Hard-work harvest; Demand for firewood keeps woodcutter busy.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Bradford L. Miner

Unless it's Sunday, a holiday or a day when sleet, freezing rain or heavy rain is falling from the sky, you'll likely find "Chet the Wood Man" cutting firewood on Prescott Peninsula in New Salem.

Cutting firewood is something Chester S. Lubelczyk of North Brookfield has been doing for 15 years, working mostly on designated woodlots on the Quabbin and Ware River watersheds.

As high bidder on the lot he's now cutting, the 63-year-old retired Air Force major has access to the 11,000 acres of Prescott Peninsula that divides the two arms of Quabbin Reservoir and is off-limits to the public.

"Cutting in Quabbin is a no-brainer," he said recently at the kitchen table of his wood-heated, ranch-style home.

"For a start, you are working with professionals. Quabbin foresters have marked the trees they want cut, and as long as you follow their clear and simple rules there's never a problem. I don't work Sundays or holidays, but otherwise, that's where you're likely to find me," he said.

Mr. Lubelczyk estimates there are 60 cords of firewood yet to be cut on the lot he's working, about two miles onto the Prescott Peninsula.

"When you're bidding on a lot, you have to know what you're doing. And that comes from a combination of experience and some basic knowledge of trees," he said.

"Each lot is different and runs the gamut from really poor-quality trees, what I call garbage, to premium, 30-inch-diameter hardwood logs," he said.

Mr. Lubelczyk, who cuts saw logs and firewood, said saw logs once brought a premium price and firewood was something of an afterthought.

Now the economy is pushing the pendulum to the other extreme.

"There's not much demand for saw logs, but I'm already taking orders for firewood for next winter," he said.

Quabbin foresters schedule woodlot showings four times a year so loggers can look at the trees and topography.

"Lots range anywhere in size from 50 to 1,000 cords or more," said Mr. Lubelczyk, adding that the average price he agrees to pay the state is $10 a cord. He passes on some lots, mindful of the limitations of his equipment - a used skidder, log splitter and a pickup truck with a trailer - and his solitary pursuit.

"You have two years from the time you start cutting to complete the job," he said. "I know what my capabilities are, working alone as I do, and if a lot is too big, I ignore it."

He usually bids on woodlots with about 300 cords marked for cutting.

"I don't care who he is, one man alone...