Last Log Truck Load

The final log truck load of the year has been sent off to the mill. Our season in the woods has been rather dis-heartening because of the amount of damage we found.

Overall, the trees that we planted 30-35 years ago took the brunt of the winter storms. The trees were well on their way to being a good timber stand when heavy, wet snow combined with sudden wind storm snapped the tops out of many of the trees without leaving enough of the green crown to support continued growth of the tree. Many other trees that did not get broken from the weather completely uprooted and slumped over. Some fell flat to the ground but those that did not hung up in trees around them creating spots where fire could ‘ladder’ from the ground up into the crowns of the live trees.

During August the overall fire danger in the woods from the very warm weather curtailed most attempts of working in the forest and this was during the time that the Columbia River Gorge Fire exploded into a raging inferno shutting down the I-84 road system for weeks. With so much of our local fire suppression crews working long hours away from the area and the fire danger rising here in the West, we pared down and completely stopped our work in the woods to avoid the possibility of a fire of our own.

The harvest of forest lumber in board feet from our farm this year was less than half our normal output. Cleanup and road building took up most of our efforts and we are starting to see improvement in our stand of timber. With that we have also opened up large areas that will need to be replanted in January and February. Trees have already been ordered and we have that to look forward to after the winter.