We have a wood stove that provides us heat during the winter. We are fortunate that we are surrounded by forests that supply a constant opportunity to gather firewood. I don’t like to cut down trees, and fortunately, I don’t have too, because there are so many downed trees laying around, unused by the industrial logging that occurs here. I am happy to have the supply of firewood, but even though I have been to hundreds of logged out areas since moving to Canada (40 years now), I am still appalled every time I go into a “cutblock”.
There is so much waste. After the loggers have trucked away the wood they want, the ground is still covered with logs, littered with useable wood, scattered chaotically around.
Birch is the wood I prefer to burn in my stove. It splits easily and burns slow and hot. Even though there is a manufacturer of birch flooring in McBride, the particular “cutblock” I went to to cut firewood wood, was full of beautiful, straight knot-free birch just laying there waiting to rot. The area had already been planted, so all these logs were just going to waste, all the logging activity was over.
I hate to see things wasted, especially if I can use them. It is not easy however to get to this waste wood. A pile of wood debris, blocked the trail that led into the logged area. None of the downed birch were close to the trail, so after cutting the logs into pieces up (you can see them in the photo), I had to carry each heavy piece of birch 35 meters back to my truck. It is hot and exhausting work, but I need the wood, and like I said, I hate to see it just waiting to rot and wasted.
Its a schizophrenic situation for me. I like to have the opportunity to go out and get the wood, but I wish the loggers would use more of the wood they cut down.
See my paintings: www.davidmarchant.ca
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