10/17/2006--Timber Work Timber management is again on my front burner list of activities. The sale of timber and the subsequent cutting have been going on at Ochee Yahola. The logger started cutting some last spring, and now is getting close to finishing his harvest. If you would like to see a bunch of logs ready for market, take a drive by the woods.

As a quick review, oak timber will never stay oak timber over time. Simply put it will not grow in the shade, so if we want to keep oak trees around, we have to clear cut the woods. This allows light to get to the forest floor and oak seedlings to start growing again.

The conservation board has made the commitment to managing their timber. With the size of small harvests and the need to cycle through our properties, something will have to be done each year.

Last winter we had the timber sale of the oak and cherry at Ochee Yahola, and a small walnut sale at Turvold and Silver Lake. Next on the list is a timber sale at Brunsvold Haugen timber.

This timber is composed of over-mature oak. It is 20 acres in size and assuming most of the people reading this have never been there, the property is located NW of Fertile.

The state forester and I walked over the woods today and have decided to split it up into four pieces. There will be a 5 acre harvest every 5 years, so in a 20 year span, we will have harvested the trees and started the oak growth for the next generation.

The harvest will be a clear cut. Everything will be cut down. Then a bulldozer will come in and scrape out all the buckthorn. After that, seeds of some tree species will be scattered and worked into the ground, and large seedlings of other tree species will be planted. Within a year or two, tree growth will likely be as thick as the fur on a dog. With that growing nicely, about 5 years down the road, another 5 acres will be cleared and the process repeated.

Oak is about the best wildlife species tree there is. The variety of animals that consume acorns is incredible. The habitat it produces is also significant. And lastly there is future value in the timber that will pay for the management activities in the next generation.

By spreading tree seed of a variety of species, we also hope to create a diverse wood lot. Diversity is always good for wildlife, and it is better at surviving a disease or outbreak of some sort of species disaster.

For instance, the ash trees across the country are going to die. Plain and simple it will happen, just like it happened to the elms and before that the chestnuts. The emerald ash borer (an insect) managed to get here from another country and it’s going to march across the nation like the 4th horseman.

So, if all we replanted at a timber was one species, the possibility exists that the woods could be devastated by something in the future.

Buckthorn is a topic unto itself, but for your new growth to be successful, we need to set it back, allow the new tree to be established, and get its branches up above the buckthorn. The only thing we can be thankful on the buckthorn is that it’s short and shrubby, so if we can get a valuable tree ahead of buckthorns growth, it will do all right.

The process of the harvest includes marking all the trees, adding up the lumber in those trees (number of board feet), then placing the trees on the market for a bid process. Letters are sent out to timber buyers around the state and they compete in a sealed bid process. The successful bidder is usually given a year and a half to come get his trees.

Back to Ochee.  With the major logging wrapping up in the shelter wood area (the North end), now will be the next process of crop tree release. There is a good stand of small trees that have been exposed by the removal of the mature timber. The best one every 30 feet will be selected. Anything with branches above, touching or beside that tree will be removed. Anything below it can be left. Soil fertility and moisture is usually not a problem in Iowa--it’s all about light--get the light to the valuable tree, and it will grow.

The initial harvest at Ochee was 35 acres. The remaining woods has been partitioned (on paper) into 4 acre sections. With the help of the ecology class, it is my plan to harvest 2 acres a year. This harvest will be done in a patchwork pattern to provide the most diversity of habitat for wildlife as growth is regenerated. This will be a clear cut of the logs. Followed by a bulldozer to uproot the buckthorn, and a replant of seeds and seedlings. It is an optimistic plan.