tree id and value?

lasergrl · #1 04/03/10, 09:12 PM

Today we walked our property and found three trees cut down on the property line but clearly within the limits. The property line has pins every 100 feet there and these trees are well within our property. Strangely only one tree was cut down on the neighbors actual property. It is cut in 8 foot sections and there are about 6 of these bigger sections, and some of the smaller branches are cut and stacked in what looks like firewood stacks. They are amish on the other property. We cant figure out why on earth they would come to our land to cut down a few trees, timber, firewood? Who knows. Husband is furious. I figure we better at least know what we are dealing with before he goes over there just in case they arent nice about it over there. What species is it, I think norway maple.
Anyone know a ballpark value? They are 2 1/2 feet wide for two of them, and one is about 3 1/2 feet diameter. They are about 50 feet tall.

tree id and value? - Homesteading Questions

tree id and value? - Homesteading Questions

Johnny Dolittle · #2 04/03/10, 09:34 PM

Hi.... I am a new poster here!
The person is sitting on what appears to be an Ash and beside it is a Red Oak.
We have good Amish here and some Bad ones .... even been imprisoned for stealing timber.
Maybe was a mistake ??? The Law in my state is they pay you twice the value for accidental cutting and three times if you can prove they knew they were on your land. Sometimes you can be reimbursed for aesthetic losses.

I would need to see a cross section of the other tree to help ID it.

I had a very bad experience with an Amish timber crew cutting on my grandfathers farm .... ended up in court. These Amish were of a very low mentality unfortunately.
Hope you get it resolved

Johnny Dolittle · #3 04/03/10, 09:37 PM

Also .... you will need to scale them and have them graded. Everything I see there is a high grade of log and those diameters will scale high.

lasergrl · #4 04/03/10, 09:57 PM

Im afraid they will be gone by the time get anything done with them as far as grading and scaling. They did all this so fast, by the time my husband has time to get over there they will be chopped and gone. We took alot of pictures just in case they work fast.

tree id and value? - Homesteading Questions

MELOC · #5 04/03/10, 10:08 PM

ash. can bring decent money if you hook up with the right buyer.

i will add that it looks like whoever cut the tree knew what they were doing.

Johnny Dolittle · #6 04/03/10, 10:10 PM

You need to stop them from removing the trees... you can estimate value from stumps but better to have the logs. Maple will degrade fast and needs to get to a mill soon. Also if they bucked them all at 8 they possibly devalued them by bucking in the wrong place. Does not look to me like you have any veneer grade but if you do and bucked to short then your veneer will be down graded and worth significantly less. Would be good to have a log buyer appraise them where they are at now. Hope I helped some ... i work part-time at a kiln

Johnny Dolittle · #7 04/03/10, 10:19 PM

Yes it looks like they kind of knew what they were doing but logs longer than 8 foot might fetch a bit more per foot than short logs .... maybe easier to skid with horses especially if a small team and dragging them on the ground.

Understand that the Amish think differently than we do .... good luck in your resolve .

Johnny Dolittle · #8 04/03/10, 10:22 PM

BTW the stumps are R. Oak and Maple. Prices are depressed but up a little .... white maple is valuable now compared to years ago.

jill.costello · #9 04/03/10, 11:33 PM

I would nail a sign to those logs, something like "This is The Property Of ___________", and take a photo! My goodness! I would be HOT about this, too! A big, fine Maple and a Red Oak! Put the sign on them NOW!!!!

Ravenlost · #10 04/04/10, 12:44 AM

I'd be camping out by those logs...with my gun....absolutely livid.

Good luck.

MaineFarmMom · #11 04/04/10, 06:38 AM

Have you called the police or state forest ranger? This is timber trespass. I'd speak with the neighbor to tell them they are not to trespass on your property and emphasize that means they will not be moving the logs.

ronbre · #12 04/04/10, 08:23 AM

if they are ash they could have been cut by the government..or they could have been ordered destroyed..

if there is ash tree borer found in a tree the government can order all ash trees destroyed within 500 ' of the infected one..or farther..it cost about $1000 to treat the trees for the borers

but if they were stealing firewood..that is a totally different story

Johnny Dolittle · #13 04/04/10, 04:04 PM

I am assuming the adjoining property is owned by these Amish ???? And if so how big are the trees on their property along this property line ???

lasergrl · #14 04/04/10, 04:52 PM

They werent ordered cut down. Interestingly we found them while walking back there with a naturalist from the county park district. They were looking for spotted turtle that we have. We never walked over to the downed trees because we didnt know they were on our property untill we walked back there later that day.
The trees that were cut down are between 2 1/2 feet and 4 feet diameter. The trees on the amish property are about 1 to 1 1/2 foot diameter and they are all maple trees with taps in them.

lasergrl · #15 04/04/10, 06:20 PM

Ok the sheriff just left. He brought the guy over here to chat with husband. He actually isnt amish, I guess I just assume because his name and everyone else around is.
Anyways he seemed genuinely mortified and thought the property line was farther back (should have checked first). The man said it was white swamp oak and had little value. The naturalist did say that this one big tree in our pasture was a white oak. He cut it down himself and planned to build a maple shack. He has the store and is planning to sell his own syrup there. So he told us to get a value on it and let him know. We dont want to be greedy because he is a neighbor and he was gracious about it. So now we just have to figure it out from here. We have no use for the wood and wouldnt even know were to begin in getting it cut and out of there so we would just let him use it.
Thanks for all the replies. Does it look like it could be white swamp oak?

Johnny Dolittle · #16 04/04/10, 07:32 PM

The big tree lying beside the Ash in the first picture is Red Oak Specie and no doubt about it, but when I examine the picture of the stump I think I am seeing a lot of mineral stain which significantly devalues it. Could judge it better if I had a pic of the butt end of the log. Mineral stain is fairly common in wet bottom land. There is a red oak specie that grows in wet lands and gets many small twiggy limbs and lumber companies have no interest in this specie ... I can't recall the name of it but is a Red Oak.

I would bet a lot of money you have no White Oak in your pictures.
I would further comment on the Red Oak if you have a picture of the butt end of the log.

Well .... not the best way to meet a neighbor.
I agree, better to forgive the neighbor.

Johnny Dolittle · #17 04/04/10, 07:46 PM

Actually the picture below the first one with the person on the log ..... possibly some possibility that could be a swamp white oak ???? A close up pic of the growth rings would help but the one stump picture really looks like Maple

lasergrl · #18 04/04/10, 07:53 PM

Johnny Dolittle · #19 04/04/10, 08:25 PM

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh thank you and I am enjoying this thread!
You have a tape across the butt of a white oak and the tree beside it is Red Oak and I am not sure it is stained .... could be mold growing .... need a close shot of the red Oak butt .... that is a big tree and no doubt most valuable log.

I would get them appraised and let the neighbor offer to buy them .... a man with a portable sawmill could saw them up if there is easy access like an old log road.

Trees that diameter and 50 feet long would yield a good volume .... Hard to judge from pics but could easily be 1200-1500 board feet of lumber .... The Ash and White oak not worth so much but I think most recent pic of red oak looks nice and blond and free from stain.... Your first pic shows a log bucked at a branching point .... how long was that tree up to the branching point where it was topped? That one tree if free of stain and if was a long way to the branching point has significant value.

Johnny Dolittle · #20 04/04/10, 08:38 PM

Well I can see the bottom and the top of the Red Oak and i would guess there is not a lot of difference in the diameter of the top of the log compared to the stump end .... and so if there is not much taper and that would indicate that the salable portion of this tree was rather short and not the 50 feet you mentioned in your first post. The Ash and W. Oak might be 50 feet though.