Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
Often people hear me call our property “the farm”.
It’s easy to think it’s just a recreational piece of ground and just a term used to define such. However, it is much more than that to me!
By federal classification it is a tree farm. So what does that mean? That means we take a great amount of pride and work to ensure great quality forest regeneration and timber value with a focus on maximizing wildlife habitat as well.
Over the past several years I’ve been working on removing invasives through very controlled and precise herbicide treatments. 100% a laborious process but a necessary one.
This past week my good friend Brian Scott and I worked on a ”cull” tree removal. This involved hours of running saws to open up the canopy and release many great oaks - in an 11 acre area.
Many of Ohio forests are dominated by maples, beech and other species that don’t allow our native oaks to flourish (oaks are slow growers and with the absence of fire on the landscape, we’ve seen most forestland dominated by less desirable species). Couple this with relatively high deer densities and we don’t see oak regen as we once did or that our grandparents would have noticed.
By performing a cull tree removal not only do we enhance timber value now and likely in the future. We also have greatly enhanced wildlife habitat through opening the canopy- allowing sunlight to the forest floor.
All of this can be successfully summed up by the simple sighting of woodcock last Spring and flushing ruffed grouse just last week.
I cannot promise Ohio’s forestlands will change much in this life - we have a lot of education needing done at the macro level.
However, I can promise on my farm from the trees to soils to the wildlife, I’ll always give it my absolute best to ensure conservation is a top priority.
Next time you see someone running a saw - I hope this gives you a different perspective.
It’s easy to think it’s just a recreational piece of ground and just a term used to define such. However, it is much more than that to me!
By federal classification it is a tree farm. So what does that mean? That means we take a great amount of pride and work to ensure great quality forest regeneration and timber value with a focus on maximizing wildlife habitat as well.
Over the past several years I’ve been working on removing invasives through very controlled and precise herbicide treatments. 100% a laborious process but a necessary one.
This past week my good friend Brian Scott and I worked on a ”cull” tree removal. This involved hours of running saws to open up the canopy and release many great oaks - in an 11 acre area.
Many of Ohio forests are dominated by maples, beech and other species that don’t allow our native oaks to flourish (oaks are slow growers and with the absence of fire on the landscape, we’ve seen most forestland dominated by less desirable species). Couple this with relatively high deer densities and we don’t see oak regen as we once did or that our grandparents would have noticed.
By performing a cull tree removal not only do we enhance timber value now and likely in the future. We also have greatly enhanced wildlife habitat through opening the canopy- allowing sunlight to the forest floor.
All of this can be successfully summed up by the simple sighting of woodcock last Spring and flushing ruffed grouse just last week.
I cannot promise Ohio’s forestlands will change much in this life - we have a lot of education needing done at the macro level.
However, I can promise on my farm from the trees to soils to the wildlife, I’ll always give it my absolute best to ensure conservation is a top priority.
Next time you see someone running a saw - I hope this gives you a different perspective.
