Looking for advise, our neighbors are getting their properties select cut. We walked our property notice a lot of dying trees we have around 5 acres we have had it since the late 70’s and has not been touched. We had the logger come and walk around he wants to select cut 16”+ we have white Oaks, red oaks that are fairly large/clean, and a bunch of pines. I have no clue how much lumber goes for what would be a fair price per tree?
cook8776
I had my property select cut in 2008
At the time I was out of work due to shoulder surgery. The money helped out , but would never do it again. Had a lot of Oak, Cherry & Ash cut. My woods now is mostly soft maple & hemlock. They filled in so fast that the 3 money trees never came back.
The last few years I have been girdling some of the maples & hemlock to get any oaks I find some light to them
At the time I was out of work due to shoulder surgery. The money helped out , but would never do it again. Had a lot of Oak, Cherry & Ash cut. My woods now is mostly soft maple & hemlock. They filled in so fast that the 3 money trees never came back.
The last few years I have been girdling some of the maples & hemlock to get any oaks I find some light to them
A logger will typically offer you about half the fair market value you would get on a sealed bid. A cut 16” and above will effectively remove all future timber value for the next 25:to 30 years. Your situation is a little different in that 5 acres is usually not cost effective to log going the sealed bid way. I would cut a deal with the logger for just the dead mortality. All trees with leaves are off limits. You’ll need to keep a sharp eye on the operation. PSU Forestry Extension has all the information you need on current prices, how to go about doing the project.
Like fishing coyote said get a good forester and let him guide you thru it . He`ll do all the leg work.
Reach out to Yellodog here on HPA. He is in the timber business and will be more than happy to help you. He is a good guy who ran his own logging company for years.
timber pricing/values can be worse the oil prices. I had a 20 acre farm with some nice timber. I got a fair quote and gave the go ahead, but before they could get me on the calendar, the bottom fell out and the mills stopped buying logs.
2 years ago I had 5 acres logged along with a few neighbors that all said was 35 acres. I have no idea what the neighbors were paid for having theirs “select”cut. I let them set up their staging area and they could not cut any oak off my 5 acres. I was paid $6k.
that same year I had 10 acres clear cut, as in take everything by a different logger at a different property. That property didn’t have any tree that did anything for the deer. Mostly ash, maple and a few birch. Most of the ash had the worms they get also. That job paid me $4k. The clearing is now loaded with 5-8 foot tall vegitation and is holding the deer pretty well.
I planted numerous oak saplings, dogwood and fruit trees with cages in that area so that in a few years it will be a hot spot. Then eventually get loaded with acorn too. I plan on select cutting the saplings that are naturally growing every few years to keep them from suffocating the oaks.
that same year I had 10 acres clear cut, as in take everything by a different logger at a different property. That property didn’t have any tree that did anything for the deer. Mostly ash, maple and a few birch. Most of the ash had the worms they get also. That job paid me $4k. The clearing is now loaded with 5-8 foot tall vegitation and is holding the deer pretty well.
I planted numerous oak saplings, dogwood and fruit trees with cages in that area so that in a few years it will be a hot spot. Then eventually get loaded with acorn too. I plan on select cutting the saplings that are naturally growing every few years to keep them from suffocating the oaks.
Select cuts are the best cut for deer habitat just make sure they have a rotation plan and don't high-grade your timber. They are especially prone to that. Leaving enough good genetics is the responsible thing to do.
Every property is different along with desires for it. Know what you want before the saws start.
Leaving some of those prime trees may be needed to achieve your goals.
White oak is paying well, but when they are gone, they are gone.
Good luck
Leaving some of those prime trees may be needed to achieve your goals.
White oak is paying well, but when they are gone, they are gone.
Good luck
I spent last Spring and early Summer helping a fellow cruise my property and mark trees 19 1.2" or larger at breast height for harvesting. Our reasoning was to leave trees up to 19" to help regenerate the forest and bring this half of the property in more of a timeline with the rest of the trees on the property. The next harvesting should take place in about 45 years.
I received five proposals and last Fall signed a contract with a lumber broker to timber off about half of my property in Bedford County. I met the logger at my property Sunday morning, last Christmas Eve, of all days. We traversed the property, traveling on the many roads I have throughout the property. He was quite impressed by the fellow that cruised the property and told me that he wanted to be included on all his future projects in the area.
As were were nearing the halfway point of our tour of the property and project, I noticed a small grin on Tom, the broker. I asked him what was so funny and he asked, "Do you have roads like this through the property?" I said "yes, didn't you walk the property?" He said he only walked about 100 yards of the property from the upper gate and was satisfied with the timber count in that section. So, he initially bid the rest of the job sight unseen. He said he never had a project like this with roads accessing the areas to be timbered.
He was planning on bringing two dozers to construct roads. He had one on site just to dress the roads and keep them passible. He'll bring the other one in when he starts the reclamation of the roads. The property has a gas well foundation the he used as a staging area. He's a whole tree logger so they bring the trees to the staging area where he cut them to length and loaded the trucks.
I visited the site one Monday afternoon and he was loading butt loads for shipment. Both of the entrance roads have uphill slopes and I told him that my father and I always wanted to create another road higher on the ridge so that we had access pretty much on the level. Tom took a step toward me and while tapping his fore finger on my chest, told me to locate the road and they'll be be glad to construct the road for me. He then went on to say they haven't had to build a road yet and it's quite a time and probably monetary savings to him. He then again stated that they're quite tickled the way the project is going and he said his cutter was claiming that they could be well completed by the end of March. Tom said he doubted that but it shouldn't be much longer than that then they'll start reclamation of the roads prior to growing season. The job was finished the end of March and reclamation started the first week of June after things dried out a bit.
I received five proposals and last Fall signed a contract with a lumber broker to timber off about half of my property in Bedford County. I met the logger at my property Sunday morning, last Christmas Eve, of all days. We traversed the property, traveling on the many roads I have throughout the property. He was quite impressed by the fellow that cruised the property and told me that he wanted to be included on all his future projects in the area.
As were were nearing the halfway point of our tour of the property and project, I noticed a small grin on Tom, the broker. I asked him what was so funny and he asked, "Do you have roads like this through the property?" I said "yes, didn't you walk the property?" He said he only walked about 100 yards of the property from the upper gate and was satisfied with the timber count in that section. So, he initially bid the rest of the job sight unseen. He said he never had a project like this with roads accessing the areas to be timbered.
He was planning on bringing two dozers to construct roads. He had one on site just to dress the roads and keep them passible. He'll bring the other one in when he starts the reclamation of the roads. The property has a gas well foundation the he used as a staging area. He's a whole tree logger so they bring the trees to the staging area where he cut them to length and loaded the trucks.
I visited the site one Monday afternoon and he was loading butt loads for shipment. Both of the entrance roads have uphill slopes and I told him that my father and I always wanted to create another road higher on the ridge so that we had access pretty much on the level. Tom took a step toward me and while tapping his fore finger on my chest, told me to locate the road and they'll be be glad to construct the road for me. He then went on to say they haven't had to build a road yet and it's quite a time and probably monetary savings to him. He then again stated that they're quite tickled the way the project is going and he said his cutter was claiming that they could be well completed by the end of March. Tom said he doubted that but it shouldn't be much longer than that then they'll start reclamation of the roads prior to growing season. The job was finished the end of March and reclamation started the first week of June after things dried out a bit.
Having done this at our camp several times over the last 30 years in different sections, if you want to regenerate oaks quickly - put concrete re-mesh cages on the oak stumps. The mesh will make cages 5 ft. tall, and can be made to a 4 ft. diameter. Set the cages over the oak stumps, and stake them with a metal post or 2 to keep deer / bears from tipping them over. The stored energy in the established root systems of the harvested oaks (or maples or cherry) will push new growth MUCH faster than planting seedlings from scratch. We had 7 ft. tall multiple oak trees growing from the stumps with cages on them in about 4 years. Cages keep deer from eating the young stump sprouts to death. Those oaks are now about 18 to 20 ft. tall after 7 years.
The stump-sprouted oaks can be thinned to the 2 or 3 best looking trees per stump by you, or left to self-thin themselves, which they will eventually do. Try caging your stumps!!! Keep new oaks coming for the future.
The stump-sprouted oaks can be thinned to the 2 or 3 best looking trees per stump by you, or left to self-thin themselves, which they will eventually do. Try caging your stumps!!! Keep new oaks coming for the future.
It's a good idea (and free) to have a DCNR forester come out and check your forest land and make suggestions. Here is a list of them, by county.
PDFProvider.ashx (pa.gov)
PDFProvider.ashx (pa.gov)
If you only have 5 acres it would have to be an incredible 5 acres of timber to entice a buyer to even look at it. The cost of moving equipment in would wipe out any potential profit. If you're dead set on having some trees cut teaming up with a neighbor is your best option. I don't know your goals but I wouldn't do the diameter limit cut unless you're desperate for cash. Those trees the biggest for a reason. They're genetically superior and are what you want to drop seed to regenerate the next forest, the complete opposite of what a diameter limit cut promotes. If you want to open the canopy I'd let them cut non mast producing species or anything else that's dead.
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