SUSTAINABLE HARVESTING

An environmentally-friendly harvesting process

During the winter when the Northern White Cedar of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is harvested, Heartwood Mills builds up our inventory so that we can supply quality wood building products during the coming year.

Vast acres of Northern White Cedar, a species which grows only in this area of the United States and Canada, is readily available. Yet Heartwood Mills is always concerned that new growth is allowed to take place in areas where harvesting has occurred. We utilize professional harvesters who are environmentally conscious. Nothing is wasted. The bark is used for landscaping, limbs for railing, saw dust for horse and dog bedding, and the log core produces our sap-free Cedar paneling.

harvesting1This is one of the processors utilized to harvest logs. It cuts the tree at the base, flips it horizontally to de-limb the tree, then cuts to length. Specially designed equipment is used to virtually eliminate damage and enable year-round harvesting.

Selective harvesting

harvesting2

The forwarder moves the logs from the forest to a collection area accessible to log trucks. This technique replaced chain saws and horses that were used to cut the trees and drag them out of the woods in the early 1900’s.

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