Lodgepole pine

[sylvestris stew]

must admit I've never heard of anyone selling single small loads of chip, not sure if they'd take it , remember it would have to be cut to their spec. , say 2.5

 

Price wise I'm not sure right now but you'd be looking at £7 - £9 a ton last I heard, not a huge amount more.

 

I would probably look at softwood wood fuel market or chipping for fuel and selling private.

 

These are worse case scenarios though

 

Look around for local saw mills they might take any red logs for fencing material and possibly palletwood.

 

Good luck

 

The best thing for the site would be the removal of the lp and replanting with a more viable crop , long run it'll be worth while but for the conversion you'll probably take a hit, not sure what the position is with grants in England right now but give FC a shout, you might get £ for restructuring or exotic removal for the site.

[davetaz]

Wouldn't firewood be best option? £20/T roadside for softwood. Find some one that produces kindling on a large scale and do a deal

[richy_B]

The best thing for the site would be the removal of the lp and replanting with a more viable crop , long run it'll be worth while but for the conversion you'll probably take a hit, not sure what the position is with grants in England right now but give FC a shout, you might get £ for restructuring or exotic removal for the site.

 

I did think about this. Clearfelling and replanting with mixed native broadleaf and conifers. My background is in nature conservation so from experience I know that there is a lot of funding for restoration of native woodlands and habitat creation. I am going to keep doing my research on this. Thanks for the suggestions.

[richy_B]

Wouldn't firewood be best option? £20/T roadside for softwood. Find some one that produces kindling on a large scale and do a deal

 

Sounds good but I think the 7.5t road will be an issue here. Going to look into it. Thanks.

[Charlieh]

cant you get a grant from the FC woodland improvement grant for removal of un-economic small round wood, this would subsidise the operation, you could shift it somewhere else in smaller amounts till you have enough to merit getting in a big biomass chipper, assuming you could find a stacking area outside the weight limited road, also if your tapping up the WIG money you could get a grant towards the felling and also forwarding out of the timber,

 

Charlie

[Dominic R]

I know the road may say 7.5 ton limit but unless you are going over a weight limited bridge chances are its only to stop lorries using it as a short cut. You may be allowed access for removal of timber.

 

Worth a ring to the council

[wills-mill]

I know the road may say 7.5 ton limit but unless you are going over a weight limited bridge chances are its only to stop lorries using it as a short cut. You may be allowed access for removal of timber.

 

Worth a ring to the council

 

seconded.....

 

Most 7.5t limits are to stop big rigs sneaking down smaller roads and not to do with the road's potential for weight carrying.

[muldonach]

Hello again,

been doing some research on all the suggestions and unfortunately its been mainly negative. I am not completely giving up on it yet. My hope was to clearfell about 6 acres over the course of a few months and do it all on a small scale basis. As I assume in most cases doing the work isn't the problem its the logistics. The site is ok and I could work on it but the main problem I've found is access. The only access possible to the site is via a 7.5t limit road. Now I don't know much about forestry but I think its fairly obvious this is a major problem. Would this rule out any kind of economic forestry? I am not looking to make money necessarily but don't want to make a loss. What I am wondering is:

 

If you turned up at a chip board processor/similar with 4T of average quality lodgepole pine on a timber trailer what would a fair price be? In honesty I have no idea. My hope is £15-£20/ton. Less than that and it would be curtains for this plan.

 

Any more advice much appreciated. Please feel free to tell me to give it up if what I am asking is madness. Its just a good way for me to get involved with an industry I would like to move towards. Again not looking to financially profit from it but can't take a huge hit on it either. Thanks.

 

Well having an idle moment I made some sweeping assumptions and punched it out on a calculator.

 

If your average tree size is 0.35m3 (10m high x 30cm dia at base) and you put in a reasonable 8 hr day you should end up with 60 trees felled, snedded and cut to length, those 60 trees will weigh 8.5t when they hit the ground.

 

You are now faced with 2 runs on your tractor to your end user, you don't say how far away it is but running a tractor on the road takes time, as does loading and unloading so it is unlikely you will get much more done that day?

 

So on a semi- educated guess the economics of your projected operation are that you will have a gross income of about £65/day if you can get a good price for your timber and from now on in it is all cost - travel, fuel, repairs and lost time (hung up trees, nipped saws, bogged tractors and trailer punctures).

 

We did something similar to this about 20 years ago now and the stacked timber sat for three months through the summer before the buyer lifted it

 

 

If it is a recreational project then fine - but it is very unlikely to be an economic one.

 

Not wanting to rain on your enthusiasm but I think the above is a reasonably realistic assessment.

 

Regards

mac

[richy_B]

Really appreciate everyone taking the time to comment. I'm from a countryside management and urban arboricultural background and know very little about commercial forestry so its all helpful. My plan is to move towards small sustainable forestry in the long term. The immediate plan is/was to take on something small that could be financially supported by my current business (hence not needing to make profit) that I could learn from. Hopefully something on a small scale would give you some insight into the pitfalls and difficulties of the industry. Despite the numbers not adding up I am still keen to give it a go. Again, thanks very much for the advice. I'm going to stick around on the forestry forum as its an aladdins cave of good info.

[Pine Marten]

Richy

 

Basically what Charlie says, look into / speak to local FC Officer and see if they will subsidise the operation as part of the EWGS. The public value in this will be the creation / restoration of native woodland.

 

See this Forestry Commission - Woodland Management Grant

 

The above will allow you access to the WMG Calculator 2009. This may allow you a range of operational options such as Timber felling, trimming and crosscutting in uneconomic woodlands and extraction as well as subsequent site prep etc. Economic or not its worth a look

 

cheers

PM