Woodsman, spare that tree.or maybe not

WSU Extension Bugs and Blights series

Learn to recognize conifer decline in the landscape, determine the cause, and take proper action.

 

EVERETT, Wash. –Threats to our backyard and neighborhood forests can come from insects, diseases, the environment, and more. Often, it’s only after the tree comes down that homeowners learn the roots were full of rot, destined to topple in the next good breeze. Unfortunately, the symptoms may be subtle and mimic other less serious problems, or be missed altogether. The last Bugs & Blights session for 2008 will focus on the multiple causes of conifer decline, a common problem throughout the Pacific Northwest.

 

In this two-hour workshop you’ll learn to recognize the symptoms of a broad variety of conifer health issues along with a host of corrective measures and next steps. The class is offered three times on Wed. Nov. 19th at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. Location is WSU Snohomish County Extension, Cougar Auditorium, 600 – 128^th St SE, Everett, WA 98208.

 

Topics covered will include the distinction between foliage diseases and general decline with samples and diagnostic tools. Both needle- and scale-type trees will be covered. The forest surrounding Extension’s McCollum Park offices provide living and dying examples in the hands-on lab portion of the class.

 

Cost is $20 per person or $10 for active Master Gardeners. To register call (425) 338-2400, e-mail klchristen.cahnrs-wsu-edu or download the form at www.snohomish.wsu.edu/ag/workshops/registrationform.pdf and mail with your check. WSDA pesticide recertification credits as well as WSNLA CPH credits are available.

 

For more information, contact Sharon Collman, collmans-wsu-edu, (425) 357-6025.

 

About the teachers:

Sharon Collman leads Snohomish County’s horticulture education program, including assistance to Master Gardeners and garden writers, as well as production, marketing and pest management to the nursery and landscape industries in Snohomish County. She also provides expertise in plant problem diagnosis, beneficial insects, entomology networking, and backyard biodiversity.

 

Dave Pehling has been studying and teaching about insects for WSU Snohomish County Extension since 1978. Special interests include beekeeping, insect pest management, and pollinators. In addition to entomological work, Dave teaches vertebrate pest management for the WSU Master Gardener and Livestock Advisor programs in several Western Washington counties.

 

 

Small Log Conference - Mar. 25-27, 2009

Small Log Conference

Living Locally, Surviving Globally

Mar. 25-27, 2009

Coeur d’Alene Resort, Idaho

 

Topics Include

Identifying Opportunities / Profitable Products

Forest Land Ownership / Timber Supply

Emerging Markets for Small Logs

Forest Health Crisis – Solutions & Opportunities

Globalization / Competitiveness

Biomass / Bioenergy / Biofuels

Networking with industry leaders & colleagues

 

http://www.timberbuysell.com/slc/Information/Speakers.htm. 

 

2009 DNR Eastern WA Forest Landowner Cost-Share Changes

The new DNR E WA cost-share application packet, effective October 1, 2008, changes include:

1) Increase in thinning and slash disposal rates.

2) Elimination of planting and seedling protection practices (per direction from FS).

3) Eligibility of non-federal public lands...

4) All of Skamania county is now included in the geographic area covered by the program.

5) Additional text re: other programs, including EQIP, FFFPP, and FREP.

DNR will continue to accept any applications submitted on forms from previous years.

Establishing Basis to Reduce Taxes

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A multimedia guide for establishing “basis” on forestland, produced by Oregon State University Forestry Extension, can help reduce federal tax liabilities for forestland owners.

“Establishing ‘basis’ is one of the fundamental topics in forestland taxation,” said Extension forester Bob Parker, who created the guide with Norman Elwood, Extension forestry specialist emeritus. “It represents the maximum amount the IRS allows to be deducted over time when making timber

sales.”

The step-by-step guide shows how to establish “basis,” the financial starting point for calculating a forestland owner’s tax liability on income from timber sales.

“Although it’s easiest to establish ‘basis’ when property is purchased,” Parker said, “the guide also explains how to do retroactive ‘basis’ calculations any time after the purchase.”

The guide package includes a CD containing a 47-minute audiovisual presentation, lecture notes and a Basis allocation worksheet. It runs on PCs using Windows NT 4.0 or later, Windows 98 or Windows XP; with Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 or later.

Called “Forestland Taxes: The Importance of Establishing BASIS,” the guide can be purchased for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling) by going to the OSU Extension Service’s online catalog:

 

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/abstract.php?seriesno=EM+8941

 

 

Forest field trip - visit to a commercial thinning, one year later

We spent the day on a field trip organized by the Washington State University Extension. We visited a 120-acre thinning that was done last year. The object was to observe the condition of the stand today, and learn about their low-impact logging and options for post-treatment.

The owner of 240 acres wanted to clear out old skid trails and thin about half of their property. Their neighbors each own 20 acres, and each wanted to thin about 10 acres. John Malone, a local consulting forester, worked with the three owners. They hired a local logging company with equipment for skyline logging, although most of the job was done with ground skidding.

Photos:

Top - Wildlife biologist Jim Bodoff with WSU's Andy Perleberg and forester John Malone.

Below - Forest fire ecology expert Dick Schellhaas.

The property looked pretty good for a logging operation. We walked past some slash piles (re-piled because they didn’t burn well the first time) and stood in a stand of mixed P-Pine and D-Fir. There was very little slash on the ground, and no evidence there of excessive damage along skid routes. Fir limbs were scattered everywhere, sometimes collected on the uphill sides of trees. Some tops and snags remained. The stand was about 250 trees per acre, and what we saw was about 100 TPA (although the forester said it was 80).

The density wasn’t as notable as the stem size: John believes in leaving the best trees and harvesting the rest. The trees remaining in this stand were spaced at 20-25 feet and almost everything was 14-20 inches dbh.

Logging operation

John explained how the loggers contracted what he calls a “hot saw” to cut the trees. We considered using a feller-buncher on our property, but it didn’t work out. This is a large machine – either a rubber-tired or excavator-like tracked machine -- that has a grapple head and saw combined. The machine grabs a tree (sometimes 2 smaller ones) and cuts them off low. Then it can lay the trees down in any direction. Essentially it creates small decks as it moves through the woods.

A grapple skidder picked up each deck and skidded it out to the landing, “guts, feathers and all.” The limbs and tops were piled at the landing, which made for some huge burn piles. The logs were sorted into Pine, Fir and pulp.

That method reduced the forest slash enough that the owners avoided a clean-up operation afterward. There was very little damage to standing trees from skidding, and practically no damage from falling trees. The stumps were very low, too.

Saw logs around here go to Sierra Pacific in Mount Vernon, Hampton in Darrington, or Boise-Cascade in Idaho. All are long hauls that quickly eat up the revenue. Closer-in mills pay so low that foresters won’t consider using them. This project started when Fir was at $580/mbf (Darrington). Then it dropped to $480, but they switched to Idaho mill and got the higher price for the remainder of their product. John says the owners made money on the harvest, but won’t say how much.

A light thinning “from below” (taking the smallest trees) typically renders about 2 MBF/acre, John said. The 10-acre cuts produced 8-10 MBF each.

Disposing of slash

We had a debate about whether mulching or chipping was a good idea. Several people have recommended it to us – we get a lot of free advice around here, and it usually begins with “why don’t you just…” – but we’re burning our piles this winter.

Wildlife proponents want the piles left for habitat. Clean air advocates want them chipped. Wildfire experts want them burned in the middle of the next winter. There was no conclusion.

Someone said wood chips make good road surfacing: I hadn’t heard this idea before, and I had my doubts. Others concurred that it didn’t sound like a great idea, especially if the road is a fire line. Chips would carry the fire across the line. Wood debris takes decades to turn into dust. They would tend to float to the surface in wet conditions. Deep chips are hard to drive in.

There are markets for chips. Avista, an energy utility with plants on the Washington-Idaho border, buys chips and there people who will come onto your property and do the chipping and hauling. (The person didn’t say what Avista pays, but said they’re importing chips from Canada and paying the cost of $2-$4/ton to haul).

Re-seeding

We talked about seed mixes. Native seeds are expensive. We’ve been ordering comparables from Western Seed, and found it affordable enough to compensate for the shipping (we order about 150 lbs at a time and have it shipped UPS). Everyone agreed that you have to seed disturbed areas after logging. These owners had not done it, and John relegated that responsibility to them. We saw plenty of noxious weeds on our walk through this stand, especially in the roads. Seeding an aggressive native or foraging mix helps get ahead of weeds and prevent erosion.

Lumber production hits decade low, even with weak dollar boosting exports

Portland Business Journal, September 19, 2008---Thanks to the flagging housing market, lumber production at Western sawmills in 2007 plummeted to the lowest annual volume in more than a decade.

 

Data released Thursday by the Portland-based Western Wood Products Association show that mills in 12 Western states produced 16.32 billion board feet of softwood lumber in 2007, down 9.3 percent from the previous year.

 

Since reaching an all-time record of 64.3 billion board feet in 2005, lumber demand has dropped by 12 billion board feet — equivalent to the annual production in Oregon, Washington and California.

 

...the article doesn't mention exports, but this earlier story did...the US is both an importer and exporter of lumber...

Northwest lumber exports jump from weaker dollar

 

Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle), May 23, 2008 -- The weak dollar and soft U.S. housing market are strengthening Northwest lumber exports.

In contrast, slow U.S. housing starts and the falling demand for structural wood are throttling Northwest lumber mills, with many of them closing or curtailing operations.

The weak dollar helps U.S. lumber exports become more competitive against lumber from other sources, because the U.S. lumber costs less.

 

These are excerpts. Follow the links to the full stories.

Compost from wood

Dr. Henry has done research and consulting on the use of compost created from chipping of trees that have been thinned for the purposes of fuels reduction and forest health.

 

 “To Waste or Not to Waste”

Dr. Chuck Henry, a University of Washington lecturer and environmental engineer specializing in soils and sustainability, will be speaking in the Barn at Barn Beach Reserve [in Leavenworth] on Friday, September 19 at 7 pm about waste reduction, recycling, composting and resource conservation. This program will be of interest to anyone concerned about the patchwork of recycling programs in the Wenatchee Valley, the impact of the municipal burn ban; managing your yard waste, the challenge of forest land fuel reduction; or clean air and clear skies.

 

 

For more information:

 

Jeff Parsons

Executive Director

Barn Beach Trust

Mailing address:  PO Box 2073

Leavenworth, Washington  98826

Location: 347 Division, Leavenworth, WA

Business Phone:  (509) 548-0181

Mobile Phone:  (509) 264-4905

Web Site:  www.barnbeachreserve.org

 

Wildfire TV special "In the Line of Duty" from DNR

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) aired a 30-minute television special, In the Line of Duty, which takes viewers on a journey into the charred aftermath of a wildfire start. This television special joins a DNR wildfire investigator as he follows up on an earlier 911 call. DNR investigates wildland fires to locate and understand the point of origin, cause, and, when necessary, locate and identify the person(s) responsible.

The show will be available to fire prevention staff for fire prevention outreach and education.

Most human-caused fire starts are unintentional and caused by carelessness. In Washington State, debris burning is the leading human-caused source of wildfire starts, followed by recreation-related causes. DNR issues citations with fines when it determines a fire was caused by negligence.

“In the Line of Duty” aired on Northwest Cable News Sunday, September 7 and KXLY & KXMN Spokane / Coeur d’Alene Sunday, September 14

For more information on burning, go to DNR’s website at www.dnr.wa.gov. Click on ‘Fire Information & Prevention’ and go to ‘Wildfire Related Maps’ or call 800-323-BURN. For tips on how to reduce the risk of wildfire to communities, homes and families, log on to www.firewise.org. 

DNR is responsible for preventing and fighting wildfires on 12.7 million acres of private and state-owned forestland. DNR is the state’s largest on-call fire department, with hundreds of people trained and available to be dispatched to fires when needed. During fire season, this includes several hundred DNR employees who have other permanent jobs with the agency, about 375 seasonal workers, and about 500 Department of Corrections’ inmates who also participate in suppressing wildfires. DNR also participates in Washington’s interagency approach to wildland firefighting and relies on private sector contractors for certain firefighting resources.      

 

Class in Milling & Manufacturing for FSC Markets

Our forest is certified sustainable by "the other FSC," namely ATFS (American Tree Farm System from American Forest Foundation). Green building is catching on in the NW. There's not a FSC or ATFS mill anywhere near our land, but this market could make sense for some timberland owners -- even getting into small-scale milling as a family operation. Here's a copy of the invitation from NW Natural Resource Group:

 

Date: Sept. 17, 2008

Time: 1:00 – 5:00

Location: Tumwater, WA

For more info. and to register, 360-379-9421 or visit: http://www.nnrg.org/news-events/events/9-17-milling-manufacturing-for-fsc-markets/

 

 

You’re invited to attend:

 

Milling & Manufacturing for FSC Markets

A primer for wood manufacturing businesses

 

Date: Wednesday, Sept. 17^th, 2008

Tumwater, WA

 

Seminar description:

Demand for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products is quickly growing in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the country. Driven primarily by the residential and commercial green building industry, homeowners, architects and builders are increasingly specifying locally produced and FSC-certified wood products.

 

This afternoon technical session will highlight current and emerging markets for certified wood products and provide an introduction to FSC chain-of-custody (CoC) certification for wood manufacturing businesses. FSC certified business owners will discuss their experiences with chain-of-custody certification and the certified marketplace.

 

This session will provide an ideal networking opportunity for businesses interested in marketing FSC wood products. Attendees will include: FSC certified landowners, wood manufacturers, mill operators, wholesale distributors, retail lumber yards and other companies and organizations who participate in the FSC chain-of-custody network in the Pacific Northwest. During a post-conference social hour, participants will have an opportunity to network while enjoying hors devours.

 

If you are interested in capitalizing on a quickly growing niche market, this seminar is for you!

 

Topics will include:

• FSC chain-of-custody 101

• Green building programs in WA

• FSC markets: regional, national & interntl.

• What FSC products are in demand

• How to find FSC timber & lumber

• Growth trends in FSC markets

• FSC certified companies in the Pacific NW

• FSC marketing strategies

 

 

Once trees fall, they're hard to get back up

Sometimes I feel like I should name a log and keep track of where it goes in the house, so I can tell the story of harvesting it.

<<This photo: The last of 16 logs parked at the edge of the canyon.

We found about 16 excellent house logs in a dense stand of fir on the very steep east wall of a ravine we call "the canyon." I cut them, sometimes perched on the most tenuous footholds in the dirt while I sawed. Climbing up out of the canyon with a chainsaw was a workout. The next chore was to get the logs out of the canyon and onto flat ground. This was not so easy, either.

Imagine a beautiful August day, sun, a slight breeze. In most cases, the log's butt is on one side of the ravine, and the top is on the other, spanning the gap like a footbridge. At mid-span the log is 10-20' off the ground.

150' of winch cable barely reaches the first log we try to pull. Sitting on the tractor looking down over the edge, my partner can't see me or the log. With 2-way radios we signal when it's safe for her to pull with the winch, or for me to re-approach the log to see why the winch doesn't budge it. Our efforts merely pull the 3,000+ lb tractor closer to the edge of the brushy abyss. We try creating a block and tackle with one block, then two, then three. We get nowhere, and finally go elsewhere on the property to skid some easier logs, rather than make the day a complete loss.

There were 16 straight, sturdy logs on the ground down there, and we were determined to get them. Times like this call for heavier equipment. Our neighbor happens to have some.

Enter the 1950's-era Caterpillar D-2 with double winches. Apparently this is a real novelty -- what's even more novel is that it still runs -- and within a few days we had it parked on the rim of the canyon. For safety, it was chained to a second Caterpillar. When this much diesel smoke is flying, heavy things tend to get moving.

Heavy things did indeed move -- the two Cats were dragged to the edge, while the log sat stationary. I cut the top 20-30' off the tree. With both winches pulling, and an hour of trial and error, the first log finally made the trip to the top. 15 to go. All had to be topped in the canyon.

<< This photo: Caterpillar D-2 with double winches. Some trees took both winches, often pulling from different angles, to recover.

In the first day we got 6 logs, and things started going much better. The second day we got another 6. The third day we got the remaining 4. It was a marvelous thing, to stand by and watch a 60-80' log make the trip to the top in under a minute. It was like watching a train go by.

Each log we winched individually to the edge, then hooked to the larger Cat and dragged it onto the level deck. Once on deck, we manufactured each log -- cut off the limbs and stubs of broken limbs, cut off any swollen butts or "pistol butts," cut off sections with extreme sweep. We sometimes cut long logs into manageable lengths. One log was 74' long, longer than the house, and that log made a 42' and a 32'. Then we dragged them behind the tractor to the house-log deck, where they will stay until the sawmill arrives.

Thank goodness our neighbor had the equipment, and was willing to devote the time to help us get these logs out of the canyon! It was another of those episodes that make this project the experience of a lifetime for us.

Photos from do-it-yourself logging operation

Here's my helper holding one end of the tape while I measure a 50-foot house log. We have to keep an inventory so we know when to stop cutting down our big trees. This is our house log deck, where we keep the prime-quality logs for building. Other decks, for firewood and pine logs, aren't so neatly stacked.

This is a hillside where we've cut trees and now are in the process of yarding them out of the forest. The near end of the 120' cable is attached to a 4WD tractor on a road. The other end is attached to the log that is pointing at the camera. Other logs are staged here to be bundled and skidded to the deck.

In the background are many acres of trees yet to be thinned. You can see the leaning firs, indicating root system instability -- usually a form of butt rot, which travels from fir to fir. We have 3 major pockets of laminated root rot, which is unfortunate. The only remedy is to cut all fir in the pockets, then replant with pine. In our case, each pocket will become part of a fire/fuel break to help protect our home.

Forest Land Stewardship Plan coached writing classes

Small forest landowners in the Northwest are holding off on their timber harvests for a while as they wait for the timber market to improve. Some foresters say to be prepared to wait as long as 10 years.

It's a good time to focus more on planning future management activities. We have a Forest Land Stewardship Plan that outlines our goals for this property, and our plans for managing our forest in a safe, healthy, sustainable way. It takes time to write, and lots of research.

Last year I took an 8-week class offered by WSU Extension and WA DNR. The class is called "Coached Planning" because each week it focuses on a different chapter of the Forest Management Plan. Owner/participants wrote a chapter a week and presented plans at the end. The instructors are available to help with individual plans, and they sign off on the plans when they're done.

The class was a terrific education -- in forest health, fire, harvesting and sale, even cultural considerations -- for me as a small forest landowner. Getting so much help in one place, and a plan written in 2 months, is a great opportunity. If something like it is offered in your region, I strongly urge you to sign up.

Having a Plan has helped us to qualify for government cost-sharing programs that have been worth thousands of dollars to us, so far. The Plan helped us get the land into a much lower property tax class. It also helped our property qualify for American Tree Farm System (our local FSC equivalent) status as a sustainably managed forest.

WA Class Info:

Washington DNR and Washington State University Extension are offering Forest Stewardship Coached Planning Courses around the state in fall and winter 2008-09. These coached planning events are hands-on, practical classes that help landowners to prepare their own forest stewardship plan with guidance from natural resource professionals. Regardless of your ownership size, large or small, this 6 to 9 week course will equip you with tools to feel confident in managing your forestland. The plan you create may help you to qualify for cost-share programs and reduce your property tax rates. Below is a list of scheduled courses, and this list is certain to grow before the fall arrives. Please visit http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/newsevents/forststewardship.htm for further information and to learn about other courses as they are scheduled.

September 9 – October 23, 2008, Colville, WA, contact Janean Creighton, e-mail jcreighton (a) spokanecounty * org

September 17 – November 5, 2008, Mercer Island, WA, contact Amy Grotta, amy.grotta ( a) kingcounty *gov

February 24 – April 21, 2009, Everett, WA, contact Kevin Zobrist, kzobrist (a ) wsu* edu

Long-Term Forest Practices Applications (15-year logging permit)

We took out a permit two years ago in anticipation of a commercial thinning operation on our parcel. The commercial operation never came to be, for various reasons, so the permit isn't actually being used. However, its 2-year maximum term and impending expiration pressured us to make certain decisions when we would rather have waited.

Effective 2008, Washington now offers a Long-Term Forest Practices Application to small forest owners. Long-Term permits are valid for 3 to 15 years once they’re approved, and the landowner chooses the timeframe.

The main benefit for forests is that small landowners are encouraged to do some longer-term planning. With short-term permits, landowners tended to harvest once per generation, and they over-harvest as a result. I've watched my neighbors do it, and I understand the pressure they're under.

A long-term permit doesn't reduce the overhead costs of logging, but it allows small-scale harvesting or an ongoing operation if the landowner is in a position to do it that way. If a severe winter leaves loads of blow-down or snags, an owner can respond -- without the paperwork and waiting period of a short-term application. If pulp markets rise, an owner can quickly harvest poles. Than he can wait several years if necessary for the saw log or house log market to improve, before cutting larger timber. It makes sense.

What we need now are more options for getting small-scale logging done. Loggers won't return calls if you have fewer than 40 acres, or if you don't want to cut for the maximum allowable immediate yield. Their financial model requires (a) cutting large, profitable, Fir saw logs, and (b) hauling out enough timber to leave a profit after the cost of move-in and move-out. We need some loggers who are set up to do small harvests profitably.

Completing a Long-Term Application can be more work than filing a standard application, but once you have one, you’re able to go out and implement your plan whenever the timing is right for you. Currently, the Small Forest Landowner Office has Jeff Galleher (program manager) and Jenni Dykstra (Fish and Wildlife Biologist) available to assist landowners and DNR field foresters with Long-Term Applications. To get started, call your local DNR stewardship forester.

Logging forks for a front loader tractor

We've been pushing logs around with the bucket of our Kubota L3400, waiting to find the right implement for lifting and handling logs. Today, with the help of a neighbor, we made some simple but effective forks that mount onto the bucket.

The two forks are 18" long, tapering from the tip to 2" high at the edge of the bucket, and 3/4" thick steel. Each tapered fork widens into a piece 10" long and 5" high that bolts to the sidewall of the bucket with 2 @ 5/8" bolts. Pictures if anyone wants them. The tapered shape shields the sharp cutting plate on each end of the bucket lip, and keeps those from scarring our house logs.

After some practice, I can drive up to a log on the ground, fork under it, roll the bucket back, pick up the log, and set it on top of a log deck.

It's not practical to carry 30' logs around the property this way. Imagine walking with a fishing rod sideways in your mouth. And there are large logs that it won't lift because they weigh more than the 1,000 lb lifting capacity of the bucket. For most of our work, though, this is a good setup.

I have to be squarely facing the log when I start, or it ends up on just one fork and causes problems if I try to drag it around like that. Uneven ground complicates the operation -- one fork goes into the ground before the other gets under the log. And it's tricky to judge the center of balance of a log, and misjudging will result in a spilled log (and sometimes a tippy tractor).

I looked at "logger forks" for sale online (Paynes, $460) and a simple cutting tooth bar for the bucket ($340). Palette-length forks were too long to be practical, and the teeth were too short. The Paynes forks had a nice safety feature, which I have yet to design into our forks: bars that prevent the log from rolling back toward the operator. It is easier than you might think to get the bucket high and tilted back too far. One error could be deadly.

Do-It-Yourself Logging

Another successful 3-day stint of logging. We cut more fir from a fuel break along our down-slope boundary line, on a bank above a log landing. Three are suitable for house logs. This was our most productive morning. The trees conveniently* fell into the landing, so minimal skidding was involved. However, it was like crawling around in a giant game of Pick-Up-Sticks while we limbed and bucked the logs -- and a puzzle figuring out how to work around them with the tractor-loader.

 

 *One small tree set back on my saw and eventually fell the adverse direction. It's been a while since I had one of those, but in the beginning they were routine. I bent two saw bars earlier this year, learning how to avoid stuck saws. Before we got the tractor, we were hooking up a come-along to a nearby tree and working for 20 minutes to bring down hung trees. We hooked the tractor to the butt of this one and pulled it down in a minute while we watched from the safe end of a 30' cable.

 

We spent the better part of a day finishing off a quarter-acre stand on the opposite corner of the property. We had cut everything weeks ago, so we just needed to skid everything out and pile up the slash. Now the stand is neat and nicely spaced. It's in a corner of our driveway and one of the first things we see when driving in, so it's good to have that done. Now the stands on both sides of our gate are finished.

 

Background: We're logging our 20-acre stand because a commercial harvest is uneconomical. The parcel is too small, there's a height-restricted bridge, we're far from a mill, and we're keeping the best logs for building. Ours is a certified sustainable forest, managed to a plan we wrote 3 years ago with help from many experts. Thinning is necessary because of forest fire danger. We're getting modest but meaningful financial help from Washington state government funds targeted to reduce forest fuels and improve timber health.

 

Kubota Tractor for our Logging Operation

We've been using a neighbor's small bulldozer for building skid roads, and a borrowed Ford 2000 tractor for skidding logs. A 2wd tractor isn't really suitable for our steep terrain, and skidding logs with the dozer disturbs soils much more than we would like.

So we went shopping for used 4wd tractors. The ideal for our budget was a 30-40 HP diesel tractor with a front loader and a 3-point hitch, in good condition with less than 3,000 hours on it. Here in Washington those are rare. Tractors we found were either high priced ($15k+) or high hours (6,500+).


After a few weeks of searching, we checked into new tractors and found that they were not that much more expensive. $15k gets you a nice new tractor with a warranty. $17k gets you a hydrostatic transmission, sun shade, tire upgrade, ballast in the rear tires, and delivery. Kubota was offering $0 down and 0% financing for 42 months. It doesn't get much easier.




PHOTO: We bought a Kubota L3400 (35 HP, 4wd) with a front loader. It's a small farm tractor, very popular with orchardists in this area. My brother makes the tractor look even smaller than it is: He's 6'8" tall without his hardhat.

The tractor has enough power for about 90% of our logs, and usually we can buck the big logs that make up the other 10%, or use a block and tackle, to make them skiddable. Its light weight is an issue in the soft dry soils where we're working. The machine routinely loses traction, but in 4wd with the differential lock engaged, it's more likely to stall than to spin out all 4 tires.

We attach 1 to 3 logs to the lift bar using short chains and grab hooks, or sometimes a small grapple. Lifting the bar raises the butts of the logs off the ground, so skidding doesn't disturb the forest floor and tear up roads as much as it otherwise would. (There's still a lot of impact.)

PHOTO: Looking down from the tractor seat while my brother loops a chain around a log. The chain has a slip hook on one end, to connect tightly around the log. The other end goes into a grab hook connected to the tractor's lift bar. We carry two of these setups on the lift bar, plus a little grapple that I can sometimes drop onto a log without dismounting the tractor. The grapple tends to release unexpectedly en route, but at the end of the trip it rarely comes off the log without my help.

Logging becomes a family affair

Do-it-yourself logging is not for the faint of heart. With help from the family, we're starting to make progress. I was glad to already be in decent physical condition!



PHOTO: My brother carrying a choker cable, helping to skid logs out of some challenging locations.

We started several weeks ago, and initially spent much of our time developing the infrastructure necessary to carry out the logging operation. We needed skid roads, landings, deck areas, and a good place to store house logs. Each of these took a long time to build, but then we got down to logging.



Once we got the hang of the process (and got better with a chain saw) it was relatively easy for two of us to spend a morning and fell 10-15 trees, limb them, and skid them out of the woods, and land them on a log deck. That's allowing for the tree that hangs in the crown of another, or whatever.



My brother thought logging sounded like great manly fun, so he flew up from Austin to help for 4 days. He was a tremendous help. If he was dreaming of a new career in logging, he probably has reconsidered!


Together we cut a few trees and mostly pulled logs out of a deep ravine. We used a snatch block and 150' of steel cable to reach the choker and pulled the logs up the steep slope one at a time. Radios were extremely useful, because the tractor operator couldn't see the other person, or the logs, at all.

We took the hot afternoons off from logging to do other chores. We built a spool for the tractor's 3-point connector. It's not a winch -- they're thousands of dollars -- it's just for cable storage. It feeds out and takes up choker line in a very simple, non-powered way, but it does the job to keep long wire ropes from getting tangled. More on that and photos if anyone's interested.

To date we've cut almost 200 of the approximately 1,000 trees we need to harvest.

Oregon Small Woodlands Association

Source of information if you're in Oregon:

 

Oregon Small Woodlands Association

1775 32 Place Suite C

Salem, OR 97303

503 588 1813

http://www.oswa.org

 

Contact:

Mike Gaudern, Director 503 588 1813

 

Counties:

Baker, Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Malheur, Marion, Morrow, Multnomah, Polk, Sherman, Tillamook, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Washington, Wheeler, Yamhill, Other (CA, ID, WA)

 

 

 

Application deadline for EQIP conservation program is July 15, 2008

We're applying for EQIP. I'd recommend any small forest owner to talk to NRCS about possible funds from EQIP for thinning, slash, pruning, etc. Just making the phone call before 7/15 I think gets you in the system ahead of the deadline.

Justin Mount (509-664-0210 x269) is being very helpful in processing our application. He says they're very interested in reducing fuels on private forests.

It's an easy application -- you just sign and date one form. We dismissed EQIP last year as not applying to us, but I believe the 2007 Farm Bill added forest practices to the previously-all-wetland EQIP.

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Application deadline for popular conservation program looms

Producers urged to apply before July 15 cut-off date

Contact: Dave Brown, Asst. State Conservationist for Programs,

NRCS (509/323-2971)

SPOKANE, Wash. (June 16, 2008) – Conservation officials are reminding Washington agricultural producers that they have less than a month remaining to apply for financial and technical assistance through USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).

“Producers interested in receiving cost-share assistance for fiscal year 2009 have until July 15 to apply,” said Dave Brown, assistant state conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Spokane.

While NRCS accepts applications on a continuous basis, Brown said applications received by July 15 will be ranked for the initial funding selection. “Applications received after that date will be considered for future funding periods,” he said. “Consequently, we’re urging producers to get their applications to the local NRCS office on or before the July 15 cut-off date.”

EQIP is a voluntary, financial assistance program that helps fund on-farm conservation practices including those aimed at improving irrigation efficiency; managing nutrient run-off and/or animal waste; improving the health of native plant communities; and reducing soil loss. In most instances, producers who participate in the program pay for roughly half of the costs of the conservation measures or practices.

In 2006 and 2007, Washington agricultural producers qualified for more than $30 million in financial assistance through the program, according to the NRCS.

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USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.

316 W. Boone, Suite 450

Spokane, WA 99201

509-323-2900

FLEP grant income, expenses & income taxes

The FLEP grant claim we filed last year resulted in a co-payment check to cover half our expenses -- and an IRS form 1099, which meant we had to pay income taxes on it.

                                                                

We talked through the options with our CPA, and filed a Schedule F, "Profit and Loss from Farming," using code 11300, "Forestry and logging."

 

The income went on line 10, "Other income," and we decided the expenses should go on line 15, "Custom hire machine work," since it was hired work involving chain saws.

 

By definition of the FLEP cost-sharing agreement, the expenses outweighed the income by a factor of 2, so we reported a net farming loss, which got us a larger refund.