# books on woodlot management?



## dvellone (Feb 26, 2008)

Don't know if this the right forum but does anybody have any advice on a good basic book on woodlot management/forestry for the homeowner that wants to take on the management himself? Thanks


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## slowzuki (Feb 26, 2008)

Don't know where you live but if in the Northeast there is an excellent book called "Out Roddie's Way" that is a humorous but  very good book on woodlot management.  There is info on hardwood, softwood and mixed forest managment.  I say northeast because thats the climate and species mix focused on in the book.


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## Eric Johnson (Feb 26, 2008)

There are several books available. Let me poke around my office and see what I've got laying around.

What kind of woodlot do you have? Hardwood or softwood? Mixed? What are your long-term goals: high value timber production, recreation, wildlife, firewood, all of the above? 

Where is the woodlot located?


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## dvellone (Feb 26, 2008)

Eric Johnson said:
			
		

> There are several books available. Let me poke around my office and see what I've got laying around.
> 
> What kind of woodlot do you have? Hardwood or softwood? Mixed? What are your long-term goals: high value timber production, recreation, wildlife, firewood, all of the above?
> 
> Where is the woodlot located?



My woodlot is just south of Old Forge in the Mckeever area. Mixed hardwoods . On the 64 acres there are areas of nice hard maple with a little cherry, red maple and yellow birch but it looks overcrowded to my untrained eye. And then there are areas of scrub, dense beech. You know, the small thick growth that crowds everything out. There are also areas where the growth is thinned but what was left behind wasn't worth taking out. It had been logged for years and I suspect that the last owner didn't put much thought in to his harvest tactics.
Although I'm still thinking about specifics, my long term goals at this point include avoiding the beech takeover, and encouraging a nice healthy hard maple, cherry and yellow birch forest that I can utilize for sawlogs as well as firewood for my own heating needs.


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## PAPROUD (Feb 26, 2008)

I work for the PA Dept. of Cons. and Nat. Res.    Bureau of  Forestry and here in PA you can get free help with that type of a situation.  Don't know where you live, but try your natural res. dept.  Remember, check your timber before cutting, one good tree could be worth hundreds, if not thousands, and if sold could provide you with enough money to buy your firewood.  Good luck and find a competent forester to help you.


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## Eric Johnson (Feb 26, 2008)

Imagine that. I work in Old Forge and cut firewood on a woodlot owned by the trade association I work for just south of Thendara. Flatrock Mountain. I'm working in the same kind of forest--trying to cut out as much beech and culls as possible, trying to build a better timber base for the future. It's just a lot of thinning resulting in a lot of firewood. All with a pickup truck and a chain saw. I'd be happy to show you what I've done on about 10 acres over the past few years, any time. And I'll try to scare up a book or two.

Small world.


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## wally (Feb 26, 2008)

PAPROUD said:
			
		

> Good luck and *find a competent forester to help you*.


i agree 100%.

depending on where you live (i have no idea where the place you listed is), your state may have Cooperative Extension forestry specialists who can assist you with getting started in forest management.  generally, they will point you in the right direction.

some states, such as NH, also have licensing requirements for professional foresters.  in NH, the Coop Ext foresters now provide education and advice to forest landowners about forest management.

foresters are good resources.  find one that will work with you to implement your goals and management objectives, rather than one who won't solicit input from you as the landowner.


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## MALogger (Feb 26, 2008)

Here is one very good one,

http://www.amazon.com/Working-Your-...d_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204063132&sr=1-2

and another

http://www.amazon.com/Woodlot-Manag...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204063132&sr=1-1

They are both good books. 

You also might want to get in touch with the New York Forest Owners Association
http://www.nyfoa.org/

That is enough info to keep you busy for a little bit!
Good Luck,

Craig


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## leaddog (Feb 27, 2008)

on my wood lot I had a forester come in and mark and evaluate it for harvesting. He asked me what I wanted as far as my long term goals were. Then he marked all the trees that need to be harvested and the ones I needed to cut for firewood. He marked, measured,sent out bidsheets, collected bids, got the signed contract with money before cutting, oversaw the harvesting and made sure every thing was done proper. For all this he got 10%;. I've had 2 cuttings and am ready for the third next year. It's set up for 7 to 10 year cuttings. The first cutting was mostly saw logs. The last one had alot of select and the next one has alot of vennear. I've sold over 100cords been burning wood for over 30 years and haven't made much of a dent in it. All on about 25 acres with 10 prime hardwood and the rest lowland. Every time I got bids on the timber I was amased at the difference. The mills pay depending on what contracts they have for what the lumber. If a mill has a contract for pallet lumber they will pay pallet price for straight maple or cherry. If you don't know what you are doing hire a forestor. They will make you money even over there pay. Both times the bids ranged over 4 times the low bids plus they will show you how to cull.
leaddog


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## dvellone (Feb 27, 2008)

Eric Johnson said:
			
		

> Imagine that. I work in Old Forge and cut firewood on a woodlot owned by the trade association I work for just south of Thendara. Flatrock Mountain. I'm working in the same kind of forest--trying to cut out as much beech and culls as possible, trying to build a better timber base for the future. It's just a lot of thinning resulting in a lot of firewood. All with a pickup truck and a chain saw. I'd be happy to show you what I've done on about 10 acres over the past few years, any time. And I'll try to scare up a book or two.
> 
> Small world.



I thought you might be the same Eric Johnson that edits the Northern Logger but I thought you lived in Old Forge. I'd heard of the project at Flatrock Mountain - it's just up 28 from me. I'd appreciate it if I could see the work there to help me visualize what I might need to work towards here.


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## dvellone (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. I purchased the property a few years ago and have been anxious to get moving towards some kind of management plan.


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## Eric Johnson (Feb 27, 2008)

dvellone said:
			
		

> Eric Johnson said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Any time. We'll be cutting again up there this coming spring. Give me a call and I'll be happy to show you around. I agree that you should have a forester for a management plan. But cleaning up your woodlot and thinning out some of the culls and undesirable species to favor the nicer crop trees is something you can easily do on your own--especially if it's part of your firewood strategy.

We lived in OF for about 22 years before moving south. I still work at the Logger.


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## wdc1160 (Feb 27, 2008)

I appreciate the book titles.  I will readem.


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## jebatty (Feb 27, 2008)

First check with your DNR for a woodlot stewardship management plan. These often are free and very helpful.

Another good book: "Woodland Stewardship, a Practical Guide for Midwestern Landowners," Baughman, Alm, Reed, Eiber, and Blinn, ISBN 0-9623116-6-9, Univ of MN 1993.


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## colebrookman (Feb 29, 2008)

dvellone said:
			
		

> Don't know if this the right forum but does anybody have any advice on a good basic book on woodlot management/forestry for the homeowner that wants to take on the management himself? Thanks


There are also some great web sites in all the states. www.massacorn is one I use and always find it informative


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## Gooserider (Mar 20, 2008)

Reviving an old thread,  but I have a slightly different set of needs, and am wondering what I might be best off doing to manage a suburban house lot?  We have a little over an acre, certainly not enough to interest a professional forester or justify purchasing a lot of books, etc.  The land is about 50% woods, maybe a bit more, and we also have a good relationship with our next door neighbors who have been encouraging me to help them with keeping the wooded back half of their lot cleaned up a bit in exchange for the wood and a bit of help with expenses (for instance last year I rented a "High weed" mower to cut some of our brushy areas back - they picked up most of the rental in exchange for running over their brush as well...)

I know that there is no way I'd ever get the 5+ cords a year of firewood that I currently burn off this sort of acreage, but I would like to manage towards having as much "home grown" firewood as I can on the simple grounds that any wood I can harvest myself is wood that I don't have to purchase.  Currently I've been taking down a few trees every spring, this year more than in previous years (new saws make you want to play...  :coolgrin: ) either trees that were "ugly" - I have several that have grown with crowns that bend over to a 90* angle and grow sideways, or that have enough rotted areas on them that I'm worried they might fall down on their own...  This potentially leaves room for future replacement trees, but I'm not sure what sort.

A large part of the yard has some large trees, some red oaks, many swamp maples (several of them in semi-sad shape) and a few pines, so there is a fairly heavy canopy, but there is also a great deal of brushy area with tons of little saplings 3-10' tall, not sure just what they are, but they mostly don't look like maples or oaks, all very spindly, growing so tightly together you can't walk through most of the yard...  Mostly this isn't a big issue to us, as we don't do that much in the yard, but it looks ugly, and I'd like to be doing more to provide for future regrowth of healthy, harvestable trees.

The GF likes the visual screening from the neighbors that the brush provides, and also figures it's environmentally nice to provide wildlife habitat in the undergrowth, but I'd love to figure out something that would do a reasonable job of these things while also looking a bit less like a totally unmaintained jungle.  At the same time we aren't into major yard maintainance, so the closer it is to "plant it and forget it" the better I'd like it.  The budget is also a factor.  

Any suggestions on where I should go for pointers?  (free info is good....)

Gooserider


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