Dec 15/16 - Westwind

A spinoff from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) called Westwind is responsible for managing the Crown Land forest.  They are the ones who permit the loggers harvesting wood.  In this area, the only trees that currently have enough density to make logging worthwhile are the white pines.  Red pine also has a value to a mill, but less.  White pine grows quickly enough that 25 years later, there's something worth cutting.  Oak is slower growing and that harvest happened a long, long time ago.  There aren't very many large oaks around. 

So ... it's time to harvest nearby.  We don't really have a say in it but being good neighbours, Westwind, representing the logging company, meets with us to discuss how they will go about their work.

Off Osprey road, in the 1st km and before the first cottage, they will create a couple of driveways and then a staging area for the wood.  In that staging area, anything else that they cut (eg. maple, birch etc) they will pile logs that cottagers can cut up for firewood.  It's a fairly large tract that they'll be cutting and anything else cut in that area will be lying on the ground, also available for cottager use but a little more difficult to get at.  Basically they do a clear cut. 

They will create the access roads and staging areas this week and then logging will take place cutting the white pine that they want, piling that in the staging area.  Later, trucks will haul that away.  It will all be completed by the end of February.  They do all their hauling when the ground is frozen.

In the spring, Westwind will be back to inspect with us and do any road repairs if necessary.  They will also bring in summer students and plant white pine throughout the area.  It's amazing how quickly regrowth takes place.  Westwind's objective is to get the white pine established as it will compete with the softwood like poplar.

All their cutting will be on the side of the road away from the lake.  They'll leave a buffer zone alongside the road that isn't clear cut. 

It will be 25 years before they're back.  I won't have to worry about that !

Backing up - so a group of us (three trustees plus Art Y) met with the Westwind reps yesterday morning standing around for about an hour and looking at where they'll be putting the staging areas.  It is what it is.  We don't own the forest. 

There's about 3" of ice out front; a little more where the snow cover is thinner.  We have a deep freeze coming the next couple of days which will help buildup some thickness.  I don't know if it will be thick enough that I'll feel safe cutting our Christmas tree across the lake.  We may cut one on this side just into Smith's Bay.  What we need is a big sled !

Onward !