150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak

   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #1  
RDrancher

RDrancher

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2011
Messages
2,172
Location
North Texas
Tractor
New Holland
I was talking to one of my customers today and he mentioned a problem with his other property. A fire raged through and basically burnt up all of the trees. From the sound of it, the majority are pretty good size oaks. This being a little out of my ballpark, I thought I'd ask you guys for ideas on cleaning it up.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #2  
Depending on the size of the trees and how thick everything was, there might be a LOT of good firewood in there.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #3  
do you have or can you get some pictures?
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #4  
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak
  • Thread Starter
#5  
motownbrowne said:
Depending on the size of the trees and how thick everything was, there might be a LOT of good firewood in there.
Click to expand...

That's what I was wondering. I'll get some more info from him tomorrow and request pics.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #6  
The firewood choppers can make a pretty big mess in a hurry. One of the things we do a lot of is take out large, dead oaks killed by oak wilt. I've done some fire remediation but more of our work has been with dead oaks killed by wilt or drought.

It can become a real mess in a hurry if the wood choppers get in without a plan. When was the fire? Was it recent? Are they sure the oaks are burned up or just had the foliage burned off? Live oaks and other oaks can survive a hot fire if it was fast moving.

I'll be happy to offer ideas based on some of what we've done if you can post some pics or more information.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #7  
When you say clean up the oak, there are lots of different options, and so much depends on region. Thinking outside of the box, maybe consult local USDA office about LEAVING some dead charred snags for habitat. LEAVING some litter on the ground. Replanting with native trees,flora, grasses. Keeping livestock off for a few years, setting it aside and bring it back.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #8  
150 acres is a lot to deal with, especially burnt.
Unless that part of the country has changed a lot in the last 26 years (I grew up across the lake, before there was a lake.) If there's "pretty good sized oaks", you're going to need a skidder, or a dozer to skid logs with. Sounds like a big undertaking. Look forward to pictures and description.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I got a couple of photos today of the property. They'll have to do for now since they're all he had in his phone. The fire was in Jacksboro, Texas in 2011 and part of the 150,000 acre Possum Kingdom burn. Ground vegetation has started to grow back, but the vast majority of the trees are dead. You can see from one of the photos that the ground is pretty rocky.

A FIRE01.jpg A FIRE02.jpg

He's like to sell the property, but the value is WAY low looking like this. Firewood guys in the area aren't interested, they have too much wood as it is.
 
   / 150 Acres of Burnt Up Oak #10  
He may be money ahead to sell it cheap. Cleaning up 150 acres of that type of stuff won't be inexpensive.
If you take on this job, I hope you like the firewood business...because you'll be in it. :laughing:
I don't guess that there are any sawmills in the area?
I wouldn't even consider it without a mulcher of some kind.
 
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