But This Is Where I POOP!

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion) 09/12/2019 at 11:09 • Filed to: first world problems, we still own 5 acres so i guess I can't complain

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The land adjacent to ours has been untouched and unused except for some trails in the 11 years we’ve lived here, and by the looks of it, probably since the mid-80's. But the owner passed away and the family is doing some logging on the property. We’re also getting at least one new house on our quiet dead-end road with just 5 houses now - all on the same side, opposite this forested land.

Our hope is that we can buy some of the land, at least what’s across the road from us - the land next to us is where they’re building. It’s ~60 acres total, so we’re hoping that the family will either a) do the logging and then leave it alone or b) if they DO subdivide it, that we can get a parcel big enough to join it with our existing ~5 acres, parcel out our house, and put the rest in conservation to minimize our tax burden and preserve the land.

I’m still sad to lose this land the way it was, where I explored with my kids, found frogs in the vernal pool (where that machine is parked in the pic above), and where the trails connected up to other local trails . But it’s not my land. Here’s hoping we can change that!

Oh, at least the kids are entertained by this process. Yesterday around 7am a huge skidder showed up on a trailer:

About 10 seconds later:

And I might try to get a deal on some of the trees for firewood - ideally, free . I figure it’s the least they can do for coming in and doing all this without so much as a single word to us as an abutter. If it wasn’t such a small town, I would have found out only when the equipment showed up at the end of my driveway. Some kind of notice would have been a nice courtesy, but it’s not required for the scope of work they’re doing, so here we are.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > functionoverfashion 09/12/2019 at 11:15

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I know the feeling...

Censored > functionoverfashion 09/12/2019 at 11:32

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Depending on where you are at, the bugs attacking the trees are causing this push to log. You either log it or lose it to bugs. As long as they have a good logger, you won’t hardly notice a difference by next year. they cut the stumps nearly flush and once a fall has occurred , the earth swallows the stumps back and the forest floor looks relatively unchanged. My family owns 200 acres in the midwest and we just did this exact thing. We had a ton of black oak and walnut trees that were starting to show signs of Japanese Beetle infestations that would have destroy ed the trees, so you may as well profit from the timber. This was 2 years ago on our land, and now unless I showed you where they took trees, you would never know. Don’t expect to get much other than limbs from them though, the logging companies aren’t quick to give away their profits.

CaptDale - is secretly British > functionoverfashion 09/12/2019 at 11:40

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Man I hate to see good forest area go away, but maybe they are just cleaning up some of the land besides the house? Either way I agree it would have been courteous to leave at least a note on all the neighbor’s doors.

functionoverfashion > CaptDale - is secretly British 09/12/2019 at 13:56

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They’re only “thinning” the forest for most of it, which I assume is a far cry from a clearcut. They are 100% clearcutting below the existing house to make a better view, though there is a nice view already, there’s a ~2 acre field right in front of it and down hill from it . They’ll have to cut a LOT to make it much better, because the land doesn’t slope away as much on the west / northwest side.

I think especially where the logging equipment was parked inches from my property line at the end of my driveway, and the landing area will be literally right there, I would have really liked for them to reach out. Many of the family are local, and I sort of know one of them... she’s the one I’ve reached out to.