Renewable energy

Because there were so many projects that had to be done this summer, we decided that it would be good to buy a little firewood instead of spending the time going out and getting it ourselves. We bought a truck load of lodgepole pine from a guy who was thinning some of his timberland 25 miles down river and it will heat our home for about the next four years.

While I am performing the task of cutting these 25 tons of logs to 17 inch lengths to fit our wood stove, splitting and stacking them, this will probably be known as the “exercise room”. You know, with all of the ballyhoo now about health care, this might just be one of the best health care plans going.

Wood cutting day

Eleven hours of hard work, 50 miles of driving on beautiful high-country roads yields 1 cord of dry, seasoned lodgepole pine; a ton and a half of firewood.

I’d be willing to bet there are lots of folks across this country who would love to work a day like this for a month’s worth of winter heat! Total cost including Forest Service firewood permit, diesel for the truck, chain saw gas and shampoo to get chain and bar oil out of mustache, about $15.

For its elements

I like this photograph, not because it’s a great photograph but because of the elements of the natural process that it contains.

The tree trunks are black from the fire in 2002 which killed about 50,000 acres of the forest which is sad, but:

• New green pines can be seen which in due time will replace the dead ones and the clump of willows provides cover and food for the animals.
• The blow-downs in the foreground will decompose and return nutriments to the soil.
• The standing dead trees for several years now have been providing a renewable and economical energy source for many of us to use in heating our homes.
• The traces of red are the fall color of huckleberry bushes which took advantage of the openings to the sky and are now growing where they could not grow before.
• In the burned areas after a fire, the low growing grasses and shrubs provide excellent food for wildlife, and these four Mule deer are typical of those who use it to their advantage.
• The bare, tan-colored stalks in the foreground are the stalks of bear grass which have provided beautiful summer blossoms in the burn area ever since the first summer after the fire.

Nature is quietly doing what She does so well.

(This setting is at an altitude of about 6,000 feet in the burn area of the Siegel Creek fire of 2002. It is in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains of western Montana.)

Another day cutting wood

Oh yes, there are always a few other things going on at the same time.

Here are the results of the day’s work; 3,000 pounds of hard, dry Lodgepole sitting in the bed of the county’s dirtiest truck. This photo was taken on the road that allows access to the high country at the head of Siegel Creek. To the abrupt right, the creek bed is about 600 feet below and nearly straight down, and the cliff can be seen to the left: consider for a moment the guys who put this road in here in the first place. I tip my hat to them! It’s a bumpy, rocky son-of-a-gun of a road, but a very good one. It is comforting to know when you’re up here in really bad weather, that the road will never wash out (ice is a different story).

Flower season is about over for this year. Indian Paint Brushes are still abundant, but that’s about it except for the Fireweed, which is just beginning to bloom. Here’s the start of it (these stems are about four feet tall):

And the critters.

If it were late September, this Blue Grouse would be tomorrow night’s dinner:

The high country has its resident scamps. It is plain by the look on this one’s face that he is a SCAMP!

Hey, Scamp, your posture is terrible! Stand up straight!

That’s better!

Firewood perk

One of the many things I like about heating our home with a wood burning stove is that I get to go to places like this to cut firewood.

Nine Mile Canyon. Photo taken from upper Siegel Creek.

Blue Grouse and firewood

For those of us who heat our homes with wood-burning stoves, doing so is one of those enjoyable things that we pay for up-front. Now that we have enjoyed the warmth, security and beauty of our winter fires, the cold part of the year is over and it is time to begin getting ready for next winter by cutting and hauling our new wood supply. The Forest Service sells permits to cut wood in the National Forests for $5 a cord: I use 4 to 5 cords a winter, heating a 2,000+ square foot house. My heating bills are therefore minimal, but I pay for it up front with a lot of hard work.

On my trips into the back country the last two weeks, it was apparent that this is already a very dry year. The reports of an early and long fire season may well be correct, at least here in Western Montana. The woods are very dry: I would compare their state now to what one would usually see in late June or early July. Even in areas (like the one I was in today) where there are still banks of snow remaining, the clear ground is dry. A lightning storm would surely be able to easily start a wild fire. Therefore, wood cutting must be done earlier than usual, and I started today.

I spent most of the day at an elevation of 6,000 feet cutting lodge pole pine that was killed by a fire in 2002. It has been drying ever since, and now it’s just perfect. It seems such a shame that most of those dead trees won’t ever be used. We are in such high demand for energy today, and yet there are thousands of acres of prime firewood that will not be harvested, and at the same time, folks all over will pay high prices for heating fuel or electricity to heat their homes. In the area where I cut mine, I would estimate there is enough dead and dry lodge pole pine to heat 10,000 homes for a winter, and that is a conservative estimate: it could easily be two or three times that number. Sadly enough, the upcoming fire season will most certainly create more fire-killed trees to replace these.

One of the pleasures associated with cutting firewood is where it is done. My work today was next to the borders of three of our remaining roadless areas, the Reservation Divide area, South Siegel area and North Siegel area. I had to stop short of where I had intended to go by 4-foot snow drifts over the road, but that’s OK: I’m glad it’s still there!

Grouse hunting is one of my passions, and this is one of the areas I hunt each fall. They are fairly plentiful, fun to hunt, and the Blue Grouse lives in the most beautiful parts of the wild country; the pine, fir and spruce forests above 6,000 feet. Today I was fortunate to see a pair of them and be able to get within camera range.

Here’s a male Blue Grouse in his prom suit trying to attract a mate. It is a rare sight. One of the endearing traits of these guys is that they always (and I mean ALWAYS) keep a tree or brush between themselves and a hunter. After about 15 minutes of playing peek-a-boo with this guy, trying to get him out of the heavy cover without flushing him, I was able to get a few photos, and they show him fairly well, even though there is still that little bit of brush between him and the camera.

And here’s the object of his affection. (If you are not familiar with Blue Grouse, they are about the size of a medium sized chicken, and are absolutely delicious! Grouse “nuggets” are one of my favorite foods.)