Hazard tree contract fallers

Burnham

Woods walker
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Messages
22,932
Location
Western Oregon
I am in the middle of administering a roadside hazard tree removal contract these days. Don't know why, but the road maintenance coordinator didn't care for my answer when he asked how long it would take for me to fall 3500 trees along about 35 miles of high use FS roads :D on my Forest...so we wrote a contract, and I'm the on the ground guy, identifying and marking the hazard trees.

The two guys in these pictures are about my age...there's about 70 years of full time timber falling experience on that team. I really like spending time with them.

Thought y'all might enjoy a few pics.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0369.JPG
    IMG_0369.JPG
    792.4 KB · Views: 110
  • IMG_0370.JPG
    IMG_0370.JPG
    792.3 KB · Views: 109
  • IMG_0373.JPG
    IMG_0373.JPG
    764.2 KB · Views: 111
  • IMG_0374.JPG
    IMG_0374.JPG
    742.1 KB · Views: 109
  • IMG_0376.JPG
    IMG_0376.JPG
    764.7 KB · Views: 108
  • IMG_0378.JPG
    IMG_0378.JPG
    752.7 KB · Views: 110
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
Here's another batch.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0379.JPG
    IMG_0379.JPG
    893.1 KB · Views: 88
  • IMG_0380.JPG
    IMG_0380.JPG
    786.4 KB · Views: 90
  • IMG_0381.JPG
    IMG_0381.JPG
    912.2 KB · Views: 85
  • IMG_0383.JPG
    IMG_0383.JPG
    758.3 KB · Views: 81
  • IMG_0385.JPG
    IMG_0385.JPG
    956.7 KB · Views: 88
  • IMG_0386.JPG
    IMG_0386.JPG
    848.3 KB · Views: 89
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4
Last ones, double teaming a big Doug.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0387.JPG
    IMG_0387.JPG
    798.9 KB · Views: 80
  • IMG_0388.JPG
    IMG_0388.JPG
    776.3 KB · Views: 79
  • IMG_0390.JPG
    IMG_0390.JPG
    772.7 KB · Views: 75
  • IMG_0391.JPG
    IMG_0391.JPG
    790.2 KB · Views: 77
  • IMG_0392.JPG
    IMG_0392.JPG
    1,006.5 KB · Views: 73
  • IMG_0393.JPG
    IMG_0393.JPG
    792.5 KB · Views: 73
  • IMG_0394.JPG
    IMG_0394.JPG
    748.8 KB · Views: 74
  • IMG_0396.JPG
    IMG_0396.JPG
    971.4 KB · Views: 74
  • IMG_0398.JPG
    IMG_0398.JPG
    964.3 KB · Views: 75
  • IMG_0399.JPG
    IMG_0399.JPG
    984.3 KB · Views: 72
The Pro's at work. Good ground, nice trees and not a whole lot of brush to battle. A real faller's dream.

Though I know out of 3500 trees to fall they are not all going to be as depicted in these photos. Bound to be a few outlaws in the bunch I'm sure.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8
What happens to the wood, B?

Most of these trees are dead and many to some degree or another are rotten. We're taking them down because they pose a hazard to road traffic when they fall. If there is solid wood in them and they are not too far from the road and the ground isn't too steep, publics will likely apply for firewood permits and buck it up for heating fuel. If not that, it will just lay there and rot the rest of the way away.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9
The Pro's at work. Good ground, nice trees and not a whole lot of brush to battle. A real faller's dream.

Though I know out of 3500 trees to fall they are not all going to be as depicted in these photos. Bound to be a few outlaws in the bunch I'm sure.

Oh yeah, Jerry. No doubt about it. For example, I didn't take pictures of the ugly one that morning...it was only 24" dbh, a dead, hollow piss fir with a weird large hook-shaped limb that cradled into a 48" dbh ponderosa pine. The pondo was a beauty, no way we were taking it...the piss fir hugged that big pine all hung up tight and was a b***ch to slab down.

Another one...HEAVY leaner towards the road, 36"dbh larch 170 feet if it was an inch. Richard swung that one about 40 degrees, laid it in the ditch...it was wonderful to watch. He bored vertically under and in line with the hinge on the side he swung it to...it held that side of the hinge amazingly well. He says it really allows that side of the hinge to flex better and so hold longer. New trick for me...always something to learn.
 
Thanks Burnham. I always enjoy your photo spreads. Looks like you were already dealing with some uprootage in the shots of the third tree.


Dave
 
Burnham, when you get time I'd like to see a picture or diagram of that vertical boring you were talking about. I can't picture it in my head, and the way I'm reading it just doesn't seem like it would work.
 
Same here Squirrel.

Great pics, Burnham. I love pics of old timers falling old growth, ala the Stihl redwood poster with the 2 guys working on top of a stump.
 
This? :evil:
 

Attachments

  • a1.JPG
    a1.JPG
    106.2 KB · Views: 263
  • a2.JPG
    a2.JPG
    112.2 KB · Views: 261
  • a3.JPG
    a3.JPG
    53.9 KB · Views: 262
  • a4.JPG
    a4.JPG
    43.8 KB · Views: 262
  • a5.JPG
    a5.JPG
    88.8 KB · Views: 45
  • a6.JPG
    a6.JPG
    107.5 KB · Views: 45
  • a7.jpg
    a7.jpg
    86 KB · Views: 259
haha, i was thinking the same thing:D:/:
seen those contracts burnham, either no road closures allowed or real short closures! heard of that boring technique but never seen anyone pull it off. id be curious to see it also
 
Good pics Burnham. I've always wondered, is it peer pressure that keeps you guys wearing those goofy hardhats or do you actually like them? North of the border you don't see them unless you're in a drilling rig...
 
Good pics Burnham. I've always wondered, is it peer pressure that keeps you guys wearing those goofy hardhats or do you actually like them? North of the border you don't see them unless you're in a drilling rig...

North of the border in BC? Lots of people wear the full brim on the coast up here. But not me, they look goofy.:D
 
Back
Top