When do trees stop growing? The question may be asked by woodlot owners looking to harvest their timber or curious minds who gaze into the tree tops and wonder. In truth, trees never actually stop growing. As they reach maturity, their growth slows dramatically, and most of the growth volume is put on in width…
One of the largest problems in the forest industry is the waste products produced. Every tree that is cut leaves limbs, and every board that is sawn leaves saw dust and slab wood. Slab wood is the name given to the edge pieces milled from a saw log. With the exception of rustic fencing or…
If you burn firewood, at some point, you will need to shuffle some wood into the back of a pickup truck. Throwing wood into a truck bed is a time-honored and venerated tradition for those who live, work, and recreate in the woods. In this noble, but tiresome chore, you may find yourself needing to…
Logging can be a messy process. Forests are sensitive ecosystems, and if not careful, a poorly-managed logging operation can do substantial damage to soils and water, as well as the aesthetic quality of a forest. Fortunately, low impact logging exists to help landowners and loggers manage their land in the most sustainable, environmentally-sound way possible….
If you are planning a timber harvest on your property or if you have noticed logging activity on public land or a property you are leasing, you may be wondering if the logging will scare the deer away. Though logging will interrupt deer activity while a harvest is active, deer will quickly return and may…
Lately, everything seems to be going up in price: gas, cars, food, lumber, and even firewood. But why is firewood so expensive? Don’t trees grow everywhere? While firewood is one of the lowest-grade products in forestry, firewood production requires large expenses in harvesting, trucking, cutting and splitting, drying, and even delivering the finished product, and…
While partial harvests can appear to be a gentle and light-handed approach to forestry, “selective” harvesting can be extremely destructive and deleterious to long-term sustainable and profitable forest management if the harvests result in high grading. High grading is the practice of removing the highest-value wood from a tract of forest land and leaver less-desirable,…
Logging is perhaps the oldest industry known to man. When Homo sapiens first began crafting tools, axes were among our first creations. We needed shelter and fuel, and materials could be readily be harvested from the forests found all across the new lands we ventured into. It should come as no surprise then that logging…
Most of us have gone to the grocery store and picked up a small bottle of pure maple syrup only to be shocked at the price. Why exactly is maple syrup so expensive? The production of maple syrup requires older, mature trees, perfect late-winter weather, and a lot of capital and energy to filter and…
If you own or are thinking about owning forest land for yourself, you may have heard the term “woodlot.” A Woodlot is a small parcel of forest land used for timber production and recreation. Typically, the term denotes a smaller parcel–less than 1000 acres–whereas “timberland” might be used to describe larger tracts of forest land….