BROKEN OAK HILL(R) Dispatches from the heart of Wisconsin "I like to think I follow a pattern, but lots of times I end up wandering quite a bit."
A walk through a woods that's ready for harvest
When I asked our consulting forester, Chuck Brooks, if I could spend a day following him around, he agreed. I thought if I could learn a little more about how he works, it might help in future efforts on our own tree farm, either harvests or timber stand improvement. It didn’t work out to be a full day, but we did get to wander through a woods in Chuck was marking trees for harvest on two plots that are enrolled in the state’s Managed Forest Law program, which gives landowners a property tax break in return for managing their woodlands according to state guidelines. Part of the deal is you have to harvest some of your timber.
The acreage Chuck was working in on this pleasant early fall morning was an old pasture that had not been grazed for about 25 years. There were a lot 
of very old trees – mostly oaks, a few walnuts – that were in the 150-year-old range, and a lot of smaller trees up to 15 or 20 feet tall and not much in between. We met first with the landowner, then went to the woods.
“I like to think I follow a pattern, but lots of times I end up wandering quite a bit,” Chuck said as he went about his work.
Chuck is owner of Brooks and Christie Forestry Consultants and is active in other forestry activities. I first met him at program for private landowners where he was a speaker. He has served as our forester on a couple of managed cuttings on our property in Juneau County, including one that was way overdue but finally got completed last winter.
We did wander quite a bit inside the boundaries of the woods, which were marked on two sides by roads and on two sides by pasture. But the wandering helps you see trees from different angles in comparison to the other nearby trees, helping to make clear which ones to take and which ones to leave. You can’t just march through a forest on a straight line and mark trees very effectively.
The next step will be for the local DNR forester to approve the cutting.
As he marks the trees with blue paint, Chuck does one swatch about six feet up on the tree and another at the base so that the owner can tell after the harvest that a certain tree was marked for cutting, in case there is a question.
He also carries a small computer to log the details of each tree – species, estimated size, etc.
Chuck served in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in
I asked
if he lived in the country or had any forest acreage, but he said no, he lives in town.
“That would be a lot like having the office at home on the weekend,” he said.
On a job like the one we were on, Chuck usually charges by the acre, but he will provide the landowner with an hourly rate if that’s what he or she wants.
Chuck is a member of the Wisconsin Consulting Foresters, whose members are dedicated to improving the state’s forest resources. The website offers help in finding a certified forester who can help with a variety of forest projects.
-- Posted 11/12/09
