They call it a Slash.

 I did some more digging into logging forests and the messes that are left behind. The loggers only take the logs that will earn them money. The tops are cut off and left lay. Other trees are damaged by the logging and are left standing. Trees that are cut and discovered hollow are also just left to lay.

They call it Slash.

The mess can serve a purpose. The logs decay providing nutrients to the soil.  The debris can prevent erosion and will provide cover for animals. 

[To me this didn't seem as though it would prevent erosion...however....]

The tree tops apparently provide food for deer as they are browsers and will eat the ends of the branches.

Yet I keep thinking that the people who own the land are not conservationists. I doubt there will be any replanting of the trees, but one can hope that trees will grow back. Well trees would grow back IF there were seeds left behind or saplings untouched.

The damage done to the oaks may be permanent and spread as Oak Wilt is an issue in our area.

I imagine that in a few years, this forest will produce amazing fungi and slime molds as well as a some sort of transformation. 

Yesterday afternoon I got a text from Glen the Hunter. He leases the part of the forest I photo'd and the woods all the way through the valley. Glen is a bow hunter and only hunts the land for a few weekends a year. He parks often at the edge of our property to hunt. We made an agreeable arrangement for access to the meadow about 6 years ago.

He always texts me to let me know when he is coming to check cameras or when he is hunting. He is from the Kenosha area of Wisconsin where I used to live. He generally stops and visits a bit each year. 

I texted back, asking him to give me his opinion on the logging on the land he'd leased for hunting. At the end of the day I got a text back with an apology for not stopping out to visit. 

"It is a mess!" His ATV broke down while checking on cameras and he said they had a terrible time dragging it out. If one could read through the lines of short texts...he was as shocked as I was. A bit later he texted me back and said that the owner ... said they would 'clean it up'. The emoji sent with it was a figure shrugging. 

I replied that the only cleaning up of that magnitude would be by bulldozer. My opinion.

Glen then asked if I'd keep an eye out for property for sale, as he sold property in Kenosha and was looking for property in our area.

We talked a bit. I'll skip over most of it. Glen then offered to purchase my place and let me live here. Bold move by text, but his heart sounded like it was in it thinking he'd help me out by a huge influx of money.

This was the third time someone had expressed wanting to purchase my place this past week.

I of course wouldn't do such an arrangement. I would be a tenant in my own house and there would be too many variables that could occur.

I think Glen was rather shocked at the condition of the land that he has leased now for the past few years. He leased it because of the amazing forest. I doubt he will lease it after this year.

Last night I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn't help but think about the forest to the east of me.

Can you imagine the fire danger if we have a drought?
Yeah. I should just pretend the forest next to me no longer exists.

Slash can be cleaned up with forest mulchers which are machines with large grinders. It can also be cleaned up with bulldozers which pile the Slash for burning.

I highly doubt that the absentee owner of the land will put that kind of effort and money into cleaning up nearly 500 acres of forest after it is logged.

I learned something new today. 

Slash.

It seems an appropriate word for this kind of logging.

Never thought of it in this manner.

Gobsmacked...Astounded....

After the Saturday's storms blew through, it had cooled off. So I took Charlie for a walk along the gravel road. I decided to duck down one of the logger's skidder lanes. Talk about mud and slick walking, it made icy conditions seem easy.

I was curious as to how much they were taking from my favorite steep hillside. This was the place I hiked every day for nearly 30 years. I called it my happy place.

Photo from last fall.

Below...the Dry Run.

This was taken last year during peak fall colors.

The spring snow melt and waters from the ridge run down 

this crooked dry run. The roots of the trees
hold back the soil and rocks.

And..

now... [not exactly the same spot, but this is near the dry run]. I'll have to wait until winter to get a good look at what remains. 

[Panos with the cell phone]

Do the owners of this land even know what this looks like? Does the guy -- Glen who leases this forest for bow hunting know what has transpired?

Does anyone have any idea what the heavy rains will do to this fragile soil on the hillsides? By the time I'd slogged down to this spot, the heat and humidity had returned. I was literally gobsmacked, astounded, and totally blown away by the destruction.

[Yeah, I thought of some words that shouldn't be posted on a family friendly blog too...]

I'd heard the one logger sawing all week... and trees thundering as they hit the ground. 

I was hot, sweaty, muddy, and shocked. I slogged back up through the slippery mud. I wanted to cry.

As I walked past the piles of logs to be picked up, I reminded myself that this was not my land even if  I knew this land better than those whose names were on the deeds. 

No more will I be able to find my landmark trees or sit on my favorite outcropping of rocks and enjoy the deep forest.

And to think that they may end up doing this to the nearly 1 square mile of land with two valleys in it.

Hubby reminded me once more that it was none of my business.

I am in deep mourning for the land I love.

I suppose, in defense of the owners of the estate, they probably need the $$$$ for property taxes or some such thing. The cropland has been left untouched.

Ok. Enough about that.

I feel personally affronted by the destruction and reckless use of logging. As someone else suggested to me. "You know, people often log their land before they decide to sell it."

In my mind, the land is worth so much more with careful management of the forest. 

I swear. I heard the forest weeping...

To be continued....

Bear and I

I got to take a little walk in the neighbor's forest to the east. I wanted to see why they seemed as if they were cutting every single tree down in one of my favorite places. I didn't get far. The logger was cutting trees much closer than I thought.

...and I had an idea in mind and ... well, honestly, I didn't want 
anyone to see that I'd brought Bear on the walk.

However, Bear insisted.

He loves the forest as much as I do.

He asked to be set on a stump so he could look over the situation.

He slumped the longer he looked at the damaged forest he loved so much. He looked absolutely miserable.

He wanted to know why the trees in this beautiful forest had to be taken.

How do you explain 'greed' to a Teddy Bear?

Bear was sad, he wondered why they had to make the forest so ugly with nothing but stumps and twisted tree tops. 

I explained that they didn't want the tops, just the trunks.

"But Bears like to climb into the tops," Bear told me. "We like tree branches to get away from scary things."

He was upset and decided that the forest looked very 'Scary' to him now.

Bear decided we needed to get home where he felt safe.

"I'm comfy here," he said quietly. "Just let me sit on your bed. I'll even share it with Charlie. Maybe we will try a walk in the forest again some time. I need to think about it."

 

Monday Monday

Yesterday we took a short excursion into the neighbor's woods. I meant to see how far the loggers had gotten around this section of the forest.

We got part way into the new forest trails and we heard the skidder start up as well as the chain saws. That surprised us as it was Memorial Day.

Maybe not surprising as they'd lost 3 days time last week to heavy rains and rains were now predicted from Tuesday through Thursday.

Charlie and I chose a deer trail to get back to the ridge top. We passed this tree and I had to stop and look it over. I believe from the shape of the tree that it is what we call Musclewood or American Hornbeam.

I've never seen any of these trees this large before as they are very slow growing trees. It made me wonder how old it was.

The trunk was fascinating with ripples and twists in it. Charlie was in no mood with trees falling in the distance to hang around while I took photos. I'll have to go back and find it on my own so I can look up into the canopy and see what kind of leaves this tree has.

I love the shape of it, very unique.

Just before we left the forest, I couldn't resist a bit of fun from my bag of goodies. 

"Wow Hank! Look at those big tracks! Whaddya suppose they're from?"

"Hmmm, dunno. Yah think there might be some really big deer out here?"

As promised to Hubby, I decided to take the day off. I hadn't even put the mower away from the day before. I'd mowed with the zero turn and the little mower ...then spent a while weed whacking some places. 

Since we had no company planned, no visit, no ... nothing. I moved my camper cot outside on the porch and grabbed a book to read.

Charlie and I read, watched birds, watched the clouds float by, and fell asleep.

Tuesday was going to be busy enough. I'd spent Saturday re-arranging and deep cleaning the living room so we could move hubby's current bed into the living room and the hospital bed can be placed in the downstairs bedroom. 

But Monday was reserved for relaxation after chores of course.

This cot is so easy to move that I may do this again. It felt nice to recline and read a book with all the bird chatter around me and the wind whispering through the pine trees above.

Cool wildflower of the day:

Virginia Waterleaf:

Shot with the Lensbaby SOL 22.

Just stuffss

 They started on the woods to the east of me....

I know the absentee landowners needed $$$ for their taxes. They've leased out the land in sections for hunting and farming. Apparently it doesn't pay enough.

Sigh.

This was one of my walking trails... 
I guess I won't freak out because it IS not my land.
They need the money.
The understory will grow back in.

But damn, it looks ugly.

These are the tops of the magnificent oak trees they cut down. The tops are left where they land and the oak logs are taken.

I know all of this, it has been years since I've seen another section of this land logged. 

The stump of one of my favorite oaks. The sunlight pours into the forest now with these grand old oaks cut down.

However, my creative thinking says this would be a perfect dystopian backdrop for some of my toys.

Right? What better place to show off the damage to the earth.

This logging is not for forest health. It is for cash and quick money.

My neighbor who is a 'forester' goes around our county and helps people manage their forests for a healthy forest.

His biggest concern was the logging company taking oak trees in the spring.

Oak wilt is a huge concern and spreads with this activity in the warmer weather. He wished they'd done this work in the winter.

I calmly explained to him that the owners are not stewards of the land. They only want money for leasing and money for profit [I think]. Someone pointed out that a lot of land owners log off their forest before selling the land.

Uffdah. 

The dynamic of the forest will be changed. It is not my land but I know it so well from walking it for 29 years. Last summer......

How it will change remains to be seen. 

Things change and we have to adapt.

Lil' Bear looks at the stump and at the forest....

~~~~~ 

I had meant to show off some birds we've seen in the past few days. But this was on my mind.

I wonder how it will affect the two families of the Pileated Woodpeckers in this forest. This was one of them visiting just the other day. Chipping at the deer skull on the tree for some calcium perhaps?