Site Discussions

I currently own a sawmill in Missouri and am looking for a lumber yard to buy my oak lumber

I just got the magazine’s invitation to subscribe today and that’s why I’m here.  I love to read what fellow nature nuts have to say about our beautiful world up here in Northeast USA.  It’s really nice to meet a fellow lover of snow.  I plan to revisit your blog and invite you to visit me at mine:  http://www.saratogawoodswaters.blogspot.com

Thanks for your interesting publication.

Did anyone notice an infestation on red twig stands this past summer/fall? They looked like wooly alder aphids , I suppose it was them flying about all September. A year or two before, there were wooly adelgids all over the speckled alder stands but I didn’t notice any silver maples which are the host tree. Perhaps the red twigs are an alternate host?

I enjoyed your article and would like to learn more. I’ve been using locust for several years around my farm. I’ve constructed cattle handling facilities and corrals of locust as well as many posts. We are also required by the state barn grant department to use locust for all wet locations. I’ve begun a side business of dealing in locust post ,rails, seedlings etc. After much trial and error I’ve learned to grow locust from seed. I would like to try propagating ship mast locust from root stock. I would apreciate any advice on this matter or instruction (if available) I am very familiar with the Syracuse / Fingerlake region and have access to many stands of tall straight locust. My questions are many but my intrest is sincere , if you can assist me in this matter please contact me at your convienience. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Sincerely Tim Longmore

We have lived downwind of a Woodmaster ss434 for eight years. It stinks up our field and yard and comes into our house unless you keep every window & door shut tight. We have spent decades and thousands of dollars making our acreage a clean and lovely outdoor recreation area, which is unusable for half of the year because of the discomfort of breathing
the burning creosote. We have burned wood in the past, (for one winter our only heat was an indoor wood stove) so we’re not anti-wood burning. The boiler owners have refused to raise the stack (no reason given), and the wife has shouted from her front porch (they built right behind us even though they have 14 acres) that she hopes the smoke kills us, and to choke on it. They don’t cut their own wood, the only time they step outside is to load the furnace and drive away. They have no outdoor activities, and don’t care that they ruin ours. It almost seems like they enjoy it - and after reading some of these posts, I believe they do. So much for Love Thy Neighbor.

Living in northern Indiana I grew up on a farm and cutting firewood was a big part of my life.  I enjoy everything from cutting to hand splitting the wood.  My dad used a Vermont Casting wood stove, now I do as well.  Mine has a catalytic system that burned out the first year of operation.  It continues to do the job yet uses more wood.  A Garn is in my near future.  The more people that think us wood burners are nuts, the better.  More sources for us!!!!! Like my grandfather said “This is the fuel that warms you twice.” Working to get it, and the reward of free heat.  I don’t understand burning green wood, dry is better in every way. Many of the people who just can’t mind there own business talk about us hurting the environment with smoke from natural wood in my area are the same people wanting to install a 17 mile paved bike trail through farms and people’s back yards. That’s good for the earth, more asphalt.  How many poisonous gases will be let in the air laying 17 miles of asphalt on old railroad stone going from a town of 2000 to a town of 500 with nothing in between.  My point is some people’s hypocrisy have no boundaries.  Burn because we can and enjoy what goes with it.  I love Stihl chainsaws, I love my grandpa’s old ax. I love wood heat.  I try to burn clean with seasoned hardwood.  I figure cutting and burning wood disturbs environmentalists enough, next they will come after my dirt bikes.  I love getting fired up!!!!!!!

Hi Courtney, I need some help locating Mills that make chips located on navigable waters so that ships can just come in and load up.  I need paper quality pine chips, and debarked birch chips, and energy grade hardwood chips.  Just any old mill on the water would probably do for the hardwood chips.
Thanks.

Gene

This is a very good and timely discussion of a serious problem facing our forest resource.

New York Society of American Foresters conducted a survey of harvests about 15 years ago that showed most harvests in this state are not done to sustainable silvicultural standards. I understand similar studies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia showed similar results. Gifford Pinchot expressed concern with this issue early in the last century and we apparently have not made much progress yet.

This is one issue foresters may be more able to address than global warming and invasive species. In the long run, forest industry, landowners, foresters and society would benefit if we practice good silviculture.

The measurements of snowpack depth and length of snow cover have similar limitations as measured snowfall: they do not measure the temperature in question, that is, the actual ground temperature and depth of freezing soil. Temperature of the soil and the depth the soil freezes may not correlate in a neat and tidy way to depth of snowpack or length of snow cover. Deep depth of snowpack and longer snow cover may mean a much colder winter. Less depth and shorter cover may mean a warm winter. How all these factors come together in ground temperature and freezing depth likely is complex. The only way to know is to measure ground temperature and freezing soil depth.

I want to thank Dave for addressing this issue from an appropriately objective point of view.  All of the (justified) buzz around exotic and invasive pests, the parallel with chestnut blight, wooly adelgid, beech scale nectria, zebra muscles, alewife, honeysuckle, rock snot other insects and diseases is too stark to ignore.  This is an opportunity to be proactive and not reactive in regards to the balance in our environment and home. On this issue we have a chance to be smart to ensure that we and our land are not victims of a lack of foresight.

I am writing a children’s book, and wish to include information on the extended life of trees though recycling, extracting, etc.  Discoveries such as the used for scotch pine bark extracts, are exactly the eye opening kinds of knowledge I mean to share/incorporate.  These discoveries and their potential are incredible and so natural.  I enjoyed reading your article.  Thanks.

You need not to worry a wolf will not bother a human. The only way you would have a problem is if you corner it. As for your goats and type of canine you need to watch for. Let’s forget the fairy tales of wolves are just that, a fairy tale.

His explanation about is not correct. The reasons for the summers being moister in New Hampshire than Wyoming have nothing to do with proximity to the coast, since summers are also drier on the Pacific Northwest coast and every place else in the west. I could go into the climatology, but I’ll focus on treeline. The answer is which elevation results in a minimum winter temperature of -40C. That is the temperature that causes ice to form in plant cells and kills trees. Because of the arctic fronts that move down from Canada, those temperatures occur more in the Northeast than the west. It takes one rising to 10,000 feet in Wyoming to routinely achieve those temperatures.

By the way, treeline is only 5,000 feet in mild Washington, where temperatures rarely drop below 0F even in the mountains. Why? Huge deep snowpacks that bury trees till July.

I’m looking for white ash to turn into baseball bats. My son and I are looking for a niche in the market as quality bats hand turned from Maine.

Diameter limit cutting and its more common relative, high-grading, come with impacts landowners should understand.  UMass Extension recently developed a pamphlet about high-grading based on the scientific research surrounding diameter-limit cutting to help inform landowner decisions.  To see a PDF of the pamphlet, visit: http://www.masswoods.net/pdf/High_Grade_Harvesting.pdf.  Send email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you would like hard copies.

How do game birds like prairie hens reduce the amount of ticks in the east? I think the increased bird kill years have a rebound affect on the number of ticks.  What do you think?  Do you have any data on this? Patricia

So, THAT’s why I have such a hard time getting up in the morning!

Why would you consider the 24-hour day modern, Graham? My understanding is that this math has been around and approved for centuries.

Do teach.

I’d guess all of those things, Kimmie. Or at least 3 of 4. Snowpack certainly would have an effect (more snow means longer snow means colder soil). Cooler ambient air temperature certainly contributes. I’d buy the thinner soil argument, based on the fact there’s not as much insulating detritus to stave off hard frost. I’m not sure about moisture, though.

Stay Away from Shaver Outdoor Boilers

These morons have been jerking me around on my order since July 2008, after paying a $1,500 deposit. The boiler was supposed to be delivered in September 2008, here we are approaching December 2008 and no boiler. Their customer service is non-existent. Ben is available to take your order & deposit, but try to get someone on the phone or by e-mail after that. Mission impossible!

I canceled my order with Shaver and went with a Natures Comfort 250. Natures Comfort distribution network to dealers is great, response time at the factory or the dealer was immediate. You can talk to a real person! Shaver Wood boilers - never ever again!!!!!!

Why does it take longer at treeline for the soil to warm up? Is it a difference in the soil? Soil moisture? Snowpack? Air temperature?