Smoothing Clear Cut Land

[ZTMAN]

Box blade should make short work of the ruts.

Grinding 100 acres of stumps with a stump grinder will take a lot of effort, but if you are in no hurry, have at it. If you are in a hurry, have a forestry mulcher come in and grind them flat. If you want them dug out, that is a different story.

We bought a property 24 years ago that just had about 40 of the 127 acres clear cut. They piled the tops up all in one area that was about twenty foot high. Mixed hardwoods and hemlock. If you went there today, you would never the know the pile was there.

 

[jyoutz]

Pretty rare to get grading here in Georgia from loggers.
Big brushpiles is normal.

If someone wants clean land for development, that is a different bid.

Don't try a 3 pint stump grinder on that many pine stumps. you are not in a hurry, most will be rotten before you get to them!

You can burn all the brush and not have any wood left over. Let it dry awhile, and talk to your firemen, etc.

You can hire a tubgrinder to mulch the brush. Your logger either has on or know one. Keep your eyes open, you will see one on a project!

All logging contractors are required under most sale contracts to smooth out ruts deeper than a foot or more.

 

[jeff9366]

I saw one of these type stump pullers at an Ag Expo once. Pretty impressed. It takes a hoss to pull it.

Two (2) track tractors begin at 400-horspower. Most quadric-tracks (4) are 600-horsepower.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Problem solver right here.. Find a guy with one:

https://imgur.com/ZJjFK5p

 

[jyoutz]

Problem solver right here.. Find a guy with one:

https://imgur.com/ZJjFK5p

I agree that this will do the job. The logging crew has one. I’ve never administered a timber sale where we didn’t require the logger to smooth big ruts and we specify what percentage of slash to be piled and how large the piles should be. The OP should just tell the logger what he wants on his land.

 

[Fixastuff]

Reputable logging companies always clean up the slash and smooth their tracks. Sounds to me like your's were slock....

Pine stumps will naturally rot over time. Have fun, you'll need it.

There must not be any reputable logging companies in my area. They all look like crap tree debris and ruts everywhere. In my woods the pine stumps were the last to rot because they were big enough to heart wood(fatwood, light wood, lighter wood) centers that almost never break down.

 

[5030]

Must not be.... Last time I sold off timber on our northern Michigan property, all the slash was chipped or removed, access paths were smoothed out too Stumps were cut at grade level as well.

 

[4570Man]

Box blade should make short work of the ruts.

Grinding 100 acres of stumps with a stump grinder will take a lot of effort, but if you are in no hurry, have at it. If you are in a hurry, have a forestry mulcher come in and grind them flat. If you want them dug out, that is a different story.

We bought a property 24 years ago that just had about 40 of the 127 acres clear cut. They piled the tops up all in one area that was about twenty foot high. Mixed hardwoods and hemlock. If you went there today, you would never the know the pile was there.

Skidder ruts are sometimes 3-4 feet deep with stumps in the middle. A D6 would be more inline with smoothing them out vs a box blade.

 

[jyoutz]

There must not be any reputable logging companies in my area. They all look like crap tree debris and ruts everywhere. In my woods the pine stumps were the last to rot because they were big enough to heart wood(fatwood, light wood, lighter wood) centers that almost never break down.

It all is based on the timber sale contract specifications. Loggers will do the work required and no more. Contracts prepared by a government or private consulting forester will include environmental clean up and slash treatment specifications and the logging contractor will do what is required. The problems usually occur when the logger provides the sale contract without these provisions and the landowner signs it, not realizing that these provisions are important to get a professional and clean job. Get advice from a forester not associated with the logging company before you sign a timber sale contract.

 

[jyoutz]

One more bit of advice. Most timber sale contracts will specify that logging operations will occur when the ground is “dry or frozen “ and the sale administrator will shut them down during saturated soil conditions. This keeps ruts and soul damage to a minimum.