Mark Vander Meer

I am a 4th generation baker.
Agree, use rye.  Or get a starter from somewhere.  Mine is from the Yukon gold rush.  They said!
Sour dough is a rough and tumble endeavor,  relax, don't worry about the technicalities.  

Yes, I can do that, off forum. Email: mark@watershedconsulting.com

Box Elders react well to pruning, meaning they shape well. Strong horizontal branches. They are great shade trees and don't get too tall for an urban setting. I have many in my yard. They also provide excellent logs for our sawmill, great figure and color. I like the tapping for syrup.

I've been working on post-burn rehab for 20 years+. Leave the burned wood on the surface. Burn + physical disturbance = decreased bio-physical resiliency.

I mill lots of cottonwood. Great for barn floors, trailer decks, trucks decks etc. Takes abuse well.

There are many reasons why a tree might not drop it's leaves.

John's advice is good. That's how I do it and know it works.

Whoa Hoss,
You sure you have to take down the entire tree - can't prune out the disease? For an extreme infestation I can see your point.
Perhaps wait a season and see what the tree produces, you might be surprised. No tree is perfect.
Sounds like Black Know Disease?
You can bury the limbs without spreading the disease.
You can burn green wood as well, it doesnt take too much dry wood once its going. Use a propane weed burner followed by a leaf blower.

Flitch Cut - been milling those for years. Bad Goat Forest Products, Missoula, Montana

To determine the end product or mid decomp products of wood one element I look for is heart wood to sap wood ratio's. The sapwood rots fast and is typically completely decomposed .

Heartwood typically sticks around a while, rots slowly and adds interesting, complex chemicals to the soil.

Russian olive (in my experience only) has a low sap wood to heart wood ratio. That's good for the long term soil stewardship