Loburn shelterbelt trees becoming firewood
As part of our long-term shelterbelt management we have cut down a number of radiata pines recently. Some I have plans for and others are available for firewood. The trees have been down just long enough that they should be getting down a little in weight from fresh green but the needles are still green.
They range in girth from 40 – 60cm and length from 18 – 28m. I’ll be using an online tree volume calculator to estimate the solid wood volume and post that as each tree comes up.
What we want is to collect a fair fee for each tree, I’m thinking $50 is a good place to start and have the trees cleared away as a result. Then we’ll get the next batch of firewood trees down.
What you get is as much or as little of the tree as you want (log, branches, pinecones)
What we expect is the cash for the tree; to have it removed promptly and to have the waste (small branches etc) piled neatly in an agreed area. You pay for it on the day you take it away.
Loburn shelterbelt firewood tree
Health and Safety: This offer is only available to capable chainsaw operators (tasks are delimbing and bucking) who are wearing helmet, muffs, visor, chaps and steelcaps. Saws must have an operating brake or a bar mitt in use. If you haven’t used a chainsaw in this way before but are still interested then we might be able to work out a different deal where we work together and I/we operate the saw.
What we don’t want is a big mess to clean up after; responsibility for storing firewood heaps; or having to move them for you, but I may be able to help lift whole delimbed logs onto trailers or move them to a more accessible site.
The Catch: The trees are on the wrong side of a creek and we’re on heavy soils. At the moment that’s not a problem but when we’ve had a bit more rain, we close the access until groundwater drops in late spring. Our view is respect for the land comes first, just because a fat-tyred 4WD can get around without bogging, that doesn’t mean it should, and we’re not going to argue about it.
If there are no takers, I’ll first be trimming off the branches and then we’ll offer logs, next we’ll start splitting them up and be offering split firewood.
Long term we aim to keep this going for quite a few years as a staged shelterbelt renewal i.e. cutting several trees down once the hay is in and getting them cleared away, one way or another.
So if you’re interested in one of these firewood trees leave a response in the comments with just your first name. That will give me your email – and I’ll get back to you, comments are moderated so they won’t show on the page. Or wait for the first trees to come up (very soon) and register your interest then.