Earth Day 2016

Every day is "Earth Day" on a well managed tree farm.  This morning as my wife and I ate breakfast I grabbed the camera and made a picture at our bird feeder of this visitor.  This was the first time we had seen him and he was so beautiful.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Earlier this week we got a picture of an eagle that had just flown up into this sweetgum tree near our property.  Nothing says freedom more than this majestic bird! 

As I said, "Every day is Earth Day on our property!"

Great News For American Family Tree Farms

Yesterday the US Green Building Council started recognizing certified wood from America's Tree Farms.  This is an important milestone for Family Tree Farms.  Click on the link below for more information.

https://www.forestfoundation.org/stuff/contentmgr/files/1/cbe96fbfc85e469f43a48381db1818cc/misc/usgbc_one_pager_040516.compressed.pdf

Before And After

Longleaf Pines

Here you will see some of the reasons prescribed fire is such a good tool in forest and wildlife management.  Not all the advantages will be discussed but you will see enough here on  the why of prescribed fire.

Below is a picture one week before a prescribed fire is used on this four year old, forty acre tract of longleaf pines.

And here is the result of the burn a week later.

Longleaf pines thrive in an area that is burned regularly .  This tract was burned two years ago so this is the second time fire has been used on these longleaf pines.

The fire removes competition from the stand and increases the browse for wildlife. I think a well managed stand of longleaf pines is as good as any food plot you can plant for deer and turkey.

Loblolly Pines

The next day we used a prescribed fire on this twenty-two year old stand of loblolly pines.  This fire was about 130 acres and it made the forth time this stand was prescribed burned for management.

This is what the stand looked like before the prescribed fire.  Notice how little there is for wildlife to eat.  The under growth has become woody and the forest floor has only pine straw.

After the prescribed fire most of the woody undergrowth is burned or killed.  This causes new tender growth to emerge in about a week and more sunlight can reach the forest floor to cause forest legumes to germinate.  This really increases the food available to wildlife.  

A prescribed burn program also protects the forest from wildfire.  If the weather turns off dry and wildfire becomes a problem then this stand is protected because a hot wildfire can't burn through this stand.

In just a few days this under-story will be as green as any place you can find in a forest.

Things Happening On Our Land

Last week we had firebreaks raked  out around 125 acres of 22 year old loblolly pines in preparation for a controlled burn.  This burn is to control undergrowth and to improve the wildlife habitat.  This will make the fourth time this stand has been burned for management.  A prescribed fire helps keep down the danger of wildfire and the risk of damage to the trees and wildlife.

Other happenings:

We have started a timber harvest on this tract of mature trees that joins another tract of 3 year old longleaf pines.  We are going to convert this tract to longleaf pines also.  We are having some good wood harvested on this tract that will be made into lumber and plywood for new home construction.  Longleaf seedlings will be planted here as soon as possible after the harvest.  All of our property is on native mountain longleaf  pine sites and we are converting all our sites back to longleaf pine where it is feasible to use prescribed fire as a management tool.  Planting and managing  longleaf pines really helps improve the habitat for wildlife.   

Boundary Lines

Painting boundary lines can be a messy job if you are like me.  My wife told me today that I had blue paint on my ear.  That didn't surprise me because that just happens in the briers and thickets.  Property lines don't always go through the easy trails.

This painting was a repaint job so it was easier than painting new lines.  Tools I use when painting starts with a cheap paint brush, and something to scrape the bark off the tree to make it easier to paint and the paint will stay on longer.  I have used a machete but now I use a drawknife.  The drawknife works the best and you do less damage to the witness tree.  Keeping your property marked has many advantages.  It helps keep hunters safer by staying on the property they have permission to hunt and other hunters on adjoining landowners can know when they are at a boundary. 

 Heirs will know where the property lines are if something should happen to you.  Our grandchildren know when they see blue paint that this is the boundary line for their property.  They always mention the blue paint.  There are several colors of paint you can use.  I always buy from Nelson paint which is located in Montgomery, Alabama.  If you don't know the correct way to paint the lines you need to get someone that knows how to paint the lines the correct way the first time for you and then in the future you could do the repaint. 

Lines have to be repainted between five and eight years, depending on the quality of paint.

Good Article From American Tree Farm

Below is a link to a good article about a Mississippian caring for the land.

https://www.treefarmsystem.org/bulletin-vickie-roberts-tree-farmer-profile?utm_source=legacypledge2&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=2016ForestsandFamilies

Frozen Snakes, Not In Some Places

We are in the dead of winter here in Alabama and yesterday we had the coldest day of the year so far at 19 degrees.  It stayed in the 30's all day.  

My uncle thought this would be a good time to get out and work around his Treasure Forest cutting some brush with the chainsaw and cleaning out around an old truck cab. There was other metal near the cab.  

Because of the cold and for protection of his hand he had on work gloves and that probable saved him from having to take anti-venom.

He went into the house to warm up and took his gloves off because he said his hands were so cold that they were numb.  When he took his gloves off the tip of his ring finger started to swell, hurt and itch.  In a short time it began to turn purple and he noticed two spots on his finger where the skin had been penetrated. The finger started throbbing.  

He went to the emergency room where the doctor said he had been bitten by a copperhead.  He told him that the glove probably kept the bit from being more severe but if it started swelling more down his finger to come back quickly.  He was given antibiotics to help control infection.

So, just because it is cold doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware snakes.  

The snake was probably angry because he was rolled out of his warm bed!