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Gratiot Lake Conservancy/Bammert Farm


Narrative:

MTU FERM students recently completed a project entitled Bammert Farm Red Pine. The Project was conducted over four semesters (Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Summer 2005, Fall 2005) and including the setup of a timbersale according to a Forest Stewardship Plan generated by James D. Sweeting. The project was limited to planted red pine stands scattered across the property that covered about 40 acres.

The students were responsible for the following work:

Fall 2004

  • Meet with landowner.
  • Identify acheological sites and wetlands; GPS.
  • Identify and flag locations for new roads, including GPS work.
  • Generate GIS maps of above.
  • Mark trees for harvesting; original stand basal averages 210 sq.ft./acre; target basal area is 120 sq.ft./acre.
  • Generate contract and bid forms.
  • Written report of work.

Spring 2005

  • Landowner had a logger friend to property in hopes of getting a bid. The logger indicated that not enough trees were marked.
  • Team went out under heavy snow cover to assess the marking done during Fall 2004. The team agreed that all the trees marked for cutting were good choices, but upon taking several prism points in each stand, found some stands to be undermarked. Residual basal area of unmarked trees ranged from 120 to 200, depending on stand.
  • Reviewed marking tallies which listed 227 cords of pulpwood and 17 MBF of sawtimber. After converting these number to cords (261 cords total) and computing a removal volume of only 6.5 cords/acre, the team decided to make a return trip to mark more trees
  • Marked more trees, then cruised the stand tallying only marked trees. Came up with a residual basal area of between 120 and 140 and approximately 16.7 cords/acre removal volume.
  • Generated written report.

Summer 2005

  • Meet with DEQ at site to discuss culvert replacement.
  • Fill out DEQ permit and generate drawings; submit to DEQ.
  • Obtain bids from reputable loggers in the area.
  • Recommend bidder and give sample contract to GLC.

Fall 2005

  • Conduct timbersale inspections.
  • Review cut volumes.
  • Ensure road is fixed up after rutting during rainy weather (no rutting in woods occurred).
  • GPS small ownerships located within harvest area and prorate volumes from these parcels.
  • Generate written report