Went to go scout out the main property I trap today and found it was a mess. Mud Holes up past my tires and full of thick mud which I got stuck in and spent a few minutes trying to get out. From what I understood they were supposed to be just select cutting, but man they mowed everything down. Water breaks weren’t just water breaks they were about 3-4ft tall which I had to dig out just to get around. It was just an all around mess, my rant is over now thanks for stopping by.

Round here when someone logs, they leave a giant mess!

…. Like your handle JakeLeg lol

.. yeah it can be rough coming in behind a log crew

… if they ain’t select cutting and going scorched earth … check the highest points on the clear cuts … should be a dozer road up it .. coyotes tend to spend time there

did you destroy the water diversions?

Not on our place. That's the one thing we are sure to put in writing before anything else. You leave it like you left it or better.

I just drove over them the best I could.

a GOOD contract (and the "teeth" to enforce it) prevents an awful lot of problems.

The bad thing is, it was the owner of the logging company’s property!

if it's as bad as you say it is, it'll likely be for sale soon...

I hope not. The owner died and the son has taken over now you might be onto something.

The teeth is my 81 year old father. He's on site for every cutting since he retired and I still fear the man, lol.

I think some loggers use the term " select cut" as a shady way to get the job. Then when the saws fireup they take every tree that has any hint of value. The 60 acres we have permission on is split by creek. The company that did the east side did close to what I would call select cut. The company he had do the west side a couple years later were supposed to select cut but they pretty much took everything. Its wide open in quite a few spots then the ash borer came through and took out the few ash trees the logger left. So now being a creek bottom without any large mature trees to help suck up water from the ground it is getting closer to a swamp than a forest.

best to hire a GOOD Consulting Forester to represent the interests of the landowner.

Everything will be spelled out in a contract ahead of time; with a non-stoppable, serious performance bond posted before they fire up the saws.

Any time we log a tract that is leased to hunters, I have to mound the water bars up 3 or 4 foot because I am responsible for the erosion for 2-3 years after we leave. A short water bar will not last for years with atvs or trucks driving over them when it's wet.

Anymore, its best to let loggers clearcut sections and leave well marked sections untouched. They are trying to make money as fast as they can. Select cutting slows them down too much. Just ask an honest hand doing the work.
Another thing is that all those deep ruts from heavy equipment destroys the root systems of the trees which they don't cut and a lot of them die once the loggers are long gone.