So here's another random question I just thought of

[Lukas060606]

So I'm in the midst of planning my heating future and I'm wondering how many cords of wood can come out of my property (plus a small bonus supply I'll discuss at the end) and still keep the wooded area wooded. I have six acres of property in Southern CT and all but half an acre is wooded. I'm not up to speed on identifying the species, but the easy ones to identify are either there or not there. The stuff that isn't there is easy. There is almost no pine, cedar, or birch. Most all of it is oak and maple. I have read about sawtimber and poletimber, and I guess my land is mostly made up of sawtimber. So my question is how much wood can I reasonably take from a 5.5 acre lot each year while keeping it a wooded lot? The bonus I mentioned earlier is there is a 20-25 acre preserve sharing my property line. I recently got some wood from the generous folks there and they are letting me cut up and take any fallen trees off that tract of land. I have no idea on how to figure how much wood I can expect to get off that property if I'm only taking previously fallen trees. Obviously I won't clear that land of forest any time soon. I have just started plotting it out, and most of the fallen stuff is mush, but there are quite a few usable ones (with the white fungus I mentioned in an earlier post). I'm thinking that bonus won't add up to the amount I can get off my land while still keeping my land forested. Anyone out there with more knowledge than me? I'll admit it won't be hard to rise above that bar.

Thanks.

 

[hareball]

I would definitely start with the ones that are on the ground. As for the rest of the property I'd look into calling and have someone come out and survey what should be removed.

 

[CTYank]

So I'm in the midst of planning my heating future and I'm wondering how many cords of wood can come out of my property (plus a small bonus supply I'll discuss at the end) and still keep the wooded area wooded. I have six acres of property in Southern CT and all but half an acre is wooded. I'm not up to speed on identifying the species, but the easy ones to identify are either there or not there. The stuff that isn't there is easy. There is almost no pine, cedar, or birch. Most all of it is oak and maple. I have read about sawtimber and poletimber, and I guess my land is mostly made up of sawtimber. So my question is how much wood can I reasonably take from a 5.5 acre lot each year while keeping it a wooded lot? The bonus I mentioned earlier is there is a 20-25 acre preserve sharing my property line. I recently got some wood from the generous folks there and they are letting me cut up and take any fallen trees off that tract of land. I have no idea on how to figure how much wood I can expect to get off that property if I'm only taking previously fallen trees. Obviously I won't clear that land of forest any time soon. I have just started plotting it out, and most of the fallen stuff is mush, but there are quite a few usable ones (with the white fungus I mentioned in an earlier post). I'm thinking that bonus won't add up to the amount I can get off my land while still keeping my land forested. Anyone out there with more knowledge than me? I'll admit it won't be hard to rise above that bar.

Thanks.

One rule of thumb I've heard for mid-latitude deciduous forests: (1) cord firewood / acre-year, average steady-state production. More after hurricanes.

Expect the unexpected. Often some of your best finds are totally unanticipated: storms, ice, whatever. Keep some saws ready.

 

[Got Wood]

I would guesstimate that between your lot and the preserve you can go many years before having to fell a single tree

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Cut! Cut! Cut!

 

[Bspring]

I would guesstimate that between your lot and the preserve you can go many years before having to fell a single tree

I agree. You may have to cut some standing dead trees but I see no reason to cut live ones with that much land. As others have said wood has a way of showing up when word gets out that you use it.

 

[Dune]

Thats a great setup. I recomend study of general forestry practice. The old school general projection for New England is two (2) cords per acre, so your land alone is more than sufficient. Of course scrounging off your back up area will only add to your wood security. As others have said, you may not need to take much if any from your own land, but good forestry will ensure maximum yeild.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Its hard to say. A picture would really help. A lot depends on the woods itself. In my woods the birch and maple are 50 to 60 feet tall. On my cousins ten miles away his maples are 80 to 90 feet tall. On my cousins Our family has been cutting 80 years or so out of about 10 acres. It has been well maintained just cutting fallen and damaged trees. It is open in the wood and conductive to trees growing strait and fast. Even 6" dia trees are 70 feet tall. It sure is nice to cut in there with all those tall strait trees and a lot more wood in the taller trees.

Billy

 

[WoodPorn]

There is an equation that converts diameter and estimated height to cordage measurement.

I generally take the diameter at mid tree and multiply by estimated height then multiply by 3.14 then subtract that # from 128 (cord volume)

EX a 12" or 1' tree that has a fairly clear trunk (before it gets too branchy) height of 25' would look like this; D x H x 3.14 =? Then, 128 - ?

1 x 25= 25

25 x 3.14= 78.5

128 - 78.5= 49.5 or 1/2 cord.

This is a ESTIMATE that is usually very conservative because it does not account for useable branches.

This is also coming from my feeble mind so...take it with a grain of salt!

 

[Captain Hornet]

A neighbor of mine has a 10 acre hobby farm that has about half in woods. There are lots of southern yellow pine and many are dead because of the yellow pine beetle. He doesn't burn the pine because it falls on the ground and rapidly becomes punky. He has been cutting the remaining hardwoods for the last ten years, and is several years ahead. He told me he burns 4 cords every year and he well never burn it all in his lifetime. David

 

[Backwoods Savage]

So I'm in the midst of planning my heating future and I'm wondering how many cords of wood can come out of my property (plus a small bonus supply I'll discuss at the end) and still keep the wooded area wooded. I have six acres of property in Southern CT and all but half an acre is wooded. I'm not up to speed on identifying the species, but the easy ones to identify are either there or not there. The stuff that isn't there is easy. There is almost no pine, cedar, or birch. Most all of it is oak and maple. I have read about sawtimber and poletimber, and I guess my land is mostly made up of sawtimber. So my question is how much wood can I reasonably take from a 5.5 acre lot each year while keeping it a wooded lot? The bonus I mentioned earlier is there is a 20-25 acre preserve sharing my property line. I recently got some wood from the generous folks there and they are letting me cut up and take any fallen trees off that tract of land. I have no idea on how to figure how much wood I can expect to get off that property if I'm only taking previously fallen trees. Obviously I won't clear that land of forest any time soon. I have just started plotting it out, and most of the fallen stuff is mush, but there are quite a few usable ones (with the white fungus I mentioned in an earlier post). I'm thinking that bonus won't add up to the amount I can get off my land while still keeping my land forested. Anyone out there with more knowledge than me? I'll admit it won't be hard to rise above that bar.

Thanks.

Lukas, if you are cutting just for your own use, you probably would never run out.

It is really difficult to say too without seeing the woodlot. Some patches of woods the trees are really thick and grow nice and tall while other areas might be more brushy. Some areas might have mature trees and others young. So one really can not say without walking the woods.

 

[Danno77]

like others, i can't really say without seeing. The cord per acre per year sounds reasonable to me. If nobody has been maintaining the stand of trees, then I bet you can get a lot more than that for the first few years. On the timber I'm working in I've been able to get something like 5 cords over the past fourish years and not even touch live stuff until recently. This would be from about a 2 acre area. Now I'm thinning the heard in this same area to help with the health of some of the trees. Then I plan to just keep spreading outward as I can get to stuff. it feels that I could spend the rest of my life doing this and maybe I'll get about 15 acres looking pretty nice.

 

[Lukas060606]

Thanks for all the responses to all. I marked up a satellite view of my land as well as one picture I found with the start of the woods. On the satellite photo I marked a rough outline of my property as well as an arrow showing the direction my other photo was taken. The preserve land is marked also. I've seen old photos of the town in this area and as with most land around here, it was once clear and used as farmland. As would also be expected, there are old stone walls criss-crossing both tracts. At the farthest end of the preserve from my land, there is a swampy, boggy area that the guy from the preserve said used to be a commercial cranberry bog. The entire section of land slopes gradually downward from my house toward the top and to the right in the satellite photo. In the ground view photo, the trees at the start of the woods are shown, and I would say they are typical of the entire wooded area. The treeline is probably 30-40 feet away from the edge of my garage. The grade drops from my driveway to the start of the treeline by about 5'.

I do not believe either piece of land was managed any time since the land became forest after the farms went away. The only time in recent history when wood was cut on the preserve was when a tree fell and blocked a path. I recently took a pile of this wood as the person they had cut it never came back to get it. There are fallen trees all over both pieces of land. In the summer, the canopy is full with very few openings, except in the spots where the previous owner obviously liked to cut down trees. He seems to have concentrated on one or two areas that were easily accessible and right alongside the paths that also criss-cross the tracts. Those small areas have a clear view of the sky, but there aren't many spots like that. In those areas, as well as along the paths there is a large amount of undergrowth in the summer. In the denser areas, undergrowth is minimal, although it is hard to get to with the undergrowth that is along the paths.

I don't know if this helps in knowing how much wood I can get and keep it forested, but even at the 1 cord per acre number, I'm feeling pretty happy.

Thanks again for all the help. There sure are a lot of people here that know their stuff. Hopefully I will too someday.

 

[cptoneleg]

I have 3 acres and haven't even put a dent in it in the last 24 yrs. Be surprised how much you can find elsewhere.

 

[muncybob]

You'll never run out of wood!! Calling in an expert will get you the advice needed to manage the trees for whatever end product you have in mind. I have about 9 acres of land(3/4 of it wooded) but I also live next to a fair amount of wooded land that I can harvest from just as you can. All through the year my dogs and I go for frequent walks looking for newly downed trees, mental notes made and shortly after I return with saw in hand. In late summer/early autumn I then mark standing dead trees before the leaves fall and it's near impossible for me to ID the dead ones....I return for these when I have not found any more easily accessible downed trees. Doing this for the last 6 months or so and I have at least 1 years worth ahead split/stacked and working on the next year with most of this "work" happening on Sundays only due to hunting seasons.
You my friend are on "easy street"!!

 

[Cowboy Billy]

I am not personally in the cut in one area fan unless you are trying to make a field. I am in the process of making a trail around my property staying 50 to 100 feet inside my property line. That way I will be able cut off each side of the trails that way I can take damaged trees and trees that are too thick and need to be thinned. And I can drive around in a loop and not have to back up or turn around. Since I am not on the property line I can weave in and out some finding the easiest place to put the trail in. I have some cross trails and am making more too.

Billy

 

[Lukas060606]

Thanks Muncybob and Cowboy Billy. I'm feeling really happy now that it seems my oil man and I can part ways. I'm sure he won't be as happy as I am. I like the sound of easy street. I actually took a long walk around the two tracts today and I was surprised at the amount of fallen yet still usable wood. Even though it's winter, there were about half a dozen still standing, but very clearly dead trees. This leads to my next question. If I cut down the still standing dead ones, how long would a tree like that need to be seasoned? Some of the drying obviously happened while it's standing there. Should I treat all dead wood (standing and fallen) as new wood and season at least 18-24 months? Or will the moisture meter show it is ready before that? I'm in a bit of a jam as I do not have a stockpile as big as I want (on the good side, the stockpile is 3-6 years split and seasoned), so I'm wondering if there's a way to build up the stockpile quickly without cheating. I will not burn unseasoned wood. Having a chimney fire is a huge fear of mine, probably more so than it needs to be. My pop "cheated" my entire childhood and never had one ever. His idea of seasoning was cut it in spring, pile it unsplit, split it in fall, pile it nicer, and burn it that winter. I won't go anywhere near that mentality.

By the way Cowboy Billy, I do not follow the cut in one area laziness move either. I will spread out my cutting of live (if even needed) over my entire site, and hopefully when I move on, the forest will be better than it is now. That's my goal.

 

[Thistle]

Take care of your timber & it will take care of you.I cant remember when I've cut down a live healthy tree that wasnt storm damaged,defective or otherwise mishapen.Its been 15 yrs at least.Kind of got sidetracked the past couple years,now I'm slowly getting caught up with cleaning up the standing & fallen dead wood thats still sound,plus any past damage & occasional pruning certain crop trees need.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks Muncybob and Cowboy Billy. I'm feeling really happy now that it seems my oil man and I can part ways. I'm sure he won't be as happy as I am. I like the sound of easy street. I actually took a long walk around the two tracts today and I was surprised at the amount of fallen yet still usable wood. Even though it's winter, there were about half a dozen still standing, but very clearly dead trees. This leads to my next question. If I cut down the still standing dead ones, how long would a tree like that need to be seasoned? Depends . . . on species of the tree (i.e. ash may be ready to go sooner than oak) and how long it has been dead. In my first year I burned some standing dead elm -- the elm that had the bark falling off it or was bark free burned pretty well, the elm that still had the bark attached did not do as well. In addition, the wood from the top of the tree and the branches burned much better than the wood from the base of the tree. Short of using a moisture meter I would go the easy route and season it for as long as you can. Some of the drying obviously happened while it's standing there. Should I treat all dead wood (standing and fallen) as new wood and season at least 18-24 months? Or will the moisture meter show it is ready before that? I suspect you'll be able to use quite a bit of it in less than two years and some -- depending on the tree, how small you split, etc. -- may be ready to go well before a year is up. I'm in a bit of a jam as I do not have a stockpile as big as I want (on the good side, the stockpile is 3-6 years split and seasoned), so I'm wondering if there's a way to build up the stockpile quickly without cheating. I will not burn unseasoned wood. Having a chimney fire is a huge fear of mine, probably more so than it needs to be. My pop "cheated" my entire childhood and never had one ever. His idea of seasoning was cut it in spring, pile it unsplit, split it in fall, pile it nicer, and burn it that winter. I won't go anywhere near that mentality.

By the way Cowboy Billy, I do not follow the cut in one area laziness move either. I will spread out my cutting of live (if even needed) over my entire site, and hopefully when I move on, the forest will be better than it is now. That's my goal.

 

[jackofalltrades]

If you are dealing with dead standing oak it should be treated as not seasoned. I have cut it after I knew it was dead standing for a year and it was still full of water. The outside edge would just be starting to rot but not punky yet and the solid wood would still be wet as a gourd when fell. It might would be completely seasoned in a year but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Dune]

If you are dealing with dead standing oak it should be treated as not seasoned. I have cut it after I knew it was dead standing for a year and it was still full of water. The outside edge would just be starting to rot but not punky yet and the solid wood would still be wet as a gourd when fell. It might would be completely seasoned in a year but I wouldn't count on it.

You are right about a tree dead just a year. Instead, find trees dead much longer. Most of the branches should be gone, large bare spots on the trunk. Even then, just the top half is probably dry enough to burn, but the rest should be good the following year if enough effort is put into seasoning it fast.

 

[Lukas060606]

Hey all,

Just an update with some photos. I scouted the whole area today and took some photos. There are a lot of standing dead ones, plus countless fallen ones. Here are the pictures. There are only 5 pictures, but they are typical of the entire area. Maybe the pics will spur some more replies on the cords per acre estimates.

I am really happy I stumbled upon this spot in cyberspace. I appreciate all the input I've received since I've been here.

 

[Wood Duck]

If you cut only broken, overcrowded, or similar trees on your property, I predict 3 cords per year without any noticeable change in the forest, probably double that. I would guess a 25 acre woodland preserve would yield five to ten cords per year of new fallen trees and large limbs, plus any existing dead wood on the ground. The first year you'll want to cut double or triple your yearly use, and there should be lots of older dead stuff on the ground to cover that. Later, you'll cut only a year's worth of wood, but won't need to burn what you are cutting for a couple of years. Once you are ahead a ouple of years, I think you'll want to cut the newly down wood, because it will be cleaner and more solid than a lot of the older dead wood. There will be lots of new fallen wood to choose.

I think the challenge will be moving the wood out of the preserve, not finding enough. Are there trails and will they allow you to use a four wheeler or something like that to move wood?

 

[savageactor7]

Many years ago a DEC agent was here to allow us a permit to take beaver. Well we had quite a walk back into the woods and got to talking about the best way to harvest firewood, that would allow a continuous supply of new growth wood.

He recommended we take the dead trees, the multiple trunked ones, the biggest ones and of course any junk trees we didn't want like poplar, bass wood, box elder etc.

On our own we found that wet ground trash wood when cut up, taken out of the shade and stacked off the ground in the sun because a useful member of our wood burning community. That's not the wood you want to buy, but burning it has its advantages. It's an easy take, good wood lot housekeeping you can open the lot up for wheeled vehicle traffic. Perfect for shoulder season burning and the most important reason of all and the reason I discovered it...

...the kids and their friends don't burn your good wood for their overnight campfires. Dead junk punky wood seasons incredibly fast 10-30 days go to go.

 

[Heem]

Not really adding anything interesting to this thread, but just wanted to say Hi and welcome to another CT'er