Michigan’s selective timber harvesting has some forestry guidelines that if followed benefit the woods for years to come. One of them is that there shouldn’t be more than 30% of the standing volume of timber taken out in any one harvest. We specialize in northern Michigan selective timber management practices by using these proven timber management rules. When we do a timber harvest, our goal is to perform a select cut in such a way that the timber being left will continue to put size on and the quality of it will get better each time. A properly done selective timber harvest will make it possible to return every 10, or 15 years forever depending on what percentage comes out on each harvest. This is known as a rotational cut. Proper timber management is not necessarily cutting the highest quality timber each time you harvest but to take the fully matured in size and/or value along with some of the timber that needs to come out to give the proper spacing between the trees to get the maximum growth out of the future timber. Our goal is to make your timber more valuable each time it is harvested then the last. Removing the diseased and deformed trees will make your forest healthier which are some of the trees that we were speaking of prior that would come out along with the fully mature timber. The remaining trees will grow more vigorously. Individual trees to be harvested are chosen by the following sustainable forestry principles:
1. Risk – The removal of the damaged, diseased, the doubles & triples. Which can include any tree that has a Y in the top that is cracking, dead, or hollow spots on the trees where there is a weak point and anywhere that water can get into the stem of the tree
2. Form – Removing defective trees like crooked, leaning, or uprooted. Now, this may not seem like a big deal but the problem comes when they come down and the damage that they can cause to the surrounding timber.
3. Tree Spacing – Optimizing crown positions which is having the proper space in between the tops of the trees so that just enough sun and rain can get through without too much coming in so that your future trees get the proper amount of each.
4. Financial Maturity – Harvesting the peak value trees will always allow you to get the most for them before they start to develop more problems and decrease in value.
5. Tree Size Balance – By adjusting the size of the trees left standing by not taking all of one-sized trees you will always have timber in the future. (Now this is one of the rules that can change from woods to woods because it wouldn’t do you any good to have a whole parcel of property with the same size timber on it from one side to the other.)
6. Saw Logs: 12″ & up
7. Pole Trees: 6-11″
8. Saplings: 1-5″
All of the information above has been being put together for decades by state, federal, and private consulting firms by doing study upon study upon study. They still continue to operate these programs to constantly update the information.
We at Kamen Forest Management Hope that this helps you make an informed decision about your property and would like nothing more than to be the ones to do the work for you, but should you choose to go with a different company please make sure they are on the same page as far as the type of work you want to be done so that the beauty of our state can be maintained for years to come.
