is about 1.5 acres. I’ve got some more light going in there and the sericea is coming in. Even had a wide enough lane to get a tractor with brush hog in there.View attachment 18880