# How to cleanup after logging property



## flighthunter (Nov 21, 2005)

My in-laws had about 1/3 of their 40 acres near Lewiston select cut a few weeks ago. I think it turned out pretty good from an aesthetic view. They took all the 10”+ red and white pine, and all the other stuff regardless of size. Left a nice buffer from the road and close neighbor. We went up for the new year and as expected there is a lot of left over branches from the white/red pine tops. I can’t tell you how many times I heard my MIL bring up the “carnage” left behind. What’s the best/easiest way to get rid of this? Only ideas we had were pay a forestry muncher or move into piles and burn. Would prefer not to burn, no experience.


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

Give it a year and let mother nature take care of it.


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## stevieblunder (Feb 27, 2011)

Rent or buy a small chipper. Do not deny your MIL the satisfaction of once again cleaning up the carnage of life's little messes.


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## pgpn123 (May 9, 2016)

Move into piles or strips and leave em? Helps small critters.


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## Dead Ringer (3 mo ago)

I had my small parcel cut a couple times over the years. I made a few brush piles and cleared areas for a road, food plot and some trails (by throwing brush to the side) but otherwise just let the rest lay. As bad as it can look at first, you'd be surprised how fast mother nature can take care of that stuff.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Hand mother in law a new pair of gloves.
Oh wait , you meant your mother in law...


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Try and find a site that was harvested in the area one or two years ago, and go and visit it, along with any/all people that think some sort of “clean up” is now required. Ask them if they like wild Raspberries.

It also helps to understand that the more one ‘cleans up’ logging slash, the easier it is for the Deer to mow down the regeneration.

I used to have a customer who maniacally ‘cleans up’ his land, after harvests and before, too - & makes money (not much) doing it by selling the firewood; though that business has tighter & tighter margins all the time. Now, his understory is completely barren, everywhere, despite dozens of Deer being harvested annually from his hundreds of acres. He blames his neighbors for not shooting enough of them; meanwhile his blocks of planted Pine are the best holding cover for miles around. The guy is a Control Freak about whom most will conclude “life’s just too short to deal with this guy.”

Nevertheless it is not a completely unknown sentiment/attempt on the part of former urban dwellers new to life in the country: the thought that every piece of natural deadfall coming down off the trees MUST be somehow “cleaned up” because “we just want the property to look like a park.” I politely decline to help with Sisyphean tasks like that one.

After a harvest is a good chance to put in some new food plots or trails, and it is also often necessary to put in some time maintaining / re-opening trails that were present before the logging. After that, unless you need firewood or some additional money from firewood…I wouldn’t recommend cleaning up timber harvest sites.


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## Sasquatch Lives (May 23, 2011)

That stuff is good cover for wildlife.


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## sparky18181 (Apr 17, 2012)

To me it’s gonna depend on what type of natural regeneration you are going to get from having the area cut. If it’s going to regenerate, then in a few short years you won’t even be seeing that stuff because the new stuff will shoot up. A forestry mulcher will do the job but it s gonna cost you a bit to have about 15 acres done. I like the idea of visiting places where similar growth trees were removed and see what happened. Good luck


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## devo024 (Nov 10, 2005)

I read somewhere about a farm with goats taking old Christmas tree's for feed for them, but then you would have to haul all the branches.


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## ruskbucks (10 d ago)

I had my 80 cut 7 years ago select and some small clear-cut. The first year was hard to get around with all the tops laying around. The second year was alot easier. The third year you could hardly tell it had been logged. The tops were mostly hard maple, oak, and aspen. Tell your mother in law to take a chill pill and leave it alone. All those tops also protect the new regrowth of trees coming up.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Another helpful idea - it will all be a fair bit flatter come spring time. The White Pine branches will lose their needles relatively quickly and then that slash is far less noticeable. Red Pine will hold the brown needles a lot longer though.


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## Fish This! (Jun 25, 2006)

Our Forester recommends not trying to clear it out. They say the tops provide cover for the new growth in the first few years of development. I think as others said, after two or three years you will not really notice. It would be a good time to clear some for food plots or planting of a specific tree species if you want.


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## DanP (Mar 1, 2005)

We are now on our third cut - left tops - which break down and provide protection for new growth. On our
property deer will not let anything grow unless protected. will stack some tops around new growth or planted
small trees to give them a chance. Also on cut stubs to give a chance for regrown 10 year old cut hardly has anything left. 3 year old cut broken down by half. Current cut going on now which is heavy oak due to Oak Wilt we are trying to slow down.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

B.Jarvinen said:


> Try and find a site that was harvested in the area one or two years ago, and go and visit it, along with any/all people that think some sort of “clean up” is now required. Ask them if they like wild Raspberries.
> 
> It also helps to understand that the more one ‘cleans up’ logging slash, the easier it is for the Deer to mow down the regeneration.
> 
> ...


Leaving tops and slash leaves structure on an otherwise clean deck. That structure can be cover of sorts but better it protects some new growth a little. And can feed it over time.

Those who mushroom hunt see the oldest decaying material in it's latest stages as a kind of sponge of slightly raised material on the floor. 
That holds moisture. And lots of organisms / life.
And is destined to become part of the floors loam.
What is being released took many years to build in the former tree. Fire can release such too on non rotted timber /material , and much faster. But then the moisture retention is gone.
During dry spells in summer that makes a difference. By the time decent breakdown of trunks and limbs it getting going . shade from second growth is slowing the drying out. A good thing on poorer soils/ thin loams. The drying that can follow a removed canopy is worth slowing. Imagine a couple inch loam drying out above a mineral soil , and getting back to what little life it had in it prior is going to take quite a while.

Only one limited complaint from me about temporary (due to normal decomposition) deep slash (not on my property)
A softwood area had around a foot or more of trash and mice wintered well. With the flush of rodent success came a flush of tick success. 
And with fox and coyote and other critters hunting mice and voles ect. the spread of ticks wasn't hindered.
Add all the young second growth shoots for ticks to climb on the following harvest year....
But loam don't care about ticks. Nor does second or new stem growth.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

What is the goal? If habitat, leave it. If the goal is to look nice, wood chipper.


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## anagranite (Oct 23, 2010)

sureshot006 said:


> What is the goal? If habitat, leave it. If the goal is to look nice, wood chipper.


Finally someone asking what the customer actually wants or expects. 

I would drag all the tops/branches into piles for brushpile cover. I don't have the deer population to decimated the new growth and I'd also want to have clean open areas for food plots or switchgrass areas. 

But I don't own their property and they have several options. Forestry mulcher, burn brush, leave it, chip it, brush piles, or any combination.


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## wpmisport (Feb 9, 2010)

Put in 4 ponds and spread the dirt over the debris.

Could create a par three golf course but not necessary.


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## flighthunter (Nov 21, 2005)

Thanks for all the feedback. At this point the plan is to let it lie as is and drag some of the stuff near/visible by the cabin into piles. Looking forward to the explosion of growth this spring. The red and white pines taken were all huge, about 100 yr old according to the contractor. Maybe he was bsing, but he said the trees reach a point of peak value and start going down the older they get. I didn’t follow that logic, but I’m not a tree/lumber guy.

the deer are already hitting the leftover tops pretty heavy.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Pretty easy to tell if the logger was BSing about the age of the trees, go out and count the annual growth rings yourself. Growth rings on conifers are really easy to count because of the vast difference in color between early and late wood. The late wood is much darker. As far as the peak value thing, decay aside, age itself has nothing to do with it. That said, pines can get too large for the primary local markets. ie, UP this way any red pine logs over about 18" are too large to be used by the biggest buyer in the area merely because of the way the mill was constructed. Anything larger than that needs to go to smaller capacity sawmills looking for wood, the Amish buy some of that large wood but they don't want 100Mbf dumped on them all at once. Those guys do not normally want to pay as much per cord as the big buyers. FM


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## Petronius (Oct 13, 2010)




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