Low Impact Logging

Low Impact Logging uses smaller equipment and specialized techniques, to minimalize the damage done to the forest that larger logging operations and procedures can cause to the surrounding trees, the forest floor and environment.

Damage from large equipment can cause problems, from erosion, to damage of nearby trees during skidding, to loss of future profits from cutting down trees to make roads and landings, needed to remove the timber and get it on a truck headed for the sawmill.

Big logging companies are well aware of the damage they are about to cause during harvesting.....removal.....and landing, they do it to maximize their profits......most of them are good about repairing the damage they cause during logging operations. They know for them, time is money, and it is much faster for them and the large equipment they use, to make roads and landings to get at the timber and to remove it. Then fix whatever damage is done.

But that doesn't really tell the entire story for every case....... Sometimes bigger, faster and easier, just isnt always the best answer, ....... And what if you wanted to save the money it takes to build roads and landings and fix the damages......????

Often the Landowner decides he wants to log a section of timber for ecological reasons following a forestry management plan,....

More often than we like to admit, its out of a need to sell some timber for extra money, or to get at some lumber and save money.....

and money....., is a big part of the story, affecting the landowner and the loggers...

Since someone said money, and it's a big part of the story, lets talk about that.....

We can break down the whole story to a few basic elements.......we can keep it on one hand and 5 of our fingers.....

Let's face it, the bigger companies are concerned with 2 and 3, and an "acceptable" part of 5....that's it.

1. Need for the logging.

2. Cost of logging operations.

3. Profit from timber.

4. Impact on the environment.

5. Fixing the damage / satisfaction of the landowner.

1. If the need arises because the landowner wants to implement a forestry management plan, or needs some extra cash, or needs some lumber and wants to harvest a few trees to complete a project, or maybe just some recreational trails.....the logger needs to cater to the landowners needs and what he/she wants, if you have a small woodlot the bigger companies don't even want you calling them, there just wouldn't be enough pie on the plate for them and you....Even a small maple sugar operation in a woodlot could yield nice profits from the Veneer in clear logs and the tapped butt-logs, by thinning out trees before they fall.

2. It costs money to pull off a large logging operation, it costs you and them....

all logging equpment and machinery takes fuel. some take alot of it...(and fuel aint cheap these days)

How much, is of great importance....

In order for a larger company to maximize the end profits, they need to get the timber out as fast as possible, to do that, they need to make roads to haul the timber out, then a landing to bring the logs where they will be stacked up awaiting a truck to haul them to the sawmills and it takes time and fuel to build those roads and landings, trees that are deemed "acceptable losses" are cut down....on the flip side of the coin that is money that could go in the landowners pockets, and it is sometimes a big chunk too.....those trees cut for roads and landings will someday turn a profit in the future.

Low impact logging doesn't require large landings and large roads for harvesting and removal,.... most times there are no roads needed, no landings either, logs can be removed with often times no visible trace left, no extra costs in fuel and loss of future profits from cutting roads and landings.....small recreational trails can be used with no additional costs or damage incurred.

3. The profit from timber boils down to if there is enough to make the company a good profit...most bigger companies are not concerned with anything more than making you an offer that you will accept and they can get right to hauling it out.....they pay the landowner and do whatever it takes to finish the job quickly and maximize their profit at this point, they have already paid you and they are on the hook for the profits they can get out. very, and i do mean very few large logging companies work on a percentage, more for you, would mean more for them....Right???

but really more for you isn't their goal, they paid you already and are working on more for them. ........and what about Smaller woodlots ?......forget about it.....

4. The impact on the environment is gonna be important to the land owner, because it will affect his future profits and poor practices can cause erosion, wildlife habitat destruction, even decreasing recreational use of the property.

Sometimes the damage is irreversable and permenant

Often times it can take years for the damage to return to a shade of what it was before, many times even after the loggers "repair" the damage caused,

the land and forest don't return to what it once was......

Try riding down a bumpy and un-even "repaired" logging road like this one with your kids, or grandkids on the 4 wheeler....

even after the repair most logging roads need more rework to be satisfactory for recreational use after companies fix the damage to satisfy their contract.

5. The satisfaction of the landowner is most important to the landowner, Some logging companies are concerned with the satisfaction of the contract, which can mean different things to each party. damage to the property is usually in the contract that a company must repair the damage ( Ruts, holes, logging roads)....to whose satisfaction is sometimes up in the air,

Sometimes it's best to leave damage out of the picture....

Finally, on a more personal note....

I like to think of it in terms of my woodlot.......

If i wanted to take 5 or 10 trees out of my woods, for sale or for lumber i may need,.......

1. I wouldn't cut down another 30 or maybe even 50 trees, just to make roads and a landing, I would be using those trees the next time I needed lumber, firewood or selling them later......

2. I wouldn't tear up the forest floor or cause permanent damage to the property and wildlife habitat just to harvest the trees needed.....

3. I would be pocketing the most i could from my timber, whether that was profit or future profits....

4. I would be very happy when the logging is finished and I only harvested the few sawlogs or veneer logs i wanted to remove...

Big logging came first.....and the practices were bad all around the table... it destroyed alot of the native forests and Old Growth timber....reducing the size of the forests and timber,....causing much of the disease resistance and quality of the timber to diminish....

It's time we do a better job!!!!

If we want to have more , we have to do more, not take more......

A forest without big logging roads or landings cut into it, is a sustainable option to keep the forest more natural and habitable, and profitable. keeping everything in a more balanced environment.

Low Impact Logging can often times use the same recreational trails that exist already, or surprise surprise.....no trails at all, never needing to use the same trail if neccisary. making as much of a mark as the wildlife passing through .....getting in and removing older veneer sugar maple from a stand of syrup trees before they fall over can net a nice check from veneer buyers....and you can do it without harm to the surrounding trees producing the sap.