[PhilG]

mink, logs out here are cut for however you are hauling them and/or using them. as a general rule as long as posible. 33′ are the most common in Lodgepole pine, and between 44 and 50′ for nice spruce or fir. If you have a short log truck it can be 18-25′, we like 25′ on the truck and pup with a few 30’s and 20’s too. if your logging for a portable sawmill , most can only cut 20’6″ or so with out extensions so 8′ to 20′ plus 6″ trim in two foot increments can all work well. google log scaling for that info, Scribner or Doyle.

[PhilG]

I guess I was wondering if you all thought SFI was green washing , and if these people were actually for helping forest issues or as Tom mentioned extremist , I have to say that lately I have as much distaine for extremists as I do greenwashers, there needs to be a balance of what our needs and goals are as a society and what is realistic to supply our needs without destroying things for the future just to make a quick buck. All the sylviculture discutions on here lately have been great, one thing really does affect the next , all things need to be acounted for in the equation , such as transporting pulp from the other side of the world , I think history will look back on the massive waste and pollution we have created by our trucking and shipping practices and lable this generation about as intelligent as those who once thought the world flat or that emptying your body of blood would cure you, are we as a generation really going to be the ones that mess things up beyond repair ? I have always been totally opposed to government intervention in anything but health and safety but I’m not sure there is another way at this point? It would be nice if we the people could elect someone to a position that would address these issues the way they need to be instead of electing a politition who just makes empty claims and then gets bought off by lobbyists and reelection contributions .

[PhilG]

Erik,
I would love to see some photos of the water pumper, i am I great need of that, I was thinking the horse treadmill talked about on other threads may work also as a supplement to non windy days ?
Phil

[PhilG]

Many counties in Colorado require a certain amour of “green” elements to get a building permit with out additional fees for not having them, I know in the beginning i had many conversations about the merit of getting timbers, trim and logs from a local mill getting salvaged logs within an hour os so from the house vrs’s gettin FSC certified from the north west or Canada, eventually they did make a change to the points system and give credit for local, salvaged unlabeled material with out any hassle at all. I was kind off worried at first, just glad in this case common cense won out.

[PhilG]

Tim
I think you totally missed my point, I agree 100percent that many things are for the good of every one I just feel that most things can be handled on a personal or local level with great success , greedy opportunistic people will always be around and everybody has their special interest that they feel tax’s should be spent on, the problem is that when you accomidate every one we run out of money like we have over the past several years. I too would rather pay for forest manage ment than bombs . In can not speak for your forest and water
Issues back there but here in the west I feel things have and are severely mis managed and extremely wasteful . I have never had to cut down alive tree in my life ( only 18 years of cutting ) our management issues are day and night yours, I’m could have got a harvester and skidder years ago like people i worked with did but instead I limp along with a horse skidd steer and pickup truck probably making less than you guys because softwood is not worth much. When we clear around houses we get payed by the home owner or the association , I personally am ok with lacking less and doing it with as little diesel as possible and using crap wood for fire wood and heat, I am not ok with just hydro axing or chipping everything when it could be useful to people I think that is waistfull and selfish, that’s just my way of looking at it but it is polar opposite of what my local othoreties are doing, they hydro ax and chip almost every thing and I don’t Want my children tompay for that. I was hoping the new clean air bill would be past, that they wouldn’t let the wolves kill off all the elk and moose, that green energy jobs would stimulate the economy instead we have mismanagement, greed and selfishness just like you pointed out

[PhilG]

( should this be moved to politics ?)
I would like to know if they have a management plan for dead stands of timber? Why just cut it all down now if it could be marketed as the economy turns around ? Close to towns and houses is one thing but what about the rest?
Also, I have worked a lot in northern co
The last 4 years, it is horribly depressing the state of things up there, I think most people on this forum really have know idea the extent of the devastation , so I would agree that your View on how things need a little help ar more then justified, but that is the exception and should not be the norm. Down south we still have green forests for the most part, spruce beetles are hitting hard in some areas, Aspen trees
Are falling off and there is some ips beetles in the piñon but it is a fraction of up north, I hope they have a good management plan in place for the south, unwound hate to see the hole state brown. I will try to hook up with Tim this fall and you at the auction because this craps
Got to end, we need a hundred crews like what Carl is describing and every school, court house, and DMV in the state running on clean burning renewable local fuel !

[PhilG]

Scott, know you got me riled up ! The government if it had a 1/4 of a brain would have put biomass burning units in every possible building that needs heat in this state ten years ago when they saw this disaster coming down the pipe, the money’s that would have bean spent on that would have been for a permanent piece of equipment, then there would be a viable market for millions of tons of wood for years to come. There are hole towns in Canada run on biomass, and with all this dead wood here what is thee not a pulp mill? AWhen think intermountain had some internal issues that brought them into the mess mess there in, Delta
Timber is buying and sawing all the spruce they can get there hands on and I don’t know if you have driven by there lately but they are cranking out the wood! I had some conversations about the use of the new jd biomass harvester with my local state dudes and they lafed in my face and said if I want to make any money with them to buy a hydro ax, I even said I do their piñon clearing at Ridgway state park for FREE so I could use it for firewood, do you think they went for that ? No ! I had hundreds of conversations 10’years ago when the beattles were moving in, but I guess the they had it all under control and didn’t need my help, I said get it out before it spreads what did they do? Buck it into fire wood length and put plastic tarps on it, really? The big steam boat blow down about ten years ago, i got a few beautiful loads out of that and then they shut it down to be ” natural” and then I shipped a couple hundred loads down from Montana , that’s great for the environment . We had a couple hundred loads up in the flat tops get tied up so long the wood borers turned 18″ house logs into Swiss cheese, sorry if my faith is not in the government workers but I could go on all day about waist and mismanage ment

OWhen I look for standing house logs the have to be standing at least five years dead some stands are still very usable at ten years dead,

[PhilG]

Why is there government intervention into the free market of forest management ? I would rather my tax dollars go to paying for education, dept or any number of things other than a small percent of a rich land owners management bill. I went and looked at a 50 acre thinning this week spread over 7 lots , the 7 owners have been doing much of the work them selves costing the tax payers nothing until the state forest service got involved ofering to pay a high percentage of their cost, and they are just going to hydro ax every thing !!
Any way , my point is that what Carl and Jason and … Are doing can and is self sustaing on it’s own , like stated above the overhead is low the clients are thrilled with the low impact on their land, wood is and always will be worth something as saw logs or firewood, and at least here in Colorado I think it would be worth a lot more if the government was not pay 800-2000 dollars an acre to fill up the diesel tanks of skidders and harvesters.

[PhilG]

Mitch,
it has had some modifications in the back, not sure what’s going on there ?
do you think it needs a wheel out front ? would that help control the depth ?
phil

[PhilG]

I finally found a plow, it has a lot of holes in the beam and I was wondering if they were for bolting on a wheel of some kind ? or if I need a wheel? it is a 16″ ih p&o, which seams a little big for my single horse, but I have been reading about the “skim” plowing which would be plenty deep for what I need- any advice on what would be different for hitching up for this? any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

[PhilG]

Wow, does that line work on your kids when you are trying to get them to eat those nasty, tasteless peas from wall mart ?
I think if you want to blame those deaths on the lack of gmo use instead of the utter devastation of their country’s environment and culture by greedy corporations backing power mongers that will pimp out their latest gadget and export natural resources , that is a bit of a stretch.

[PhilG]

In are part of the country we are blessed with very large Elk herds, hundreds of families in our county alone rely heavily on this good healthy lean meat source, and being the filthy hick that I am it gets hung in the garage for a week and then cut up on a clean piece of counter top and packaged (also in the garage) I have never heard of any sickness from anyone in almost 20 years and dozens of Elk, deer and antelope, when some one has extra it ends up in another families freezer and even the local food banks take it, what exactly is it that “they” are concerned with? Do barnyard animals have some mystical bacteria that wild animals do not? Should i be more worried than I am about the food I process? should I call in the meat inspector this fall to come inspect my garage so he can inspect my elk, pig and cow hanging there and give me a fine so he can get paid and not have to find a job that involves actual work?
This hole big brother- governmental extortion thing has bean really bumming me out lately, food inspectors, building inspectors, osha,insurance audits, tax inspectors….the list goes on and on of the time-money-energy that is so life sucking from our country these days. I think it needs to get to the point were a town or state for that mater can opt out of all the BS and and make its own non life sucking rules to live by.
Building = $90 SF around here IF you do most the work yourself

[PhilG]

I used it a lot when my yard was next to a river, about 5 years or so, it cost twice as much to use because was not sticky enough at all, and cost more.If i could still get here local I would keep using it though just to not support oil companies.

(winter blend Husky also to thin and and seems to not stay on bar, we are usually not below zero though)

[PhilG]

Jason,
Whats with the funny lookin horses on the flyer? I have come to expect those beautiful Suffolks on your flyers.
Started the cart Friday should be done in a couple days thanks for the plans, I really appreciate you putting them up for us to use.
Phil

[PhilG]

We have been selling a lot more truck length stuff the last two years, much more than cut and split, the piles of beetle kill are all over the place(Colorado) we often get it for “free” just have to load it and truck it, but that is why prices are way down on cut and split – it is hard to get $125 a cord delivered – down from $180 4 years ago picked up ! We get 6-700 for the log truck full with 24′ lengths, but with diesel at 4.20 a gallon i think it will have to go way up to make it worth doing.not exactly draft powered either.

[Author]

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