Your Woodlot After Harvesting: An Example
The Maine Forest Service has recently produced a good publication that helps landowners visualize what their stand might look like after a timber harvest. However, the MFS does not have the data required to present examples of volumes harvested in relation to stumpage received for harvested timber, and the volumes and values remaining in the residual stand. We do!
Here is a link to their publication:
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mfs/projects/what_will_my_woods_look_like/documents/wwmwll.pdf
Our first example is a client property that has been managed by SMFS since the early 1980’s. The forest is mixed in composition, with red oak, red maple and white pine making up most of the stand. This lot is well above average in quality, but is a good example of what a mixed white pine/hardwood forest growing on good soils can produce. The first treatment under our supervision was a mid-1980’s harvest aiming at improving the stand by removing short-lived balsam fir and low quality stems of various species left in previous harvests, as well as thinning quality white pine and hardwood stems to promote their vigor. Cutting was done with a chainsaw, and trees were pulled out of woods with a small skidder.
In 1998 this forest had a bad year. An ice storm in January was followed by a microburst in the summer which blew down a large number of trees. Trees damaged by ice and wind where removed by mechanical equipment and processed on a landing into various products. A thinning and improvement harvest was carried out in areas where mother nature had not done too much damage. The forest recovered and grew into a mixed growth stand composed primarily of white pine, red oak and red maple. The stems ranged from saplings and small 1-4” diameter poles to mature pine over 30” in diameter (See table below).
The forest was again treated with a harvest in the summer of 2018. The treatment had three goals: harvest mature stems, release large saplings and small pole size regeneration, and thin middle age stems for better growth and vigor. About 22 cords per acre were harvested, with a stumpage income of $1,264.00 per acre.
