As far as logevity I have seen the same myself, The other appealing factor is that in Colorado where I plan to build there is nary an oak tree to be found. They call pine firewood out here. Pounding a nail into hickory is similar to pounding a nail into a rock. Actually me pounding a nail into anything is not a good idea... That why I bought a pnuematic finish and framing nailer.

If my forefathers woulda had one of them thar nailing machines they woulda used it too.

A little background information.

I have two pieces of property excluding my house that the bank and I share. I have 3/4 of an acre in the mountains of Colorado that I plan to build a log cabin on, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2800 SQ FT only 1100 will be finished the remaining is a full walkout basement and unfinished loft. The idea is to get a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) as soon as possible and then finish the rest while I stay there. This will be used as a vacation home until I retire.

The second piece of property is located in Georgia that my Dad left to me when he passed away. The county is going to flood approximately 10 of my 47 acres, that’s good because I'm going to use the money to build my cabin in Colorado. I was contacted by a representative of a land clearing company, I agreed to meet with him, my plan was to harvest all of the pine and harvest the ugly hardwoods leaving lake view property with prime hardwoods on each lot. The timber buyer wanted to do a shelter wood harvest which is basically taking out all the mature trees and leaving behind the under story (shitwood) of the forest. He put together a contract and we traded emails for a while until I said in my last and unanswered email that I could turn all of the hardwood into firewood and sell it for $225 a cord. If I remember correctly a ton of stumpage is about 1 cord of wood. I can't magazine why he never responded to my email.
By my calculations his offer $4 ton or $225 if I cut, split and seasoned the hardwood. Of course this is not an apples to apples comparison as a lot more labor is involved in manufacturing firewood than is required to simply harvest the whole tree and leave piles of slash all over my property.

Since I had this negotiation, timber prices have dropped except for pulpwood prices. Unfortunately EPA regulations do not allow me to harvest timber in the flood zone because it is too close to the watershed i.e. the creek. I think for now I will let the forest stay natural and make sure the county compensates me for the value of the timber that they will need to clear for the lake site. I'll end up with 37 acres of lakefront property with at least 50 year old trees. If I lived in GA than I might be willing to supervise a selective harvest of the timber in the 50' buffer zone between the high waterline and where the county will let me build houses septic systems etc. If I understand it correctly I will still on the land in the buffer area but I will not be able to disturb it after I agree to the terms of the sale. So it's now or never the county is hitting the bond market in early February, I assume as soon as they get the money they will be buying up property. So maybe I can start building my cabin.

35 miles east of Atlanta off I-20 in Walton County Between Social Circle and Monroe.

Let me guess... They're finally building a new resevoir for the Atlanta area? How much does Lanier have left in it now?
JD