FLEP grants for forest management cost-sharing from WA state

We qualified in 2006 for a cost-sharing grant from the State of Washington. The Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP) covered half the cost of a professional Forest Stewardship Plan, which cost us $900 and the state paid half. That plan was a major step toward attaining sustainable forest certification for our property, but a tiny portion of the money we've received through the grant.

 

Our FLEP was also for thinning and slash disposal. Last year we extended it to include pruning. We had major pruning work done last year and we completed a claim. We spent $7,000 on ~15 acres, and received $3,500 from the grant.

 

We had hoped for a commercial harvest this year, but our "leave the best" strategy and the road access challenges make it impossible to find a logger interested in 20 acres at today's timber and fuel prices. So we have taken matters (and saws) into our own hands.

 

We are doing a considerable amount of work ourselves this summer, removing trees to release stands and create fuel breaks. We plan to claim the owner hours at the allowed FLEP rate.

 

The grant makes it possible to conduct management practices we wouldn't otherwise consider because of the cost. One caveat: the check comes with a Form 1099. We offset the income with the documented costs, so there was no income tax impact for us.

Forest fire season 2008 and Firewise

As I sit at home in Seattle, listening to the drone of helicopters (rush-hour reporters over the freeway nearby), I'm reminded of the sick feeling when I first smell smoke in the air and start hearing heli's hauling firefighters and water into the wilderness. Fire is a primary reason for our effort to manage our small forest in Chelan County WA. "Firewise" is the prescription we have tried to follow since 2001. It's manageable for 2-3 acres, but expensive for 20 acres. Fortunately, the state is paying for a sizeable chunk of the work through matching funds.

From the WSU Small Forest Landowner Office Newsletter:

Fire Season Outlook 2008

The 2008 fire season is expected to be normal through August. Snowmelt is expected to occur late this year due to current snow pack levels and cool spring temperatures, and this is expected to delay the risk of wildfires in the high country until late in the season. May and June are expected to be cool but dry, followed by a warm and dry later summer. Fire potential is expected to increase to normal levels by the middle of fire season as grasses and sagebrush dry out in warmer and drier conditions. The greatest risk of wildfire is expected to be in July, August and September.

Accurately predicting the severity of the fire season is a challenge because of the many variables involved, including lightning strikes, which cause many of Eastern Washington’s wildfires each year. Every year, DNR prepares for a worst-case fire season, and 2008 is no exception.

This spring DNR has sent employees to support other states in fighting wildfires, including New Mexico, North Dakota, and Florida. This cooperative arrangement provides valuable training for Washington’s firefighters, in addition to fostering the desire of other states to help us when we need assistance fighting these dangerous fires.

Firewise Program

In addition to DNR staff, many conservation districts around Washington are helping landowners and communities to prepare for the fire season with the Firewise program. Forest landowners around the state are encouraged to take measures to reduce their fire risk.

Firewise Communities/USA is a unique opportunity available to America's fire-prone communities. Its goal is to encourage and acknowledge action that minimizes home loss to wildfire. It teaches you to prepare for a fire before it occurs. The program adapts especially well to small communities, developments and residential associations of all types. Firewise Communities/USA is a simple, three-legged template that is easily adapted to different locales. It works in the following way:

* Wildland fire staff from federal, state or local agencies provide a community with information about coexisting with wildfire along with mitigation information tailored to that specific area.
* The community assesses its risk and creates its own network of cooperating homeowners, agencies and organizations.
* The community identifies and implements local solutions.

There is a multitude of information available on how to improve the wildfire safety of your home and property as well as how to work as a community to achieve these goals. Please visit www.firewise.org for this information.

To find out if your home is Firewise, please take the “How Firewise Are You?” quiz at http://www.firewise.org/fw_youcanuse/quiz/are-you.html

Contact your local Conservation District to learn more about Firewise opportunities in your area and to learn more about other forestry programs that they may offer. District staff may be willing to come give you a free assessment of your fire risk. Conservation Districts are a great source of local information and are staffed by knowledgeable natural resources technicians.

Firewood prices and excise taxes

Talked with a local guy who buys firewood by the log truck load. Has his own self-loader, needs the logs decked and ready to load.

He pays $10 per cord. A short-log load is about $70. We didn't get into whether his truck would make it in and out of our property.

I had heard figures from last year, of $350/short log load and $500/long load of firewood. Maybe they were wrong.

I still need to figure out the tax liability, if any, for selling logs or giving them to the logger. At $10 a cord, it's possible we could end up owing more in taxes than we collect in revenue.

Two more firewood buyers to talk to...

Pulp problem

I talked with Ralph, who buys pulpwood that's been logged and decked. Our road and bridge pose some access problems for full-sized log trucks. They can go in, but not take a full load out. Without a full load, they can't make enough money driving the wood to the pulp mill.

One option, suggested by two or three people now, is to cut the logs to 22' or 24' lengths and ferry them out to a leased lot, then transfer them to a full-sized truck and take full loads to the mill. The extra costs probably negate the advantages.

Small Douglas Fir can sell as firewood in the fall. Small Ponderosa Pine won't sell here, but it might sell in Seattle as winter approaches, Ralph tells me, because the city folks don't know the difference.

Ralph took time to talk through the options with me. His final recommendation was to get a dump truck and sell loads of firewood, direct to homeowners in the area.

We're seriously considering piling the Pine pulpwood and letting it rot on the property. It ends up being the least-cost option. Hey, at least it will provide significant habitat for squirrels (favorite food of the owls).

I'm catching up on posts.

Mountain Skyliners (loggers)

From John:

I just had conversation with the Mtn. Skyliners (Henry Klossner). They reside in Leavenworth and harvested 4 properties for my 4 clients last fall up Fox Road off the North Peshastin Road. Henry does an excellent job, including removal of standing live trees to a 2 inch top for pulp. Our contracts included pulp removal, and gave the pulp logs to the logger for its removal.

Mtn Skyliners [does] ground skidding (Henry Klossner). Helmet Megert does the skyline logging side, and is probably very good work also. These guys are from Switzerland, but have lived here locally since about 1978.

FW: small sawmill website

From Andy:

For anybody interested in utilizing a portable sawmill or listing your
own, see our directory at
http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/forestryext/sawmill/index.htm

Contact extension forester Amy Grotta to get signed up.

Amy Grotta, email grottaa - wsu - edu

Fisheries as log buyers in down market

(from a forester)

The current log market has been so poor that economists are urging foresters to not engage landowners in timber sales until 2010. That’s the birds-eye view. There may be a local firewood harvest market, and your consulting forester would be best for knowing the local blips in the markets.

Pulp price has been pretty good recently, but it’s the harvest and transportation costs which have made things unprofitable.

I had an idea recently, and that would be for forest owners to contact local fisheries enhancement groups, counties working with stream restoration, WDFW, etc. These guys all get grant $$ to purchase logs for projects at a relatively short notice (they have nowhere to keep the products). So if they were aware that there is a source, at the time they may need wood, a landowner contact may prove that there is top $$ (way above what a market price might be) for thinning your forest. Just a thought.

Saw log prices April 15, 2008

My annotations in gray are values from our forester's 2006 analysis.

 

LOG MARKET REPORT:  Log markets fluctuate and are now in the lowest cycle in about 20 years. 

Douglas-fir selling for $575 in October is now selling for $460 per MBF (Hampton Industries @ Darrington and Sierra Pacific Industries @ Mt. Vernon).  $450 DF 9+ Saw

Large Ponderosa pine (11”+) selling for $500 in October is now selling for $450 per MBF (Boise @ Kettle Falls).  n/a

Small Ponderosa pine selling for $370 in October is now selling for $270 per MBF (Boise @ Kettle Falls). $350 PP 9+ Saw

The advice from here:  Wait for a better log market.  Your logger will likely demand a larger percentage of the delivered log prices in the current market.  He normally operates at a fixed cost per MBF or Ton.

Cost, stump to Winton mill: $365/MBF. We have 18 MBF saw logs.

 

 

Why This Blog

I'm a small forest owner (20 acres) in central Washington state. My overgrown stand of Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir needs thinning.

Fire and infestation
Pine beatles have already killed dozens of my biggest trees. Forest fires burn each year within 20 miles of us (some much closer). The 1994 "Rat Creek" fire burned to within 700 feet of our property.

Our intent is to build a modest house in the middle of this property. To do that, we must first mitigate the fire hazard.

Firewise-dom
We started the year we bought the land, by learning about Firewise and hiring a crew to thin and prune about 6 of the 20 acres. Pruning up 12 feet removes "ladder fuel" that could carry a ground fire up into the crowns of the trees.

Ground fires are a natural ecosystem process that removes brush and leaves surviving trees. Crown fires spread very fast and destroy everything in their path. By thinning out the smallest trees we keep the larger ones that are more likely to be the survivors; we also reduce the possibility of a fast-moving crown fire tearing through our property.

Education of an amateur forester
We spent that winter burning dozens of neatly stacked slash piles, knowing that we were reducing fuel loads and reducing the risk of losing everything in a fire. That year was just the beginning. Since then I've taken two accelerated courses in sustainable forestry, written a forest management plan, and competed successfully for funding from DNR and USDA.

Thinning will thin you
We started with 250-400 trees per acre in 2001. We will end up with about 100 leave trees per acre, the ideal density for a forest in this location and climate to withstand fire and infestations. Our goal is to thin the stand by keeping the biggest and strongest trees, with random clumps of younger trees, and designated fuel breaks around the property. That means removing approximately 4,000 trees.

The understory is done, with all trees under 7" dbh already cut, piled, and either disposed of or waiting to be burned. The leave trees are marked with paint, and pruned up to 12 feet.
The biggest job lies ahead of us, to cut and remove the trees above 7" diameter that are not marked to stay. These trees are from 7" up to 16" (mostly 7" to 12"). Unfortunately, small stands don't make profitable harvests, especially when the biggest trees are staying. In an unhealthy forest, young trees grow tall and thin. Sawmills want tall and stout. Pulp mills will take our small trees, but they pay less than the cost of hauling.

The first estimate we got for logging was -$7,000. That's a minus sign you see there. After all was said and done, we would end up paying the logger. Add 5% excise taxes on the value of the trees. Thinning can seriously thin your wallet! That was in 2001, when logs were worth nearly twice what they are today, and there was an operating mill (Winton) just 40 miles from here.

How I became a logger blogger
So we're now cutting and skidding the logs ourselves, rather than hiring a logging company to do it. We're learning a lot along the way, and I hope this blog is an adequate way to share those lessons with other owners of small forest acreages. (Lesson 1: thinning will make you thinner, when you're hauling 30 lbs of chainsaw, tools, and protective gear up and down hills in the heat.)

I also come across interesting information from various sources, and I'm passing those along. Thanks to those whose help I'm sharing here. I hope I'm now earning the support you've given to me.

I apologize in advance for the rough form of this blog. I'm starting by simply posting e-mails.