Good work, Teeder!! Your other trees and ground plants will love it.
When we logged several times, the red maple - "soft" maple - was our target species to drop. It put lots more sunlight on the ground and released many oaks, hickories, tulip poplar, pines, black cherry, and sugar maples. A state forester was the one who suggested taking out some red maple trees to improve our woodlots. The logs sold - but not for top dollar. Good red maple lumber is used for furniture to IMITATE cherry, lesser logs used for pallets and other utility types of purposes.