Land Tour Suggestions / Results

[foggy]

So.....last December I had about a dozen of the guys from this site to my land for a tour. I asked, what THREE things I should do to my land to improve it. These are the three most popular responses:

1. Log the red pine off the land. "get rid of it"
2. Plant Soybeans in the bulk of my property and oversees into the beans in late summer.
3. Investigate ways to make a road thru the swamp that divides my land.

So far I have accomplished the first two. I bought a JD71 two-row planter and planted about 4 acres of beans. Overseeded into them this summer. Good plans.

Just signed an agreement with a forester for him to develop a plan to log my property and find a logger for me. He very much understands my needs and is in "concert" with my plans. He plans to set up the sale to follow next years deer season. He says I should get "thousands" for the timber. I'm gonna sell all the jack pines and most of the red pines.....save some perimeter trees and a few wind screens. We'll see the price it generates. ;)

I'm still considering the road across the swamp.....but it may be on hold till next summer.

Thanks for the constructive advice guys! Land tours can provide benefits.....and they are a good way to spend a day. :)

 

[Riggsgwp->]

I would second what Foggy says on the benefits of having the land tour. My advice would be to not worry so much about showing every little thing on your property but rather listen to every conversation taking place. I made that mistake and feel like I missed out on some possibly good advice or conversations. Show people your property's weakness rather than all your accomplishments as the good things should be obvious. I hope guys that have already done the tours think about doing them again at some point.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Maybe doing a land tour/working session makes more sense. :)

Bust out them chainsaws boyz, we are hinge cutting as we go. ;)

 

[bueller]

Maybe doing a land tour/working session makes more sense. :)

Bust out them chainsaws boyz, we are hinge cutting as we go. ;)

Careful what you ask for or you could end up with this

 

[BuckSutherland]

I wonder if you would need to be careful about making a road through your swamp??? Who knows if someone would consider that destroying wetlands or something goofy like that and get you in trouble?? Even if it is your own property. I farmed a piece of ground and it had a low meadow through it and we wanted to tile it into another swamp. Water was not going to leave the property, and the powers that be wouldnt let us do it cause we would be killing aquatic life. I tried to get the guy to put it into CRP, and now someone else farms it cause I was too conservation minded. Not a farmer that owns the ground, just a guy that inherited it and couldnt part ways with losing 3 acres of rental income.

 

[Satchmo]

I gotta get in on some of these AND have one of my own!!!

 

[foggy]

I wonder if you would need to be careful about making a road through your swamp??? Who knows if someone would consider that destroying wetlands or something goofy like that and get you in trouble?? Even if it is your own property. I farmed a piece of ground and it had a low meadow through it and we wanted to tile it into another swamp. Water was not going to leave the property, and the powers that be wouldnt let us do it cause we would be killing aquatic life. I tried to get the guy to put it into CRP, and now someone else farms it cause I was too conservation minded. Not a farmer that owns the ground, just a guy that inherited it and couldnt part ways with losing 3 acres of rental income.

^ Very much considered and discussed these issues.

 

[Riggsgwp->]

^Yep Foggys done his homework on the road.

 

[SD51555]

Didn't @Jim Timber build a road through his swamp? I could swear somebody on here found a way to work with the red tapers to figure out how to get across it for a logging project.

 

[Jim Timber]

Yep. Silvicultural exemption!

You can't have another way to get into that spot though, or you don't qualify per the WCA.

 

[tooln]

Yep. Silvicultural exemption!

You can't have another way to get into that spot though, or you don't qualify per the WCA.

Here's a link.

http://www.bwsr.state.mn.us/wetlands/wca/forestryguidance.pdf

 

[Jim Timber]

Mitch Brinks is the wetlands guy for CWC, and while he's definitely a "by the book" guy, he's not a head-up-the-rectum eco nazi. He understands that people need to use their land, and sometimes that means wetlands get disturbed.

My advice is to find out when the next TEP meeting is (1st Tuesday of the month IIRC), and get on the schedule to "ask" how you should proceed. If they don't have people scheduled, they often skip the meetings. I've run into that with last minute attempts to get in.

 

[sandbur]

I get good ideas every time 2 or 3 guys walk the property with me.

Land tours are great and I am sorry I missed part of Rigg's tour.

 

[j-bird]

I would love to see some of your guys places or even have you come and see mine - but the simple cost is just too much of a limitation. Every once in a while I get that "on the outside looking in feeling":(

Then you guys start posting about wolves, snowfall amounts and the cold temps and I think ......"Nope - I'm good!":D

 

[MoLandOwner]

I made it to Foggy's last year. The tour was great. Was well worth going. The thing I liked most was being able to interact with all the guys before the tour started and while we were going from one spot to another on the tour. And everyone had something to contribute. Wish I could have made it to Riggs. Maybe next time.

I would bet a lot of different things come up on these tours that have not been brought up on here, just because of being able to look at the land in person. I don't know how guys like Steve can give an accurate game plan of how to set up a property with just looking at a topo from 500 miles away. Maybe that is just me wanting to be hands on.

 

[biglakeba$$]

How are things at work Jeff? Pond tour still an option this fall yet?