Thursday, October 19, 2017

Orange Butterfly Comparison

My daughter got the perfect picture of two orange butterflies that often get confused, the monarch butterfly and the gulf fritillary butterfly. 
These two posed perfect for the picture.  Top one is the monarch and the bottom one is the gulf fritillary.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Thinning a Sixteen Year Old Stand


 BEFORE

AFTER

This is the goal of a first thinning of sixteen year old loblolly pines.  We are in the middle of this thin taking place right now.  This thin will help these trees to grow into a mature forest and the sunlight hitting the forest floor allows many new plants to grow that benefits wildlife.

This logging deck will become a wildlife opening.  This spot is just being prepare for the thinning to begin. It takes lots of room for an eighteen wheeler to turn around and get the trailer in place to load the logs.

As the timber is harvested we do everything possible to control erosion. The limbs and straw removed from the trees as the logs are prepared for loading onto the trucks are scattered on the logging trails.  This mulch here is about eight inches thick.  It will act as a sponge to release the water back into the soil.
This is a major project on our property at this time.