land timbering and clearing question

[summitlion]

I own a small 23 acre plot of land in Richmond VA. It is covered with ~30 year old Lob Lolly pines. I have been here about 5 years and I currently have about 2 acres cleared for the house and yard. I am going to clear 10 acres and thin the remaining 11 acres. I am planning on putting in a small (2-3 acre) pond, a small raised bed garden and some pasture. Here is my question: I found a timber company that is interesting in timbering my land. I was then going to have a company come in with a large piece of equipment that will shred the remaining debris and grind down the stumps. I was told that when they are done that it will be ready for planting.

I have been told by others that this is the wrong way to go about this and that I should hire someone to come in and pull out all of the stumps and burn them. Is anybody familiar with this shredding equipment? Is it the wrong way to go?

Any help would be appreciated.

R

 

[bamatoolmaker]

If I were you I would have at least 2 timber companies quote prices for your trees.Get a quote on the lot and a quote per load.I am going to use a dozer and push up the stumps.

 

[BarryinMN]

Bama has a good point.

Hire a Forester to cruise the acreage & estimate the sales volume & value. He can also broker the job, audit shipments, disburse funds.

Check the workmanship of the timber contractors as some will leave a huge mess & the mulching contractor work hours will skyrocket. Combining both tasks in one contract might force them to work together & limit the harvesters mess.

If you intend to smooth the soil, stumps will interfere with every tool except a roller.

If just broadcast overseeding, then leave them they will eventually rot causing craters. Also the rot will kill seed so the grass will have a cratered look.

All comes down to how much you want to spend on perfection.

 

[SnoFalls]

I'd also suggest combining the contract where the harvester is responsible for cleanup (negotiate the "level" of cleanup you want).

I did that with a small amount of thinnning I did (about 10k in timber) and they brought in an excavator to "pluck" stumps and pile them. A properly sized excavator takes very little time to pull stumps and can either load them for hauling or pile them for burn.

 

[kbiddle]

SnoFalls,
I lived in VA until a year ago had 65 AC and I had a company called Dodson Brothers logging select cut my property they also do clear cut or whatever the homeowner desires.
I could not give these brothers a better reccomendation they were excellent in every aspect.
Just thought I would pass it along and good luck
Kevin

 

[KentT]

You can have an excavator remove the stumps and then grind them while they're grinding the rest of the slash. That's what I did... I left only a couple of large white pine stumps -- on purpose -- to sorta show what had been there when we started.

I'd originally planned to burn it, but the weather/burn permits didn't cooperate, so I had a guy bring in a huge tub grinder and grind it all. Here's the "story" if you're interested.

http://www.loonlanding.info/making_mulch.htm

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Just had some timber cut last year. Unscrupulous guy tried to take me for over 4,000. Fortunately I spoke with the county extension service who gave me great counsel and I was able to limit the loss to several hundred. Found the 'correct' way is to get prices on 'standing' timber. Get as many bids as possible. I did six. (That's where I found I was being jyped.) Also, the log skidding took a tremendous toll as the operators dragged the cut logs along existing trees and ripped much bark, sometimes knocking down smaller trees. Am expecting most of these trees will die in the next couple years because of it. Also found that using horses rather than machines is more favorable to the woods and the ground. Clearcutting would certainly be different than what I had done, but the cautions about business practices still remains....

 

[forgeblast]

county extension service they are there to help you. I live in PA and have a guy coming on thursday to help me deciede what type of timber harvest i should do. There are many different types. Some timber harvests like high grading are not benificiall to most areas. The property we bought was high graded (all the best timber cut the rest left) now there is a regeneration issue where we have very few seed trees to replenish the ones that were taken out. A bad timber harvest can hurt the value of your land. Contact your local exenstion service its a free service.
Forgeblast