Wood Lot Management

We heat with wood and use it for cooking most of the year. In a typical year we use about 15 -18 face cords of wood. A face cord is 48 inches by 96 inches times the length of the pieces, in my case 16 inches. What species of tree the wood is from makes a huge difference of course, some woods being much better than others. Some such as oak or ash are much denser and so contain many more B.T.U.'s of heat. Woods such as balsam fir or aspen are not as dense and so give you less heat for the same size pile. This figures into my decision on whether or not to cut down a particular tree but it is only one consideration. The picture shows a yellow birch which makes very good firewood being dense and drying well after it is cut. My decision to cut this tree however was made based on the tree's health, which you will note, is not optimum. It was apparently damaged in the past and rot has set in. It was also crowding several nice young maples and is in a area I manage for maple syrup production. For these reasons this birch went to my firewood pile for next year. I try not to cut strong healthy trees for firewood as on 30 acres there are more than enough damaged or diseased trees to fill that need. I also take almost all of the tree including the branches down to about 1 inch in diameter. The remaining brush I put in piles and leave them as cover for woodland residents such as chipmunks and song birds.

 
Here is the wood from the yellow birch and a white ash I cut that day. The two trees provided about 3/4 of a face cord of fire wood, about 1/20 th of what I will need for next year.Today  I will look over some black ash that will probably be cut. Those grow in the swamp so I have to get them out now while we are still froze up.