The Marshall County Commissioners have approved a timber sale in the Mill Pond Demonstration Woods.
Forest manager Bruce Wakeland told the commissioners Monday that the sale could bring in $12,000 to $14,000. “We would consider this a Red Oak sale,” he said. “Red Oak makes up like two-thirds or three-fourths of what we’re selling out there, and Red Oak markets are very good. And this particular site, because of the power line, has summer logging access; they can get to it and log it in the summer. So if a timber company can schedule something in the summer, they have trouble staying busy sometimes because of all the corn and beans that get in their way, and so sometimes they’ll pay a premium if we have a sale at this time of the year.”
The last timber sale was held at the site in 2000. Wakeland says the forest has seen significant growth since his volunteers started managing it in 1987, “If you went out there right now, before we have this timer sale, there’s 11,000 board feet to the acre. So that’s like two-and-a-half times more than there was when we started managing it, plus we’ve had a timber sale in the middle of that time period. So we’re two-and-a-half times more timber, and so obviously it’s time for a sale.”
The commissioners voted to allow Wakeland to proceed with the timber sale, which he will be conducting on a voluntary basis. However, Wakeland also told the commissioners that the invasive Bush Honeysuckle is still a problem in the forest, “If you have a timber sale without controlling this problem first, the problem escalates tremendously because you get that extra sunlight in there, and that really causes an explosion of the growth. So, it’s common forestry practice.”
The commissioners voted to let Wakeland remove the Bush Honeysuckle, for a cost of $2,440. While he expects the problem to keep coming back periodically, he says it’s important to at least keep it under control to prevent its spread to neighboring properties.
Wakeland will be opening bids for the timber on April 27, with logging expected to start in July.
