Clearing Logging Debris

[GoodGuy]

RonMar.....
How's the Utility Bucket holding up ?
I'm scared that I would bend/break the square bar.
Are you making out Ok & is there anything different you might do as an improvement that you can share with us ?
Thanks

 

[MarkV]

Matt, I am in N.W.Georgia so we see similar logging leftovers in this area all the time. What is normally done here is to wait a year after the cut and then do a controlled burn during the winter. You do need to have a fire break cut around the perimeter of the property and sometimes it requires burning two consecutive years to clean up most of the mess. The burn process will also help control all the new undergrowth that will start up after logging.

In this area the forest service will send a forester out to evaluate the woodland for you and suggest the best approach. They will also loan you the equipment to start the burn and have a crew with dozer stand by if they feel it is needed. The only thing they will not do is physically start the fires for you. If you can gather several friends to help it is not that hard to do the burn and it is slow and controlled when the conditions are proper.

MarkV

 

[Pilot]

I am a retired forester and have considerable experience with this problem. I suggest that you first check with your local extension forester. Here are some things to consider:

Soil: If there is much clay and if the soil is not dry, tractors can compact the soil. Compacted soil does not allow air to reach the roots and water does not infiltrate. Roots need air. Water that doesn't go into the soil goes across it, and that's how you get erosion.

Dozers: In our soil in western Oregon, 6 passes over a spot by a dozer, if the soil is not almost bone dry, will compact the soil. A dozer piling logging slash works back & forth, back & forth and does a great job of compacting the soil. The vibration of the machine helps, too. Dozer piled slash usually results in 30-40% of the surface area compacted.

Tractors: The ground pressure of a tractor is higher than a dozer & will compact it just as bad.

What works: Hire a track mounted excavator (track-hoe, back hoe, all the same). Working with a bucket & thumb, they can get the job done faster and with little or no compaction--less than 5% in our area even when the ground was wet. The bigger the machine, the better, as long as they can fit between or go over the stumps, as they can get more work done from one spot and don't waste time moving when they should be piling. They can use the teeth on the bucket to rake the ground to remove the weeds. Excavators build better piles than dozers or tractors, because they put less dirt in the pile, can build the pile higher and can use the bucket to compact the pile so it burns better. They can also be selective about what they pile, in case you want to leave certain stuff--with a dozer, everything in front of the blade goes into the pile. They work faster than dozers and therefore are cheaper.

Burning in place (called a broadcast burn in the industry) also works, but you need a crew and fire equipment to prevent or control an escape fire. There are businesses that do this, but maybe not in your area. You need a wide line around the burn area, say 4 ft. wide, as a fuel break. A dozer does a good job at this and the compaction created is a small part of the total area.

Burning is fun! Whether burning piles or broadcast burning, it is a lot of fun, at least for a pyro like me.

Whatever you do, be sure to control weeds afterward, or you will be right back where you were before, which is a mistake I made & knew better but got distracted at a critical time. So stay on top of things with your sprayer.

 

[RonMar]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( RonMar.....
How's the Utility Bucket holding up ?
I'm scared that I would bend/break the square bar.
Are you making out Ok & is there anything different you might do as an improvement that you can share with us ?
Thanks )</font>

It is working well. I have only experienced some minor bending such as when a single tine gets under a tough root. The loader hits it's lift limits before the bucket has exceeded it's bend/break limits. It has been taking everything I have been throwing at it so I am very happy with it. As for changes, I did add a piece of 4" plate along the top edge with about 1" overlap and the rest overhanging forward. This stiffened up the top of the back plate which was flexing a little from my center mounted rollback cylinder. It also helps keep stuff from rolling back over the top of the back plate when I lift up high with the bucket rolled back to dump on a pile. If I did it again, I would make this a 6" plate and instead of angling/triangling the back gussetts that connect the back to the top of each tine, I would just make them out of straight strap and weld them to the top plate to make fabrication easier.

 

[MMM]

'Round here prescribed burns are done by Forestry Dept. Last one I had done was $7/a. Now it's in the $20 range and a mobilization fee of $300. Still not that bad considering I am risk free if fire gets outa hand and in neighbors little pines.

 

[Highbeam]

Good post Pilot. I would tend to agree that a dozer is inferior to a trackhoe, officially an excavator but never a backhoe, at cleaning up a site after logging.

Erosion due to soil compaction is of little concern when compared to future growth of pasture. Does soil compaction during clearing have a significant effect on pasture regrowth?

I would guess that the cost of a broadcast burn is prohibitive if for nothing else than the risk associated with the wildfire. It just isn't done in our area.

 

[Pilot]

Highbeam,

Yes, broadcast burning is very expensive, but I only have US Forest Service costs to go by & they include lots of overhead and safety measures most folks would skip. In general, if you can do it, it's the best way.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that an excavator should be set up to work in the woods with proper shielding or you might end up with gallons of hydraulic fluid on the ground.

Excavators are also best for logging, unless your skid distance is long, more than about 600 ft. last I heard. Cheaper than dozers, less site damage and better at cleaning up slash. And if there is a need to pull stumps, an excavator can't be beat for cost and site protection.

 

[MarkV]

I am always interested in how much things vary from one part of the country to the other. We did a burn of 60 acres of family land two years ago and had a private forester manage the burn with 4 of us to doing the leg work. He charged us $25 per hour and we spent another $300 to have a dozer clean up some existing perimeter fire breaks before the burn. I think the forester spent about 6 hours with us before he felt things were under control.

Georgia’s Forestry Department sent the regional forester out to look at my 30 acres and recommended we burn to control undergrowth. They will loan us the burn pots, or whatever they are called, for a $100 refundable deposit and send a crew to stand by incase they are needed. This is a free service but has to be done on their schedule based on weather conditions and their availability. Most of the burns in our area are done in January.

For those who have not seen a managed burn in action it isn’t that hard to do. You start a long fire line that moves at a walking pace and the flames rarely get higher than knee level. The hardest part is keeping the line going and that is why you need several people to walk the line and relight the areas where the line has broke. Of course it only works this way when the conditions are correct for burning and that is why I would always hire a professional forester or work with the Forestry Department. They are looking at ground moisture, humidity, temps and wind conditions. The county gets sensitive if you send to much smoke over local roads.

Pilot touched on how important new growth control is after an area is clear cut or selectively logged. My FIL had a different 100 acre tract selectively logged about 10 years ago and never burned it off because of drought conditions for several years following. That land is now covered with thousands of volunteer pine and sweet gum trees that are 6 to 10 tall and to thick to walk through in many places. That situation is not good for burning because the pines are so thick and small the burn can get away from you to easily I am told. Looks like that property will be a mess for a good number of years to come.

Will, give the Forestry Department a call and see what kind of services they offer in your area. I wasn’t clear if your property was selectively cut and will remain forest land or clear cut and is being turned into pasture land. Either way 40 acres would be a monumental job to clean up by hand with a tractor and bush hog. If it is going pasture bring in the big equipment to do the first round of clean up and stump removal. If it is remaining forest land talk to a forester and see what they think. Gook luck and let us know how it turns out.

MarkV

 

[MMM]

MarkV, who was responsible if fire got out of control? That's a good price!

 

[EastTexFrank]

This is an interesting post as I will be having 60 acres cut this fall. From the advice given, it seems that I should get a game plan in place right now and talk to the forestry extension service (never knew about them) and make plans to get a track hoe as soon as possible after cutting to get the debris stacked, ready for burning.

Is there anything else that needs to be taken care of, like having the cutter do the stacking since he will have the equipment there. He may not like to do it but most things can at least be discussed. Keep the advice coming.