Sunday, March 21, 2010

Excellent Weekend

After cutting firewood Saturday and again Sunday, I thought this afternoon would be good for a recovery ride.  I rode the Black Bear Ride at about 60 degrees and a medium southwest wind.  Just nice to out.

This is a start to replenish the wood we burned this last winter.

We just make piles along the trails and then sneak our plow/wood truck through the trails later to haul it in.

When I went by the Black Bear Golf and Tennis Club late this afternoon, there were still golfers out.  Back in the day, I would have been one of the first out there, but now I don't hurry it.  I still play the pasture pool, just not as intensly.

I went by some wood cutting of a little bigger scale than what we did this weekend on todays ride, so I stopped and shot a couple pictures.  This is a young, about 30 to 40 years old, Red Pine planting that is getting it's first thinning.  It is what they call an every 3rd row cutting.  They will cut one row and leave two, cut one, leave two.  They will get about two or three 100" long sticks per tree on a first thin.
This would be what they call a woods road.  They pile the wood alongside the woods road, or what they refer to as a landing, and then truck it out to either a railroad spur to be hauled by rail car, or truck it directly to the mill.
They cut the wood these days with what is called a processor...didn't see the processor...and bring it to the landing with this unit called a forwarder.  If there is any interest, I will do a more indepth post on a logging site a little later. 

3 comments:

  1. On my many trips to the woods, I see all this logging equipment, but I have no idea of the process or the names of the machines, so please continue. It's an education that I didn't even know I needed.

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  2. Ah yes, the smell of fresh-sawn red pine is near and dear to my heart. I marked many red pine plantations while I worked in Wisconsin (Marathon County Forest).

    Seeing the processors and forwarders is a like a trip down memory lane. All wood cut here in NE Indiana is by chain saw and skidded with grapple skidders.

    Douglas County Forest is the largest County Forest in Wisconsin, and is larger than many National Forests. It is quite a resource.

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  3. brother yam...I will throw something together.

    Big Oak...My Dad is 20 years retired from Douglas County Forestry. He marked and run many timbersales in his day. My son has followed in his footsteps, and works for Wausau Paper. My son does it much different than my Dad. With computers, GPS and GIS technogly...I am preaching to the choir...

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