A Landowner's Guide to Selling Standing Timber - the Ontario ...

A LANDOWNER’S GUIDE TO SELLING STANDING TIMBERDamage to your woodlot can be minimized by:sNegotiating a contract that clearly states your desire tominimize damage to residual trees and the woodlot.yFelling trees in such a way that they do notdamage the trees that remain after the harvest.Assessing Logging DamageSECTION 5ssssCarrying out regular cut inspections. The landownershould be at the woodlot for the first day of logging.You should immediately express any concerns tothe logger.Correct timing of the operation. Harvesting is best carriedout during the winter or during dry summers to avoidrutting. Harvesting should not occur from spring to lateJuly, when trees are most susceptible to bark peeling.The skill and care of the skidder operator, including:yyyTrail location. Avoid sharp turns and steepslopes. Main trails should avoid stands ofyoung trees, areas that are not being cut, andsensitive areas.Winching logs to the skid trail. The skiddershould not back up to each tree. Ensure thatthe skidder working in your woodlot isequipped with at least 25 metres ofwinch cable.Using bumper trees. These are trees located onthe curves of the skidder trail which protectother trees as the logs are skidded out.The skill and care of the feller, including:yCutting trees so that the butt ends (the end cutfrom the stump) point to the skid trail; logs canbe dragged with minimal swing movement.After harvesting operations are complete, a minimum of85 percent of the residual stems measuring 10centimetres (four inches) and larger at DBH must be freeof any major damage. At least 90 percent of the residualstems of the “acceptable growing stock” must be free ofmajor damage (refer to Table #4 on page 24).Here is a simple method of assessing damage, based on theminimum 85 percent factor. Walk a straight line through theharvested area. Count all trees over 10 centimetres DBH plusthose with major damage occurring within five metres ofeither side of your line, (a 10-metre strip). For example, ifyou walk 100 metres and count 50 residual trees of 10centimetres DBH or larger, and five trees with significantdamage, then you have a minimum of 90 percent damagefree. Take note of a few other items:sssAre some of these bumper trees (trees left on theinside of a curve to absorb the impact of logs and toprotect other trees as the logs are being skidded out)?Do the damaged trees happen to be primarilyfuelwood-quality trees, i.e., poor-quality trees? Perhapsthe logger aimed falling or skidded trees towards thesetrees in order to save the high-quality stems.Do the damaged trees happen to be mostly higherqualitytrees? This may have been done to convinceyou to allow the logger to harvest these trees.23