Frank Winkler

My Timber Sales

My hours of work in the woods have had its financial rewards. I have had two successful sales managed by my forester. He marked and measured each tree, developed a bid and sent it out to dozens of potential bidders. After bids were received and bidder selected, he prepared a written contract with performance requirements and all payments before any harvesting. Things like landing site, protected areas, time constraints, insurance, water bars, stream crossings, clean-up and seeding. The forester held a $5,000 bond until everything was completed as planned. During harvest, develop a good relationship with the crew. Let them know you care about your woods and about their welfare. Mutual respect goes a long way toward attaining everyone’s goals.

The 2012 harvest was needed because hurricane Irene blew down about 130 crop trees. We moved the scheduled harvest up 3 years to make the most of a difficult situation. The economy was still slowly recovering, and we were not optimistic with bid prospects. My goal was to salvage blow-downs, mark ash heavily because of the threat of Emerald Ash Borer, go light on maple and cherry because of the weak economy, and heavily remove culls. We combined sales with my sister’s neighboring property to make a more attractive sale and reduce the need for more skid trails and a second landing. Three bids were received and were very close, which I think reflects the competition and skill of the buyers. (I wonder if the winning bid was successful because he had strong ties to the local firewood market for culls?) My share of total sales was better than I had expected.

Without the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars invested we would probably have had only one good timber sale in our lifetime. Selling timber had many benefits such as helping to finance our children’s college education and later their home improvements, trips to Alaska and Yellowstone, and savings for the grandchildren’s college education. Other benefits include opportunities for neighbors to buy many truckloads of firewood from my cull removal, improved wildlife habitat, business opportunities for local diesel fuel sales, chainsaw and other equipment sales and repair, and better

Frank Winkler

My Timber Sales

My hours of work in the woods have had its financial rewards. I have had two successful sales managed by my forester. He marked and measured each tree, developed a bid and sent it out to dozens of potential bidders. After bids were received and bidder selected, he prepared a written contract with performance requirements and all payments before any harvesting. Things like landing site, protected areas, time constraints, insurance, water bars, stream crossings, clean-up and seeding. The forester held a $5,000 bond until everything was completed as planned. During harvest, develop a good relationship with the crew. Let them know you care about your woods and about their welfare. Mutual respect goes a long way toward attaining everyone’s goals.

The 2012 harvest was needed because hurricane Irene blew down about 130 crop trees. We moved the scheduled harvest up 3 years to make the most of a difficult situation. The economy was still slowly recovering, and we were not optimistic with bid prospects. My goal was to salvage blow-downs, mark ash heavily because of the threat of Emerald Ash Borer, go light on maple and cherry because of the weak economy, and heavily remove culls. We combined sales with my sister’s neighboring property to make a more attractive sale and reduce the need for more skid trails and a second landing. Three bids were received and were very close, which I think reflects the competition and skill of the buyers. (I wonder if the winning bid was successful because he had strong ties to the local firewood market for culls?) My share of total sales was better than I had expected.

Without the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars invested we would probably have had only one good timber sale in our lifetime. Selling timber had many benefits such as helping to finance our children’s college education and later their home improvements, trips to Alaska and Yellowstone, and savings for the grandchildren’s college education. Other benefits include opportunities for neighbors to buy many truckloads of firewood from my cull removal, improved wildlife habitat, business opportunities for local diesel fuel sales, chainsaw and other equipment sales and repair, and better trails within my woods. The quality timber harvested helped to employ skilled loggers, and a local mill. The end products should be enjoyed by many—cabinets, hardwood flooring and furniture.

Trails

Forest trails are one of the most important forest features. If you have more than just a few acres, a good trail system is a necessity. It’s hard to enjoy your land if you cannot readily travel within it. If you need to do any work with a chainsaw, trails are needed, and at time of harvest a good trail system makes for an efficient harvest and good trails for future use. Work with your forester and logger to achieve a good network of trails. The old saying is very important: “Keep trails out of the streams and don’t allow streams in the trails.” Properly installed, waterbars are vital for long term road use. Work with your forester and logger to get them installed properly. Make sure the waterbars are shaped and located so that you can safely cross them with your equipment.

Immediately after the trails are finished I seed them, if between spring and October 10th. Immediately means before the freshly graded trail is rained on. I would delay late fall and winter seedings until snow melt in spring, but while the ground still freezes and thaws so that the seed will settle into the soil. Few people seed trails, but as a resource conservationist I want to quickly stabilize the soil, and protect my access network, while providing a food source for wildlife. I have not used fertilizer. I think there are enough available nutrients in the soil. I could be proven wrong (at least in places.)

The seeding mix I use is dominated by creeping red fescue. It’s one of the few grasses that grows in the shade, has a strong root system and stays short for trail hiking. It also helps reduce weed pressure. Shady conservation mixes are OK if they have a high percentage of shade tolerant fescues. I add white clover to the mix for wildlife, and wheat or cereal rye for a quick cover for soil protection and wildlife. I use a front mounted cyclone seeder on my ATV. I can quickly complete the job, but I do have to be very careful traveling over the new waterbars. They can easily tip an ATV. Once seeded, try to stay off the trails until cover is established.

Ponds

Ponds are an enjoyable feature. There’s something about a water feature and the wildlife it attracts. I have a few tips on how to avoid common short-comings. Get an experienced contractor. Get references. Tell him he/she must install a core trench. If they don’t know what you are talking about, they probably do not have the proper knowledge to build a pond that doesn’t leak. A core trench disrupts any permeable layer in the subsoil so that water does not flow under the berm. A soil test should be done to ensure that soils are suitable to hold water. This frequently isn’t a problem in the hills of the Catskills, but in other areas soils are too permeable to hold water. In those situations only a dugout pond into the water table will work. To reduce weed problems like cattails, minimize shallow water under 3-5 feet deep. If you want trout, you will need to have depths of over 10 feet, and either some springs in the pond or flowing into the pond to keep water temperatures cool. Bass seem to tolerate most anything. If you plan on mowing around the pond keep slopes no steeper than a 4 to 1 ratio. If you want to maximize habitat for ducks and other wildlife have plenty of shallow water and leave large areas undisturbed with shrub vegetation (perhaps mow once every 3-4 years). There are several good publications available for guidance from the Catskill Forest Association, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Cooperative Extension and on-line. ~