Timber Land Groovy Cuts

[chandler]

I have read it, but it's been a couple years and I've been meaning to read it again. Thanks for the reminder!

[fishnfur]

I keep looking at the pic, but I don't understand what I'm looking at.

Is this a clear cut?

A type of thin cut?

What am I missing??

I'm not quite sure how they accomplish the commercial thinning operation, but I assume the areas are accessed with a feller-buncher  or similar machine down the rows of tracks you see from satellite, cutting as they go.  Somewhere around 30% - 50% of the trees in the stand can be felled, bunched, and dragged back out the the trail the machine made going in.  The operation yields short-term profits and the releases the remaining trees to grow at a much faster rate.

[cougforester]

I keep looking at the pic, but I don't understand what I'm looking at.

Is this a clear cut?

A type of thin cut?

What am I missing??

  Nailed it! 
I'm not quite sure how they accomplish the commercial thinning operation, but I assume the areas are accessed with a feller-buncher  or similar machine down the rows of tracks you see from satellite, cutting as they go.  Somewhere around 30% - 50% of the trees in the stand can be felled, bunched, and dragged back out the the trail the machine made going in.  The operation yields short-term profits and the releases the remaining trees to grow at a much faster rate.

[UBA]

How big are the trees in the stand? They have to be atleast 8" to skid out for saw logs. I always thought they thinned the stands when they were younger and left the pulp on the ground.

[JimmyHoffa]

They do both.  The pre-commercial thin is the one that leaves a lot on the ground. 

[fishnfur]

They generally leave the best growing trees and remove the smaller diameter ones, which are often 5 to 10 inch diameter on the truck.  Just guessing - the timing of the first commercial thinning in fir (on the Westside) somewhere around 25 years from the planting, but it may occur much later than that.   It all depends on how fertile the soil is and how fast the trees are growing.  Eleven to twelve inch diameter trees (at breast height) are ready to thin if originally planted at the DNR standard spacing of 12 - 13 feet. Subsequent thinnings often occur as the stand ages.  The stand in question looks like it is somewhere around 35 - 40 years old to me.  I'll bet cougforester could give you a much better answer.