Wonder if any readers received a flyer advertising kiln dried birch firewood?
The most common way is to air dry green firewood. I see where the costs are $ 209 per cord for kiln dried wood. Air dried firewood is about $100 per cord. Most people prefer oak to birch in heating their home. One can usually haul two cords of wood in a pickup.
County timber sales
I always like to receive information on county and state timber sales. Beltrami County has been very good at sending me information about their timber sales held in April, August and December each year. They also have a chart that shows five-year trends in average stumpage values.
So far their sales in 2010 shows a remarkable rise in stumpage values from the low prices received in 2009.
Average stumpage prices for aspen reached an all time high five years ago, in 2005, when it was selling for over $60 a cord.
The prices for most species of timber have dropped during the past five years when aspen sold for about $ 25 a cord.
This year in Beltrami County, aspen has averaged $30 a cord. Aitkin County priced their Aspen at $ 18 a cord in their August sealed bid.
However most of the aspen sold for $28 a cord, close to Beltrami’s $30 a cord.
Tree plantation thinning
Tree planting that first started in 1951 on county lands is now really making money for the county.
In the last Aitkin County sale, over 12 percent of the income was from the thinning of 102 acres of pine and spruce and amounted to $42,835.
Every year the income from pine plantation thinning should increase as the many of the plantations will be thinned the second time and produce larger trees.
About 14 to 20 cords were removed from the plantations this year.
Up until 1980, all the trees in Aitkin County were planted by local residents. Many of these tree planters, dominated by women, spent most of their earnings in the county.
Now almost all hand tree planting is given to tree planting companies that use professional tree planters from the south that work at least six months during the year, starting in the southern states and ending up in northern states like Minnesota and Wisconsin.
I rather doubt if it would possible to now attract temporary local help as cheaply as contracting out tree planting.
Ridlington is a Media Relations Volunteer for the Society of American Foresters. He was Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Commission forester in Aitkin County from l959 to l980 and District forester in Park Rapids for 7 years.
