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Timber stand was like a diamond in the rough"We were looking for harvestable timber so we could continue in the lumber industry," Lee said. "This is where people get into trouble with their timber, they don't know when to harvest," Lee said." By Doug Rich When it comes to land management not everyone's priorities are the same. To some extent the land itself dictates what those priorities will be. When John Lee purchased the 305 acres across the road from his farm his first priority was to prevent it from being broken into small parcels. He and his wife had moved to the rural area of Daviess County, Mo., because they did not want to live in a neighborhood. They valued their space. Once he owned the land his long-term priorities began to take shape. "When we bought the 305 acres there was quite a bit of timber on it," Lee said. "Timber that had not been harvested for 80 to 90 years or more." The first thing Lee did was call the Missouri Conservation Department and had a resource forester come out to look at his property. "I wanted to see if there were some trees and logs there I could sell to help pay for the land," Lee said. After a year's worth of study on the timber the report came back that he had over 100,000 board feet of timber on his farm. "I figured we had about one-third of that amount," Lee said. "That took care of any money problems we had. It really did." The forester came back, marked the trees for harvest, and gave Lee a list of loggers who could do the job. "I thought, 'Well, I could hire a logger or buy a sawmill and do the job myself,'" Lee said. "So I bought a sawmill." He bought a sawmill, built dry kilns, and started harvesting the timer himself. He cut the logs into lumber, dried them, planed the boards, and sold it to cabinet shops and hobbyists. Most of the harvestable trees were red oak, white oak, several walnut trees, hickory, and ash. "I cut it into cabinet grade lumber as opposed to pallet grade because that is where your money is," Lee said. American Tree Farm System With help from resource forester Phil Sneed, Lee became involved in the American Tree Farm System. According to Sneed the American Tree Farm System is a national certification program for private landowners who have at least 10 acres of forest and woods or more. The program requires the landowner to manage his property for multiple resource benefits, develop a long-term management plan, and then be inspected by certified inspectors on a regular basis. The resource benefits in the plan are wood, wildlife, recreation, and water. "Basically, we set out to manage our timber using these priorities," Lee said. "Not everybody's priorities are the same, but ours was wood first. We were looking for harvestable timber so we could continue in the lumber industry." His second priority was wildlife because he and his entire family are avid hunters. Three sons, a daughter, their spouses, his wife, and Lee are all hunters. They harvest deer, turkey, squirrels, pheasant, and quail from their timberland. "Recreation was third because we cut horseback trails through the timber," Lee said. The Lees raise Tennessee Walkers and do a lot of horseback riding. All of the good lumber trees have been cut out. Lee will go back about every 10 years, according to his timber management plan, to harvest trees that have grown to maturity. Lee stresses that he did a select harvest not a clear cut. "You don't high grade it, that is harvest the best trees and leave the worst," he said. They leave some good trees standing and harvest those trees when they get mature. "This is where people get into trouble with their timber, they don't know when to harvest," Lee said. "They leave them until they die and rot." Lee is using two specific timber management practices to improve and maintain his land for years and generations to come. First he did a crop tree release on a grove of walnut trees. This area was over grown, had good rich soil, and 35 veneer quality walnut trees, but it was crowded in by hedge, honey locust and elm trees. "We spent one winter clearing out all of the hedge, honey locust, and elm trees," Lee said. "This releases the crowns of the walnut trees to the sunlight and allows more moisture and nutrients to get to the roots. It helps their growth immensely. Secondly, he does Timber Stand Improvement (TSI). This involves going in and weeding out the undesirable trees. Lee starts with invader species trees like honey locust, elm, iron wood, red buds, diseased, crooked, or trees damaged by storms. Trees that will never make a decent lumber tree. "We save a few snags or dead trees if they are large enough for dens for wildlife," Lee said. "We try to leave two or three snags per acre." Certified Logger Lee did something else that might be a good idea for any producer before he charges into a stand of trees with chain saw roaring. For the first 14,000 board feet of lumber from his land Lee hired a logger to come in and cut the trees down. "I was afraid to cut the big trees myself," Lee said. Sneed then introduced him to a logging course provided by the Missouri Forest Products Association where he could learn to safely cut down large trees. "After that I started harvesting the trees myself," Lee said. The tree management course did qualify him as a certified logger in the state of Missouri. "But I am too old to practice it," Lee said. Lee did have some background in the lumber business. Beginning in the 1960s he worked for two different lumber companies as a hard wood lumber grader. In the 1970s, while he still lived in town, he purchased his first sawmill and taught himself to run it. Later he bought a second sawmill and built an experimental dry kiln using solar energy. He found solar energy to be inadequate for drying wood. "That mill put two sons through college and bought me a new pickup truck before I had to shut it down," Lee said. Sneed said Lee has been interested in a variety of different management practices other than just lumber production. He has converted 250 acres to native warm season grasses for wildlife habitat and seed production. Eighty acres of this is planted to a monoculture of big bluestem for seed production. "The new farm bill will likely be very conservation friendly and I anticipate a good market for native grass seed," Lee said. He also has reestablished an oak savanna on his farm. The area was all grown up in hedge and honey locust but contained this great old oak trees. He did a couple of prescribed burns to kill out the unwanted species and open up the area. Now he has a 60-acre oak savanna not unlike what was there when Indians lived in this part of Missouri. "The deer love this area as well and the turkeys and squirrels," Lee said. "Originally everything out there was mature and over mature," Lee said. "By removing those trees it has improved the forest. When we go back to harvest again we should have more and better trees than we did the first time. The more you harvest and the better you manage it the better quality timber you will end up with." Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 0 None None Date: 3/8/07
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