Improve Your Woodlot by Cutting Firewood

Introduction

Over the centuries, wood has been a major source of fuel and heat.  Our forefathers revered wood and used it to fill every need from heating their homes to making tools.  They made maximum use of the back woodlot.

The choice of wood for fuel was not only logical, but a most natural one, for trees are a renewable resource.  They can be harvested periodically without permanent disturbance to the natural environment.

Only in the last fifty years or less has wood lost this important role.  As a nation, we shifted to the convenient fuels: oil and natural gas.  Ironically, it is our heavy dependence on these nonrenewable resources that created the shortages and exorbitant prices of today’s energy crisis.  Consequently, wood has come into its own again, as more and more people look to the woods for the traditional source of heat.

The renewed use of wood for fuel creates an opportunity to correct some of our past mistakes.  Our woodlots have been mismanaged, overcut, or often neglected.  Past cutting practices left our woodlands with an overabundance of crooked, diseased, and otherwise unsaleable trees.  These hamper the growth of the more desirable individuals, the straight, and healthy trees that are needed for lumber and veneer.  To establish a good forestry program, the first step is to remove these less desirable trees for fuelwood, especially those trees that compete with the best crop trees.

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