Caledonia Argus

Recreation and timber focus of state land stewards

Posted: 1/20/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

How is state land in Houston County managed?

That was the question that motivated this story.

Of course, a lot of other questions sprang up from that first one, as they always do with complex subjects. And with 13,738 acres of Minnesota-owned land in Houston County, itís complex.

My main source of information came from Randy Mell, Caledonia Area Forester for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

He knows the subject well. Heís been at the job since June of 1975. And heís passionate about it, with a stream of energy running through him that even a dull newspaper editor can sense.

So I spent part of a day with Randy and some co-workers marking trees for a timber sale. Then I had a two-hour interview with him at his office at 603 North Sprague Street in Caledonia.

The fun part started on January 6, when I went with Mell and four other DNR employees on a tree-marking outing on state land south of Caledonia. Itís on 103 acres in section 13 of Winnebago township. About 50 acres is growing dense hardwood.

Mell calls it the Waters tract, because James and Anna Waters sold it to the State of Minnesota in 1968.

Mell said that he likes to refer to property by the previous ownerís name. It gives a more personal ring to the land.

The timber rights on the property will be sold at public auction on February 19 at the Rushford Fire Hall at 10 a.m. Three or four other parcels will be auctioned at that time. The timber sale will be advertised in local papers, and local loggers will also be notified by direct mail.

After the trees are marked, timber buyers can visit the spot and look it all over. Theyíll get a sense of what the trees are worth, then theyíll go to the auction and make their bids. The highest bid wins. The logging will take place between November 2004 and February 2005, unless special permission to cross private land is given by the adjoining landowner, Gale Diersen, in which case it could be done earlier.

Some trees would be marked and cut to improve wildlife habitat, Mell told me, and the older, more mature trees are sold. Up to 45 acres will be replanted, he said.

Mell and three other foresters armed themselves with cans of red paint: James Brooks, regional forester from Rochester; Doug Rau, staff specialist from Rochester; and Mike Wachholz, program forester from Lake City.

The fifth man, DNR forest health specialist Ed Hayes, held a clipboard on which to write down the species, diameter, and number of saw logs on each tree that the foresters marked. Mell called him the tally man.

This information goes into a prospectus given to people who want to bid on it, so that they can make an accurate bid for the timber.

Mell gave them instructions on what kinds of trees to mark and how to do it. Each of the trees to be harvested should get marked in two

spots, Mell said, one a slash about chest high, and the other a dot at the bottom of the trunk.

The reason for the mark at the bottom is so that when then logging is done, DNR foresters can make sure that no trees were cut that they didnít mark.

He told the men to call out the species, diameter, and height. Any oak, hickory, or cherry trees over 15 inches in diameter at breast height would be marked and cut. Good, sturdy 14-inch hickory stays, Mell said. Birch, poplar, and elm could be marked and cut at 14 inch diameters

The men climbed over a couple barbed wire fences, then spread out about 50-70 feet apart and walked through the woods.

The woods rang with their calls, like ìHickory, 16 at one,î meaning that it was a hickory tree with a 16 inch diameter that had two eight-foot saw logs.

As they walked Mell explained to me that the DNRís goal is to grow more deciduous, nut-producing tree. These benefit wildlife like squirrels, deer and wild turkeys.

If a tree is cracked, fire-scarred, or full of limbs, it would be marked for removal. This opens up the woods for sunlight, and helps white oak grow. ìWhite oak is really the preferred species for wildlife,î Mell said. The foresters try to leave 3-5 rotten trees per acre so squirrels can use them for dens. They want a healthy squirrel population because they plant a lot of acorns.

ìWhite oak, 22, half log,î Mell hollered to Ed Hayes after marking a tree. He pointed to nearby smaller trees. ìIt will release that hickory, release that oak, that oak.î

The goal is to remove older material. ìThereís so much young hickory here, and oak,î Mell said.

He admired a tree with a one-inch diameter. ìThatís what a forester likes to see,î he said with a broad smile.

ìThis is a healthy forest, thereís no doubt about it.î

Mell will hire a private vendor to plant about 800 trees per acre on the land to be logged. These trees will be planted this spring or summer, before the logging takes place, because after the logging, itís not as easy to get through the woods because of all the tree tops on the ground.

ìIíve seen trees grow right straight through tree tops,î he said.

Sustainability is the theme

A healthy forest is probably the best way to describe Mellís philosophy. During our interview on January 12, that was the theme that kept popping up.

One goal of managing the state land is to show different types of management of both the forest and tillable acres.

The forested acres are what most people may notice, but state crop land is part of the mix too. The cropland is leased to farmers, who have to follow a farm plan designed to keep soil loss to a minimum.

When it comes to forest management, the key is sustainability, Mell said. ìIf it grows a thousand board feet a year, we harvest a thousand board feet a year,î he said.

And the trees they want to sustain are mast trees, which are trees that regenerate from nuts. The main ones are red oak, white oak, black walnut, hickory, and black cherry.

They are not cutting buttternut trees because they have a fungi and are not reproducing well. They are regenerating, Mell said, but when they get to a diameter of 10-12 inches, they develop cankers that get into the cambrian layers and block water passage, which kills the trees.

Elm, box elder, and cottonwood are considered undesirable.

Mast trees benefit birds, small mammals, turkeys, and deer. ìWe try to set our land management to produce food for the wildlife,î Mell said. This helps another important local resource, Mell said: hunting.

Logging on state land is an important resource for both the state and local economy, Mell said. About a million board feet of lumber is logged off state land in Houston County per year. At an average price of $300 per thousand board feet, this brings $300,000 in revenue. Plus if you multiply this by seven, which is the number of times money is turned over locally, local logging infuses $2.1 million into the area, Mell believes.

ìAnd thatís all on 13,000 acres,î Mell said with some pride.

Working with loggers to come off with good timber sales is a challenging part of Mellís job. Loggers sign contracts that ensure they will repair damaged land and fences, and that they conform to the terms of the sale. If he doesnít, itís his responsibility to enforce the contract.

ìWe have a real strict contract. Weíre not asking for the moon. Weíre asking for the ground to be replaced the way it was.î

Mell wonít close the sale until everything is done properly. ìI havenít had any problems,î Mell added. He feels that loggers and mills really care about the health of the timber resource.

If loggers want to cross private land, they have to work out arrangements with the adjacent landowners. The DNR recommends that the landowner uses a contract. Mell has sample contracts available.

Saw logs, tourism, and the improvement in erosion control all are worthwhile missions for his office, Mell believes.

ìYou might have some locals that might not say that, but Iíve definitely seen a difference,î Mell said.

Another part of his job is fire suppression. He works with nine departments on open land fires, plus supervises about 36 fire wardens.

He also is in charge of hiking trails on three tracts of land. ìRecreation is a big part of my job,î he said. He keeps track of public use on state forest land in Houston County. These lands cam be used for camping, hiking, hunting, gathering ginseng, biking, fishing, and more.

State forests are ìlimited forests,î Mell said, which means that all-terrain vehicles are not allowed on state forests roads in Houston County unless the roads are not gated or signed.

Everybody can use the property, so there are sometimes culvert and transportation problems. He works with the county and townships on solving those situations.

The cost of maintaining fences between state and private land is shared between the state and property owners.

Locating boundaries between private and state land is one of the most difficult parts of Mellís job. There can be conflicts with what he calls ìconvenience fencing,î that is, fencing that didnít follow the property line. The hardest part is reclaiming state land that has been encroached on by an adjacent landowner, Mell said.

There is a lot of follow up after timber is cut. Mell hires private parties to remove trees damaged from the logging, and keep brush in check. He walks the land the first three years. After about the fifth year, workers start doing release activities, that is, cutting some nearby trees to let desirable trees grow. Oak needs almost full sunlight to regenerate.

ìWe donít walk away from that stand for the next 20 years,î Mell said.

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