Question on foresters "cull trees"

[skillet]

I just enrolled in a forest stewardship plan on my 37 acres. Stand number 3 which is 8.7 acres is bordering on being overstocked with yellow birch red maple and sugar maple (6-10"). The forester(NYDEC) came out and marked all of the trees to be thinned(alot of sugar maple). My question being, isn't the forester striving for straight trees (lumber).While i am looking for trees with large crowns and many branches for tapping. I understand about releasing the healthier trees. But might i be culling some sugar maple with high sugar %. What would you do?
The forrester said if i tapped a tree i would get a lower price on the butt log. However with the price of syrup i could easily make up the differance and then some.
How many trees(maple) do you have per acre? If i remember it should be about 100 mature trees per acre.

Thanks for the help
skillet

[brookledge]

I would say he is looking at it for log value and not syrup value. So the choice is yours. However if you do agree on removing some maples I would recomend testing the sugar content and using the results as a guide in deciding which ones to cut.
All you need is a refractomer. You may find someone around you that would let you borrow one if you don't have one. Do the test on the same day at the same time. use a knife or awl or even a small drill to break through the bark and then using an eye dropper take a few drops of sap and record the results. As long as the test are done at the same time the trees with the highest results will constantly test higher than the other ones. So if you can't decide on what to cut due to other imperfections then I'd use the sugar content to decide which ones to cut.
Good luck
Keith

[markcasper]

If you are noy satisfied with his job, you should tell him. He is working for you. I don't know if your program is similar to Wisconsin's managed forest law. With our woods involved, we established a management plan based on what we wanted to do with the woods. The main thing was managing for maple syrup. I pay the forester by the acre, so he could care less whether or not the log value is degraded. As long as it satisfies me and the dnr, thats the objective.

Its my understanding that the worst form trees and defective trees should go ASAP. But not overdoing it all in the same year. It is highly unlikely that those trees with poor form or defects will be good in sugar content. The second thnning in 10-15 years would be the one where you'd want to check individual trees for sugar content, since the poorest ones will have already been removed.

I believe the final count on a mature sugarbush should be 25-50 trees per acre, according to the maple producers manual.

[forester1]

As a forester, and knowing lots of foresters, I would say that most of us are biased towards straight log potential trees. He is working for you however, and he should mark it to favor good sap producers. He may not know what a good sap producer is. That is something foresters pick up by their own study, not from forestry school.

But sometimes you have to take out sugar maple if they are crowding superior sugar maple trees adjacent. On my own land I took out some sugar maple trees that were competing with superior sugar maple. Also I left some sugar maple that were crooked but sound and took out some really nice yellow birch adjacent. I wouldn't have done it that way if it wasn't a sugarbush.

[skillet]

Talked to my forester today about wanting to tap the maples. He said that he would not change the cull trees. The trees that will remain are the highest quality in the stand. They have the largest crowns and likley the best produces for both syrup and timber. The sugarbush with do better when thinned (more space for the crowns to expand). He also said there will be many second crop trees left.

skillet

[Robear]

When do you guys cut? This is the first year I will caretake my little sugarbush and I'm wondering which is the best season to cut.

[twigbender]

RoBear: The dormant season is by far the best. If I were you at this point in the year, I'd wait until October to do any cutting. If you need any help with management decisions, I'm a retired forester and live just 25 miles north of Bemidji. Be glad to give you a hand.