How has logging changed your properties?

[Bowsnbucks]

Everyone's local flora is different because we all live in varying regions of the country. Northern woods are different than southern or mid-western ones. For any guys that have logged - even small patches - an invitation to share what you've discovered.

Thought I'd report on results from several loggings we've done at our camp over the past 25 years, in 3 different sections of the land.

Getting sunlight on the ground has been a blessing. That alone triggers many native things in the seed bank to sprout and grow. What was pretty much a bare forest floor is now thick with new forbs, weeds, seedlings, and grasses. The diversity of growing things is a magnet for critters of all sorts. Caging stumps after cutting has produced many new "stump-shoots" from the established roots systems = browse and cover. Deer travel has increased in those areas, with some becoming bedding grounds. More deer STAY on our land now. Bird life has increased and become more varied, which helps with fruit tree-eating insects. Wildflowers / weed flowers draw more pollinating insects.

Beside the native growth just from sunlight, we've planted many Norway and white spruce trees in those logged areas. Along with providing shade in summer's heat, the spruce have become windbreaks and shelter in cold winter weather. Does and their fawns hide out in the cooler, shadier spruce thickets during summer. Young hemlocks are sprouting along the edges of the cut areas. Blackberries have popped up in many locations due to more sunlight & bird droppings. Deer browse on the tender, thornless new blackberry tips, and many critters eat the berries.

From thinning many soft maples from our woods, the oaks, hickories, tulip poplars, black cherries, and sugar maples have expanded their canopies. Having more sunlight and "elbow room" with less competition for nutrients has caused those remaining trees to put out more hard & soft mast for all critters. Acorn and hickory nut crops have increased. More sunlight / less competition also speeds growth of the hardwoods, allowing marketable timber sooner than if those areas had been left un-logged.

All in all, logging at our camp has created a patchwork of varying stages of new habitat growth. It broke up what had been basically a monoculture of mature trees & bare forest floors. We made money from the harvested timber, which paid / pays for habitat projects, and the resulting sunlight on the ground is FREE. Ma Nature is doing the bulk of regrowth, with a little help from us adding spruce seedlings over the years. Our property is better after several logging projects. More habitat diversity, more food & cover ........ more critters.

 

[yoderjac]

It has been, by far, the habitat improvement with the biggest positive impact on our herd. Now, we have a pine farm, but all the owners have agreed to balance wildlife management with timber profit. We don't operate like most pine farms putting profit first. We have clear-cut multiple small (10 ac) tracks of low quality hardwoods a then executed periodic prescribed fire to keep them in early succession for bedding and food. The first 5-10 years of a clear-cut can produce massive amounts of both quality native food as well as cover. We just signed another timber sale contract for a second thinning of about half of our pines and a first thinning on the other half. As part of that, we are clear-cutting 5 acres of pines for more bedding and prescribed fire on a west facing slope. In the young pines that are having a few other 5 acre sections clear-cut and replanted in pines. Rather than keeping these in early succession with prescribed fire, we will plant with pines after the first burn and they will give us 7-10 years of good food before they canopy.

We have engaged both our DWR biologists as well as USDA biologists and a forester to find the right balance. We are using USDA programs to offset some of the profit we would have otherwise received. For example, in the pines schedule for a second thinning, we are doing a heavy thinning to a near savannah level density on about 1/2 of it. We will be burning all the pines after the thinning as well.

We have a pretty large scale food plot program, but it pales in comparison to the quality native foods we produce through timber management. Our food plot program is costly (but less so now that we no longer have a fertilizer bill). Our timbering program generates cash while producing much more food and cover.

It has by far been the best tool we have for QDM!

Thanks,

Jack

 

[b116757]

I have seen similar results and definitely believe logging/crown release is a very good managment tool in the property managers tool box perhaps the best. I would add that cattle eat a ton more broad leaves than people realize and can greatly hinder regeneration in those areas if present. I struggle with this dilemma in areas of the farm.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Well, Im jealous as hell

I have been trying to get loggers on my property for over 10 years in east texas

Multitudes of reasons given from poor market prices to distance from mills,etc,etc

bill

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

Don't know where to start this answer.

Created more edge for the deer.
Created more browse at the proper height for the deer to use.
Opened up the canopy for the trees that weren't cut.
Gave me the opportunity to plant some fruit trees and wildlife shrubs.
Gave me the opportunity to put in some food plots.
Heh, gave me something to do in retirement.

Didn't make squat on the timber cut, wish I would have done it years ago when the price of wood was higher.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Well, Im jealous as hell

I have been trying to get loggers on my property for over 10 years in east texas

Multitudes of reasons given from poor market prices to distance from mills,etc,etc

Sorry to hear that TreeDaddy. Timber prices here haven't set the world on fire either - the wood market changes like the wind direction.

 

[yoderjac]

Sorry to hear that TreeDaddy. Timber prices here haven't set the world on fire either - the wood market changes like the wind direction.

When I last spoke with the state forester for our area, he was telling small property owners (<50 acres of timber) to plant pines at a lower density because it is very difficult to get loggers to do a thinning on such a small stand. We have not had any issue selling timber, even with the added requirements we put in our contracts, but timber prices are not great.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[b116757]

Around here you have very high dollar walnut and pretty good white oak for barrel staves and everything else is ties or pallet wood. Up north where I grew up you had grade hardwood lumber and some hardwood pulp some pine lumber and whole lot of paper products. I’m sure there may have been some pallet mills around but I don’t remember any.

 

[Triple C]

Great topic. Here is the piedmont region of GA, planted loblolly is very common. Once stands reach thinning age, the habitat becomes a wildlife haven. I just finished 2nd thinning 105 acre stand of 22 yr old loblolly and clear cut 60 acre stand of 32 yr old loblolly. 2nd thinning of 22 yr old stand reduced the basal area to about 50. By fall, this will be waist high in forbs and browse and provide more food than I will ever provide in our food plots. Here's a pic of the 22 yr old stand that just got thinned in the past month.


I'll post a pic from same spot come September to show the amount of growth that occurs in opened canopies. My property consists of 55% planted pine and 45% natural hardwood. Pine produces a decent stream of income over the life of the stand and excellent wildlife habitat with year round cover and browse. We all know what mast producing hardwoods deliver when the acorns start dropping in the fall. Throw in a few large food plots for late season attraction for an excellent landscape supporting all manner of wildlife.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I would love to have a logger in but I'm a bit terrified of what would happen with the buckthorn if I had more acreage with sun getting to the ground.

 

[Ed Brodt]

We had three different foresters come in before we found one that understood what we wanted to accomplish. Finally did a select cut about 3 years ago. Prior to that we seldom got pictures of bucks during spring or summer time. They would start showing up around Sept/Oct The last couple of years we have pics of bucks all through spring and summer. Quality of bucks has also increased. We made enough money to buy a tractor and improved habitat at the same time. Forester took care of everything from start to finish. Even got more money than he first estimated. If you are in KY I would refer you to this forester. You won't regret it. https://thompsonforestry.com

 

[Foggy47]

We had three different foresters come in before we found one that understood what we wanted to accomplish. Finally did a select cut about 3 years ago. Prior to that we seldom got pictures of bucks during spring or summer time. They would start showing up around Sept/Oct The last couple of years we have pics of bucks all through spring and summer. Quality of bucks has also increased. We made enough money to buy a tractor and improved habitat at the same time. Forester took care of everything from start to finish. Even got more money than he first estimated. If you are in KY I would refer you to this forester. You won't regret it. https://thompsonforestry.com

This is pretty much the same story I have. I had lots of Red Pine and some large Aspen to be logged. That released a large number of Burr and Red Oak trees.....as well as lots of birch, aspen, various brush and willows. I'm also getting some good regen from the Red and Jack Pine (I hate Jack Pine) and I like a few pockets of pines for winter cover.

Logging also increased my food plot acreage to ten acres on 110 acre property....the logger used a large brush/stump machine to expand my food plots. The timber paid for a cab tractor trade-up as well as some land improvements and a heated log cabin at my building site. Not to mention far better bedding and cover for wildlife. Had a great forester that took care of everything from A to Z and a quality logging company. I wonder what took me so long to get the process underway? I think my land is about peaking now.....and should be great for at least another 10 years.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Where I am at logging is part of forestry programs that one can sign up for and get tax breaks while providing wood products that provide jobs and products that practically everyone uses. WI also uses a huge tax "club" to smack you to encourage folks to join. So my biggest gain is saving enough in taxes every ten years worth enough to buy a fancy no till drill with all the bells and whistles that some get all excited about on here if I wanted. Not going to for under 1-1/2 acres plots but required logging keeps things manageable ongoing tax wise which only gets worse with larger parcels.

Some on here post about having large chunks of land and having say 500 acres of forested land would cost you over $20,000 a yr if not in a tax relief program (otherwise over 40 bucks an acre). Yeah some states are just nuts in taxes.

 

[Brian662]

Where I am at logging is part of forestry programs that one can sign up for and get tax breaks while providing wood products that provide jobs and products that practically everyone uses. WI also uses a huge tax "club" to smack you to encourage folks to join. So my biggest gain is saving enough in taxes every ten years worth enough to buy a fancy no till drill with all the bells and whistles that some get all excited about on here if I wanted. Not going to for under 1-1/2 acres plots but required logging keeps things manageable ongoing tax wise which only gets worse with larger parcels.

Some on here post about having large chunks of land and having say 500 acres of forested land would cost you over $20,000 a yr if not in a tax relief program (otherwise over 40 bucks an acre). Yeah some states are just nuts in taxes.

I just bought some WI property and unfortunately for that same reason it will be entered into Managed Forest Law in 2024. Should cut my tax bill by almost 50%. Working with a forester to write a plan that will allow me enough leniency to do some of my own projects in the timber as well as the commercial cutting the plan requires.

 

[Foggy47]

I just bought some WI property and unfortunately for that same reason it will be entered into Managed Forest Law in 2024 for that reason. Should cut my tax bill by almost 50%. Working with a forester to write a plan that will allow me enough leniency to do some of my own projects in the timber as well as the commercial cutting the plan requires.

In MN you can do both (I did that) .....and I think you will be able to do the same in Wisconsin. (but I dunno for certain)

 

[Brian662]

In MN you can do both (I did that) .....and I think you will be able to do the same in Wisconsin. (but I dunno for certain)

I haven't looked into any programs for my MN forested land because the taxes are already cheap ~$10/acre. That's about what the MFL plan should get my WI taxes down to per acre.

 

[Foggy47]

I haven't looked into any programs for my MN forested land because the taxes are already cheap ~$10/acre. That's about what the MFL plan should get my WI taxes down to per acre.

Yeah....pretty much the taxes on mine before the program. I paid $500 for a program that may save me $400 per year in taxes. Worth it to me over ten years. Bests the stock market. grin.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Around 30% tax benefits on acres enrolled in Mn but there isn’t even a requirement to log it to receive the benefit. My plan just says I’ll cut some undesirable trees here and there to release oaks and create bedding habitat!

 

[Foggy47]

Around 30% tax benefits on acres enrolled in Mn but there isn’t even a requirement to log it to receive the benefit. My plan just says I’ll cut some undesirable trees here and there to release oaks and create bedding habitat!

I think what our area wants.....is for land to stay out of farmland production (like potato farming) as the farming could / would be detrimental to the watershed here that floes into the Whitefish chain. RDO was trying to buy up large tracts of land just west of here and put into farmland use. I read or was told.....He will no longer farm in MN with the treatment he received from this state. I think RDO (Offert) is the largest farmer in the USA?....or at least the top ten.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

No tax break as such in Pa. to guarantee commercial logging access to our trees - but there are Fed. programs to pay for spraying invasive species of trees and weeds that hamper hardwood growth in our forests. Also programs that will pay to fence acreage to exclude deer from browsing young seedling trees. This allows trees to mature out of browsing reach. There's no requirement to let commercial loggers cut your timber. It's more about protecting the watersheds, as well as growing hardwood timber for the future. Most landowners here with any amount of acreage periodically have logging done to manage their forests through the years.