I don’t understand the concept of taking all the pine needles, dead trees, dead animals, undergrowth out of the woods. What feeds the forest, when all these things are removed?
[QUOTE=saultgirl;8004934]
I don’t understand the concept of taking all the pine needles, dead trees, dead animals, undergrowth out of the woods. What feeds the forest, when all these things are removed?[/QUOTE]
In fire zones those things feed the fires as well.
It depends on what you do with your strip of forest and where you are.
Modern forests are like fields: you plant, cultivate, then harvest. Sick and dead stuff comes out.
A small strip like that is probably enough to keep you in firewood, if managed carefully.
[QUOTE=Alagirl;8004978]
In fire zones those things feed the fires as well.
It depends on what you do with your strip of forest and where you are.
Modern forests are like fields: you plant, cultivate, then harvest. Sick and dead stuff comes out.
A small strip like that is probably enough to keep you in firewood, if managed carefully.[/QUOTE]
You missed the feeding/fertilizing part?? When you continue to remove harvest from the land, the land is eventually depleted.
[QUOTE=saultgirl;8004934]
I don’t understand the concept of taking all the pine needles, dead trees, dead animals, undergrowth out of the woods. What feeds the forest, when all these things are removed?[/QUOTE]
Agreed. Unless this is a woodland that needs fire (like Longleaf pines) there is nothing written that says thou shalt vacuum the woods.
We have 20+ acres of woodland/woods/forest that we pretty much don’t touch. We don’t harvest it, we don’t mess with it, it just is. And we’ve cut walking paths and riding paths through it. We just enjoy it. Alagirl’s definition of a modern forest describes a pine plantation monoculture, which does not equal a modern forest. I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a ‘modern forest.’
We enjoy a mix of beech, long leaf, virginia, loblobby, sour wood, cherry, persimmon, and many more varieties of trees and the attendant wildlife. Because we don’t burn, we’ve planted a few long leaf pines to keep them going.
If I did buy this, it wouldn’t be managed as such- I’d take out pine, replant with native trees and maybe make a trail to ride on.
10 acres is not a lot of land …
Not sure if you want the wood for heating? Or sell the wood?
Or are you going to clear some so you can ride on it?
I have 80+ acres here.
There is about 50 acres of hay fields and the rest is mixed woodland (pine/cedar/maple/oak etc) with a couple of short trails cut through… and I can hack around the perimeter of the fields in 20 minutes!
We have never cleared out any dead stuff… only fallen hardwood trees. We have never touched dead leaves/needles
I’d buy it mainly for conservation. It doesn’t need to make money, but I don’t want to lost money on it. (Different from spending money to replace trees or whatever.)
Choked out understory is not conducive to second story trees/shrubs or the plants. I like the understory plants so I clear out our small woodland.
I decided not to go ahead with this. The access isn’t as good as I’d have liked, and my expert thinks I can find a better patch of land to do what I want to do. It’s a very cool place, just not the right thing for me.
