Timber Management – Can We Save these Dying Woods
Foreign [Applause] You guys don't recognize it this is my Property And these woods behind me are dying And I'm kind of bummed out about it and I'm thinking about what I can do to help It so first I'll explain what I'm Talking about then I'm going to do Something counter-intuitive which is cut Down a tree And then I'm going to walk through some Of the woods here and show you More examples of of just the state of The property and what I would like it to Be so if you look right here There's a big healthy looking tree that Is uprooted and Fallen And that kind of seems like an isolated Incident I hope maybe that tree wasn't as healthy As it looks but that's one problem with This area is this hill is covered in Rocks so the trees are growing and maybe Not getting as good a root system as They would in a better soil So you can have some overturns there's Another overturn right over here I'll Show you in a minute and there's nothing I can do about that but the second tree Is dead and The disappointing thing is that the Majority of the Big Trees you see back Here are dead or dying
I had a drone shot In the middle of summer when everything Else was green and I flew to the Neighboring properties and looked all Around and Half of my trees had no leaves on them They're just standing dead And I know of a few possible reasons for That one we had a tornado come right Through here 10 or 15 years ago before I bought the Property damaged a lot of trees I guess It cleared a lot of trees but obviously Some of these are older than that so it Didn't get them all and second Is the ground conditions aren't ideal Third the previous owner from my Understanding used to burn all this Property burn all the grass and Undergrowth off of it which has positive Benefits for the for the property and It's definitely easier than trying to Maintain this brush because on this Rocky Hill how would you maintain that Brush which is the other challenge I Have But the other result of that is I think The fire damaged some of these mature Trees So what we have Is beautiful Farm ground down here and An area that I'd like to leave wooded Because we can't do anything else with It
But if all the trees die I've got a Problem and also overcrowding of the Small trees is a problem so we'll get Into all that but first this tree right Here This is one of those trees that I Spotted on the Drone It had no leaves on it all year very few If any And you can see dead branches right out Here Dead and broken branches a little higher Up just a dead standing tree And I want to harvest this tree that Fell and to get to it it would help if That was out of the way Then also there's another tree that fell Right over there and if I if I take this Tree out I can get all three trees Pulled out and cleaned up and turn them Into firewood or saw logs or whatever They need to be So to take down this tree we need to Assess the lean See Standing straight It's got just a little bit of lean that Way And then it has more lean towards us Towards the camera So it's going to come down right here Which is perfect because if it wanted to Go that way I'd have a hard time getting It out so works out well that it already
Wants to go where I want it to go but we Know part of the tree is dead Which means it could come down before I Want it to with that lean and if it's Rotten in the middle you could have a Barber chair situation So I am going to do a plunge cut on it It's got everything down here and set up I know where it's going time to start Cutting as I work my way up here that's The second tree The whole root ball uprooted and it just Fell Looks nasty and rotten been dead a long Time but Inside of that will still be good Firewood [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] No no no No no no no no no no no no no no No no no no [Music] Ah [Music] I did a traditional 30 face cut I have Not hit any rotten wood So I don't think I need any extra Precautions just spell it like normal My face cut again I over cut on this Side a little bit with my bottom cut I
Need to fix that because I actually Ain't the tree a little better I think [Music] [Applause] [Music] Foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] Um [Music] [Music] I've established A hinge about an inch and a half It's ready to go as soon as I take out The back I cut back leave a trigger to make my Final cut [Music] That Is a nice healthy log still But if you look at the top half of the Tree being dead my question is how long Would it be before that wasn't a healthy Log Probably maybe a couple years But bigger than that When you talk about should I take that Tree or leave it It's no longer growing It's not rotten but it's not growing and If it's not growing it's not producing Much oxygen These young healthy trees that are
Shooting up all over the place those are The ones we want to save and that's kind Of what this video is about So I'll have a video soon where I drag I'm gonna have this is a lot of work I Can't just drive up in here and get These And even if I chunk them up I don't have A way to get in here right now so I'm Gonna have to drag this one out because I can get to it and then I'll have to Clear out all this under brush Dig out some of these rocks and work my Way back here and I'll pull out all Three of these trees I'm not going to do That today today we're going to walk Through these Woods And Tell you my thoughts on how I can Preserve this and make this a healthier Woods five years from now ten years from Now 20 years from now than it is today While also Capturing the valuable natural resource We have which is Lumber and wood for Heat I get all this pushback from people Who say this guy hates trees no not at All I love trees I love the big Beautiful trees I shared enough video a While back there's a couple trees right Up there I don't ever plan to harvest They're gigantic and beautiful and they Have to be dead before I'm going to mess With them but
The tree I just took down And this tree right here And the one over there even That tree looks healthy but it's lived Its life And I wouldn't have cut that tree Because you can see it's still got Leaves on it So That tree wasn't dead but it fell So those trees it's time for them to go And most of the Big Trees on this Property need to go these are the trees Right here That will make our Woods the problem The problem with these trees is There's multiple different varieties all Clumped right next to each other none of These trees would ever Turn into your big 30 40 inch trees like I have around the Property because they're too close Together So in an area like this I think I need To pick one over here and one 10 feet From it That are a desirable species I like Oak And Walnut Anything and I like Hardwoods so any Kind of Hickory or Ash or Maple anything That it will make a nice tree those are The ones I need to find And leave and then clear everything Around them so that there's an opening
What I'd like to have here is a hundred Nice mature trees that you can make a Path between So let's walk some of the property that I never show in video I'm going to leave my chainsaw pants on Because this is all stickers and thorns And just my imagination of what happens To this if I don't touch it is it just Becomes one giant Briar Patch full of These little trees Not good for wildlife Or Hunters Or people like myself who don't hunt and Just like having the deer on the Property to watch it's not good for You don't get firewood or Lumber out of Those woods you don't get anything Positive out of it it's just a Briar Patch so let's take a walk around some Of the parts of the property I don't Show All right so this Is the one that just came down Right next to it is another one That fell on its own How I'm wasteful in a lot of ways That things that don't bother me but a Pet peeve for me Is seeing this log laying on the ground And thinking it's going to waste I'd Like to see it used for something Probably firewood
Hey I don't think I can quite get through There All these trees are dead They're dead And they're leaning and they're way up On this hill So to do anything about this I have to At least clear a path to get up here See that tree I wonder I won't know till Spring if that's a healthy tree or not But this what why does that need to Stand there That needs cleared out All of this needs cleared out And you guys know I'm trying to start a Christmas tree Farm At the other end of the property I wonder how many of these Are a species that could be replanted Transplanted down there and have a big Head start on my farm Okay This is why this is called Rock Hill The entire top half of this hill looks Like that But somehow there's still trees growing Out of it And Most of the trees are up here are dead But there are still some healthy trees Like I've been saying as I go along But it needs cleared out in between
And fire is the easy way to do that but I don't want to burn them Somewhere At the top of this Ridge is my property Line And I want to Mark out that property line Probably have to use a drone And Go back and look at the footage and put Markers out and see where I am because I Have a property line marker at both ends But through the middle I can't find it So I'd like to get this marked out and Clear a pathway across the top just wide Enough to drive a tractor or Four-wheeler down it And then if I ever wanted to divide it I Could but my plan is this was always a 40 acre property all the Lots out here Are 40 acres Neighbors on each side have 40 acres This was a 40 acre property and they Couldn't sell it as 40 acres they Couldn't find a buyer they split 20 Acres off of it and I found the listing Like two months later and I wish I could Have got that other 48 that other 20 Acres so hopefully someday The one thing that's actually thriving Up here is these small evergreens I talked just now about Possibly Digging some of those up and
Transplanting them down to the other Half of the property the other option is I could clear all these Hardwoods out Clear all this underbrush and We would accidentally have a Evergreen Woods It would look nice But it's not what I want but it's a Possibility Once again That's why we call it Rock Hill As you're looking around you see a lot Of good trees and then you look up That tree has no top That tree has no top That tree has no top There are two big healthy trees that Should be preserved I don't want to take Those out I want to leave those two But you know I need to determine what is All this smaller stuff growing up in Here are there any desirable species in Here or do I need to buy some Some trees to plant up here after doing Some clearing There's a log I could Harvest Okay there's for a location there's the Quonset hut and there's the shop Foreign Fairly open clearing I've driven through Here with the tractor it was a rough Trip but I did drive the tractor the Full length of the property up here All right dead tree dead tree dead tree
Dead tree Hard leaner All right look at the lean on that tree That's pretty wild And Say there's the house right down there You can barely see it Trying to identify my property line Right now Property line is a little bit this way All right So I came up here two years ago and saw This field of rocks but all these little Twig trees were not in here So how do you deal with those other than Walking this entire acreage Just snipping them out because I can Barely even drive the skid loader the Track loader through This Maze of rocks because each rock is two Foot tall or 18 inches tall and they Rock You Back and Forth So It's hard to do anything but just let This get overgrown or burn it and the Previous owner just burned it and I get It Actually Property line is farther over than I Thought And see if I can find it So I think it's about here I've never tried to go up that way but
I'm sure it's just more of the same And I should probably have a conversation With the neighbors and see I think his Plan is to just leave it completely Untouched all he bought this for was to Hunt I'll The front of my property and the front Of his property are both Cut for hay By the same guy Okay Like here when this tree fell This was a big So like right here when this tree fell That's a big nice tree that should be Used But Now it's sat for so long and nobody Could use it because it's so far up this Hill but when you look at why it fell Okay there's some burn damage inside of It But I I don't think a lot of these Bigger trees are really able to root up Here Foreign So now we're back out the other side And This is where So I I cut all this with the skid steer Brush cutter And
I cut down two Trees out here that were dying And then The first two stumps I ever ground out With the tractor stump grinder were Right over here so I've removed those Stumps I dug a bunch of rocks out of here there Was a big junk pile right here and a big Concrete pad right here I dug all that Out I mean this is where you saw me Trying to dig all these rocks out And all I found was more Rocks Under The Rocks But right here there were two big logs That were laying there for 20 years and Those have now been milled into Lumber After Laying there what seemed like forever Based on the overgrowth around them Anyway this probably been a lot longer Video than I wanted it to be But I'm just Sizing this up myself and trying to Decide what to do and I thought you guys Might have an interest in it if you have Any advice for me Feel free to leave that in the comments I appreciate you taking time to watch The video I'll put links on the screen To a couple more of our videos and I'll See you next time
