Pines of the Southern and Central Sierra

Many of the larger and older trees around here have been slowly dying after the long drought that we experienced several years ago.

Not yet anyway (N. CA). Almost every pine on my property is infected.

There have been Pine Bark beetle infestation here in the past.
Yes the devastation is fast and complete.
The remedy here on private tracts was cut and burn as fast as possible to mitigate.
On public lands, they let it go then cut and burned. There was a state park here of about 4000 acres that was completely lost.
Then replant.

In my opinion, our fire management practices has also contributed to these kill offs. Fire has a bunch to do with forest health.

Problem is - there is no economical way to control under story vegetation other than fire. Logging helps, but it is just short term. The trees and brush grow right back in within 5-8 years.

I have been told that the pine bark beetles have already moved on to other trees by the time the needles start to turn brown.

A couple years ago, I had 3 or 4 dozen mature ponderosa pines on my property. Last year, I cut down about a dozen. PG&E's tree control contractor just came through and cut down 10 more a couple weeks ago. Looking around the property, I need to cut down another 8 or so this month. So I'm at about that 85% and may get to 100% by next year.

Looking at the positive side, when I cut down the first bunch, I decided to build a cabin out of the logs. My first plan was for a 14'x18' dad cave. The proposed cabin has been growing as more and more of the pines are dying. I'm now up to a 24' x 30' (plus a 24'x16' loft) dad cave/guest cabin. If some of my neighbors want me to take their beetle-killed trees, I may need to consider a detached garage, a garden shed, a tool shed, a sauna (cedar plank lined), a gazebo.....

This is about halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, northern end of the Central Sierra, southern end of the Northern Sierra.

I'm curious Evan as to how you're processing those logs. I do a fair amount of logging and sawmilling myself and am not too far north of you. I'm where the Sierras turn into the Cascades but probably considered more the Cascades. Our saving grace up here is that the most of the forested land is held privately and most have had aggressive salvage operations that have kept the beetle spread down. That plus last year we got more rain than those to the south of us.

What we need Clearcut is an extended cold spell with temperatures in the teens. That is about the only way to control the beetle, besides spraying. My pines are mainly around a pond with water all year. They are still being affected.

ACD Surveyor, post: 395225, member: 494 wrote: What we need Clearcut is an extended cold spell with temperatures in the teens. That is about the only way to control the beetle, besides spraying. My pines are mainly around a pond with water all year. They are still being affected.

That's what I understand too. A forestor just the other day was telling me it takes a 15 day stretch of continued hard freeze to effectively kill the larvae.

clearcut, post: 395213, member: 297 wrote: I'm curious Evan as to how you're processing those logs. I do a fair amount of logging and sawmilling myself and am not too far north of you. I'm where the Sierras turn into the Cascades but probably considered more the Cascades. Our saving grace up here is that the most of the forested land is held privately and most have had aggressive salvage operations that have kept the beetle spread down. That plus last year we got more rain than those to the south of us.

Cut, peel & stack crosswise with good airflow between. If it weren't for the beetles, I'd dry with most of the bark on, but gotta get the larvae out. I don't have a good means of dunking the logs in Borax, so I'll end up spraying and brushing it on a few times as the logs sit. Being bug-killed, the dry time should be somewhat less. I hope to be putting walls up in Spring. Of course, that means that I need to get the foundation piers in this winter, deal with the county, etc.

eapls2708, post: 395203, member: 589 wrote: A couple years ago, I had 3 or 4 dozen mature ponderosa pines on my property. Last year, I cut down about a dozen. PG&E's tree control contractor just came through and cut down 10 more a couple weeks ago. Looking around the property, I need to cut down another 8 or so this month. So I'm at about that 85% and may get to 100% by next year.

Looking at the positive side, when I cut down the first bunch, I decided to build a cabin out of the logs. My first plan was for a 14'x18' dad cave. The proposed cabin has been growing as more and more of the pines are dying. I'm now up to a 24' x 30' (plus a 24'x16' loft) dad cave/guest cabin. If some of my neighbors want me to take their beetle-killed trees, I may need to consider a detached garage, a garden shed, a tool shed, a sauna (cedar plank lined), a gazebo.....

This is about halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, northern end of the Central Sierra, southern end of the Northern Sierra.

Cool idea!

I see. I've been doing something similar except that I saw the top and bottom of the logs smooth with my mill and then the bark just falls off the sides. Once the trees go brown the cambium is pretty much gone and the bark just falls off. For the most part the beetles have already left the tree once the needles go brown. More the problem is if the bark is left on too long the bore worms will start boring into the wood and can cause significant log degradation. If you see any standing green trees that have the small white pitch specs up higher on the tree, get those down and remove the bark. It won't just fall off, but that is where the beetles larvae are currently residing waiting for next spring's hatch. The trees with only large pitch tubes on the lower 6 - 8' of the tree are a different type of bark beetle and trees can often survive those type of beetles. Its the beetle that leaves small white pitch spots up higher on the tree that are the ones who are the big killers and who will keep spreading with each successive hatch. We've been able to successfully stop the infestation on our timber land by looking for those trees with the small white pitch spots up high and removing them while they are still green. Often times you will only see those small white pitch spots in the upper reaches of the trees so it is important to look up and not just at the bole.

I had some large pine, cedar, and juniper trees burn this year and was thinking about buying a chainsaw mill to cut some siding or corral boards out of some of it.

The market for pine is way down around here, so I'm not sure what else I can do with these trees.
There are several log truck loads, but nobody would take it if I gave it to them.

I have an older Stihl 660 pro falling saw that would probably work well for this purpose.
I realize this is a slow, labor intensive process, but I have patience.

Somebody today told me I should look at a Lucas Mill, but I think it is probably out of my budget.
Anything more than 2G's would probably be more than what I would want to spend.
I'm not sure if there is anything in-between that and a chainsaw mill that is worth the extra money.

Any advice? Heck maybe somebody has a mill that they would sell?

Clearcut,

Thanks for the advice on the pitch spots. I'll take a closer look at my remaining trees and see if I might be able to save a few. so far, my firs and redwoods don't seem to be affected by parasites, although the lack of adequate water has stressed the redwoods quite a bit.

Imaudigger,

Where are you located? If not too far from me, I might be able to take some of those logs off your hands. PM me.

A big section of Utah forest was taken out by the beetles.

After much fussing they decided to allow logging of the dead trees in southern Utah. The plan was to allow it if they would use helicopters to remove the trees (stay off the land). I went out to bid and they got only one bid and it was negative. If the feds would pay then they could afford to use helicopters. As far as I know the dead trees are still there where they died.