cleaning up after logging?

hi there, we just finalized the purchase of a property we have been leasing for 5 yers.  Before we finalized the purchase the owner had about 10 acres logged with a fellerbuncher, delimiter,and skider.  it was 60-80 year growth eastern white pine and hemlock forest.  there was very little topsoil to start with, lots of gravel in a good portion on the cleared site.  we asked that they not remove the stumps so hold on to what soil we did have.  most of the clearing is on a hill side.  we have a 35 horse tractor with forks and a bucket, and put much financial bandwidth to get much more for equipment.  we plan to use the cleared portion to operate a multi species rotational grazing plan, goats, cows, chickens and pigs.  
My question is what is the best way to handle this land given our resources?  we are 2 adults 3 kids (16, 13, & 5).  now that the snow and ice has melted off we are seeing the reality of the work infant of us.  we really want to do the best job for the land.  our hope is to create an ally cropping type system.
would it be best to pile all the slash in an on-contour row and make huggiculture mounds with it, pile the slash and burn it, move it off site and compost it elsewhere?  im feeling paralyzed by the amount of work ahead of us and all the many many options...  
many thanks in advance for the advice

What are your timelines for this:

Hadley said, "we plan to use the cleared portion to operate a multi species rotational grazing plan, goats, cows, chickens and pigs.

My thoughts are to leave it as is and plant a cover crop, maybe a clover mix. Many seed companies offer these and a local mix would probably work well.

Let the wood decompose on the spot where the nutrients will go back to the soil.

Knowing what type of equipment you have to do the cleanup might help others make suggestions.

If you are wanting to get started right away, I am sure other will have some suggestions.

I like what Anne had to say.  Unless you need some immediate cleaning done I would avoid burning brush if possible.  Possibly chip some with a rental chipper if necessary.  Otherwise I would do as Anne suggested and try the hugel culture mounds or at least find productive use for all that wood.

Will the stumps be a problem or will you clear them level to the ground (leaving roots intact)?

Either way you have quite the project ahead of you!  Good Luck and please keep us updated.

Eric

Congratulations on purchasing your land! It's a great feeling. And as you say, a bit overwhelming.

I'm concerned that leaving the large slash and stumps in place has the potential to become a maintenance nightmare.

With the dominant tree canopy gone, every last seed that has been sitting dormant in the soil will decide to sprout. Not all of these will be desirable, and some may be invasive. No doubt you have a vision and a plan; the dormant seeds do also. You may have to do some rough mowing before they set new seed. 10 acres is way too much to manage by hand, even with three kids with weed whackers.

I would suggest levelling as much as possible so a rough cut mower or bush hog could be put to use. This is an interim measure until you start to trend your land in the direction you want. I think piling the larger slash into windrows or piles is a very good idea. The smaller stuff can rot in place.

My 2c.

Hi Hadley,

Welcome to Permies!

What is your total acreage?

Hi Hadley,
My father in law came across an old book on dynamite, it included instructions on stump removal... just kidding :)

If time is a factor, but you have a little bit of money and experience with machines, I would rent a stump grinder (or hire someone to come in). If you've never seen them, they will chew up stumps like nobodies business and you are left with a small indent and a bunch of woodchips. You could leave the woodships in place for a year. I would imagine some mushroom spawn and a winter would turn most of those chips into soil. Or if you wanted it done faster, and have some help from the family, you could move the woochips into piles and use them for gardening or berms or whatever.

I have been in your exact same situation but with about 5 acres that were logged.  I think those telling you to just seed and leave everything in place dont quite understand how much wood and branches are left behind. You litterally cant walk across your property because of the amount of material on the ground. Here is what we did.  The larger material we cut up into firewood, then we piled up the bulk of the branches and burned them.  It was a hell of alot of work, but 5years on now with rotational grazing sheep has made an amazing transformation. The land has become more productive every year.  I wish I had tried piling branches in swales in some parts but I would definitely suggest leaving gaps where you can move a vehicle through without needing to drive all the way around. In my case I planted a crap ton of trees spaced approximately 30ft apart. Took me 3yrs to plant the whole 5acres. I planted a mix of fruit and nut producing species.  Some from nursery and some from seed.  It will probably be another 5yrs before I get a decent crop from the trees but some of the chestnuts have already produced a few nuts.  The logged area was mostly douglas fir with the occasional alder thrown in. Very poor gravelly soil.  I didnt think anything would ever grow but it is lush and amazing now. The only thing I did besides the rotational grazing (moving every1-2 days during grazing season) was sparingly spread 2-50lb bags of pasture seed mix on about 2/3rds of it. I couldnt afford any more than that.  I'm in western washington so no rain from basically may through end of september.  All I can say are there are lots of ways you can do it.  Do what works for you and your family. No matter what you will probably make mistakes but as long as your not pouring g chemicals everywhere everything g will eventually turn out right.  Also give yourself time and break the project down into segments rather than tackle the whole parcel at once.

Hadley said, " we are 2 adults 3 kids (16, 13, & 5).  now that the snow and ice has melted off we are seeing the reality of the work infant of us.  we really want to do the best job for the land.  our hope is to create an ally cropping type system.

I am hoping that Hadley will come back and answer some of our questions.

I for one asked what kind of equipment is available to do the cleanup.

10 acres is a lot to try to clean up by hand.  Even trying to just pick up the larger stuff without equipment might take years.

I have seen properties that have been logged and to me, it is rather overwhelming to even consider doing a cleanup with any equipment.

Without getting a cover crop on that land will mean a lot of erosion can happen.

Hadley, I wish you and your family the best to try to heal this land.

Anne Miller wrote:10 acres is a lot to try to clean up by hand.  Even trying to just pick up the larger stuff without equipment might take years.

I have seen properties that have been logged and to me, it is rather overwhelming to even consider doing a cleanup with any equipment.

Agreed. I think the OP mentioned a tractor with bucket and forks, which will make a big difference.

Douglas, thanks I had missed that.  I saw the part about the rotational grazing though I missed what was before that.

Hadley said, " we have a 35 horse tractor with forks and a bucket, and put much financial bandwidth to get much more for equipment.

We use our tractor's bucket to pick up what would fit into the bucket.

That is still a lot of work.

The cleanup we did from the Dec 2020 ice storm took 3 weekends to haul everything that was on our patios.

We don't have forks on the tractor so dear hubby and I used a rope to drag the huge tree size limbs off the patio when it became apparent that they were attracting rattlesnakes.