How Do Timber/Clear Cut Operations Work?

[DuskrayTroubador]

So one of the areas I'm growing in is an area that was logged, though not completely, a handful of years ago. There are still some trees left, runty looking ones that maybe they didn't deem worth taking?

Now the area is overgrown with thorns thicker than vintage porno bush. Sunlight isn't perfect, but the remaining trees are small and weak, spaced such that in some spots the sunlight exposure is pretty good.

Now, an area right next to this was completely clear cut. I mean not a goddamn tree left. No vegetation, nothing. A handful of stumps and sticks.

So what is going on here? Is there danger/possibility of loggers coming back to the area I'm growing in?

It seems to me like it wouldn't really be worth their time, especially given how many other options they have.

 

[gaiusmarius]

in my local woods they come back every few years to different parts where they will harvest the years quota, so if you catch the spot the year after you are good for a couple of seasons. of course the plants can get found by others too. i got some 17 old mums which i want to replace with new clones of themselves. i'm thinking the mums would be a great way to do a few hidden spots with plants that already have a fat woody stem. i'm sure the sunlight and wind would re vitalize them in no time also the fact that they won't be root bound anymore. will be fun looking for some good sunny spots that are off the beaten track.

 

[Mikell]

Based on what I've seen here the spot with the runts are seed trees and they may come to replant on the clean section.

 

[DuskrayTroubador]

Based on what I've seen here the spot with the runts are seed trees and they may come to replant on the clean section.

When replanting the clean section, will they be trying to harvest the seeds from the standing seed trees?

Seems like a lot of work. Or do they leave seed trees to simply do their thing naturally?

 

[igrowone]

what they do could vary by the region you're in
i have a nearby section of land that was mostly cut
beautiful guerilla growing country, but i hesitated
and at the end of that season the local drug eradication helicopter agreed with my assessment
down low and slow they did fly, and was so glad to have resisted temptation

 

[Mikell]

Natural reseeding. But really this is information gleaned from hiking. I don't work in the bush re: logging or the like.

But I do get to watch the newly exposed trees get destroyed by the wind.

 

[JGP]

In Scotland they leave the odd under developed tree for Birds of Prey, just an idea.

 

[green404]

I have seen a lot of timber cuts in the western US.

Now days it seems like a lot of them the USFS will plant "seedlings" sometime after they cut. A worker will come tru with a pack of small trees and a pick and wander tru and plant all the seedlings.

Clear cuts and cuts can be watched by hunters a lot, the clearing will grow lots of under growth and attract game and be a good place to hunt. Also good because you can see everything that goes on.

Logging road create good access to these good hunting spots also. They will probably be quiet in june, aug early sept but late sept and oct(hunting season & harvest season) they can be very busy with hunters.

I have seen a few plant here and there in them, but not a lot, In the western US these clearings usually do not have water. If they do have water you can bet they are someones hunting spot.

 

[wvkindbud38]

Those places that's been clear cut are seriously bad to flash food or flood. Although it takes rain, and after the trees are cut the ground doesn't take much water for it to flood. Just things I've seen happen after it's been clear cut on local area were I'm at. Just keep that in the back of your mind if you haven't already. Be safe

 

[troutman]

It's best to choose locations that were logged 2 or more years ago.

By then vegetation is growing which provides cover for you and your plants better than bare soil.

Loggers tend not to return to those until new tree growth occurs which can be over 20 years.

From what I've seen, it's hunters that check those places in Fall that will be you're bigger problems.

 

[moose eater]

Haven't worked in old clear-cuts in 39 years, but as igrowone posted, the methods really depend on the region/state/country you're in, what wood was being harvested, and for what purpose/product.

In S.E. Alaska, when the Forest Circus would plot out an area for cutting by a logging outfit on contract (often large coastal spruce), they would mark a perimeter with paint on trees. Anything larger than diameter 'X' at the time of the contract, inside that perimeter, had to be taken by the bidding/contracting logging outfit.

Clear-cuts for pulp, versus clear-cuts for timber for milling, typically go differently. But in the timber clear-cuts we followed up in (eradicating a specific fungus that thrives in sunlit clear-cuts, specifically in conifers) when the crews who'd preceded us by a few years went through, and they ran into growth that was big enough to require them to take it, but the wood was of no use to them commercially, they'd drop it, or blast it, etc., and leave it lay.

Lots of stories of everything from blasting charges that never went off, with wire still running down into rock or soil, presumably to blasting caps in dynamite or other explosives, and more.

I don't have any clue as to what kind of operation you're seeing there, or what product they're taking.

Without that info, anything else is a guess.