Woods management practices

Jonny,

Having been the first person to my knowledge to use the term “worst first” many years ago – in defense of the blanket accusation by conventional foresters that all horse loggers were high graders, I would submit other considerations to include what we consider restorative forestry management.

Yes “Restorative Forestry” is based upon taking the “worst first” single tree selection and the resulting development of the best species and specimens on a site specific basis informed by science and common sense.

The consideration of forest management practices for any one specific goal is denying or overlooking that the forest is a wonderful interconnected ecosystem that functions as a living interdependent system where all the parts are positively contributing to the whole of a healthy forest. This resulting condition created through active management will certainly create conditions conducive to “wildlife presence”, of all kinds, not just the deer, bear and turkey.

Your particular forest seems to be a regenerated field that once had wolf trees left as agriculture was abandoned and the natural forested conditions
regenerated itself around this residuals of the past practices. We see this in the forest all the time even in Appalachia. Usually the big old wolf trees are sitting on a rock or rock pile and were left because they were not easily mowed down or tilled in the practices of agriculture. I can imagine the pleasure of resting yourself and animals in the shade of one these when working a homestead many years ago…

It becomes a difficult decision as to when or if to harvest of cut the big wolf trees. I would suggest applying the same considerations we use in the Nature’s Tree Marking Paint indicator system fleshed out in the writing on this subject and title on our web site (address below). Since they obviously have poor form in the structure of the tree being far more limb than stem they are not growing great timber value despite their age or species. But at the same time they may be providing a great seed source for the regeneration of that species in a more natural forested spacing that will produce good timber in the future forested conditions. In Virginia the only law that applied to forestry historically was the seed tree law, which said that one mature seed bearing tree should be left per acre to help regenerate the forest. This may also be the case in Mass. We do harvest these trees when they have three or more indicators of the NTMP’s system and find that they may have a very valuable
butt cut and then a massive amount of limbs and low grade logs thereafter.
They also create a massive hole in the canopy when felled and usually create some damage to the residual regeneration when they hit the ground. They also are famous for standing up on the limbs, or would that be sitting up on the limbs and being very difficult and dangerous to get to the ground to create logs out of. It takes real skill to read the lean of these trees and equal skill to fell them where they will cause the least damage to the residual trees.

In our region these trees are often true white oak. The butts are usually great for quarter sawing highly figured wood from. The acorns are the choice mast for all wildlife, but that wildlife food will continue to be created by the seedlings, saplings and younger trees in the area that are the babies of these
big wolf trees. The amount of firewood available from one of these big old mama’s could heat a home for a year at least. Just be sure you know what you are doing when you fell it as the mechanics of that task are important to
understand to provide operator safety….

So these are a few thoughts about wolf trees. Again some landowner’s in our country have a particularly deep attraction to these old large trees for their beauty and when they do and specifically communicate that attraction to them, we simply leave them. The landowner makes the decision easy by attaching such a high culture value to an individual tree. In my own forest, they are gone….and their genetics are still present. After forty years or so of doing this work of restorative forestry we have seen this condition frequently.
I would suggest felling them in winter (leaf off) as they do provide some lesser species habitat during the growing season, such as canopy nesting migratory birds, and cavity dwellers…

The post harvest conditions rapidly (relative to the age of the wolf tree) return to a more natural well spaced and populated forest and the stumps of these old giants often grow wonderful edible mushrooms, such as chicken of the woods, hen of the woods and oyster. The very presence of these old dominants supply some unplowed (never turned) ground that could recolonize the entire forest with beneficial organisms.

The challenge is to get folks to walk through their woods in order to find the free food there….as well as be educated about what it actually is.

Good luck, enjoy your woods any way you can….