Wind River Canopy Crane goes away

Burnham

Burnham

Woods walker
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
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Western Oregon
Just across my desk is the announcement that the prime feature at the US Forest Service's Wind River Experimental Forest in Washington state, the Canopy Crane, is to be taken out of service due to budget cutbacks. The gondola and jib are to be removed, though the tower will remain erected, at least for the time being.

I have been lucky enough to have done some work with canopy researchers there in the past, and let me tell you, although the Wraptor is cool as the under side of your pillow :), this thing rocks on an entirely different level.

I'll never forget slowly rappelling out of the gondola, down through the entire canopy of oldgrowth forest. Over 300 feet total, from gondola to ground. It reminded me of diving reefs, in a real way. A beautiful experience.

Here's some links:

http://depts.washington.edu/wrccrf/crane.html
http://depts.washington.edu/wrccrf/IA/crane/WRCCRFcrane.html
 
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  • #6
I'm a pretty lucky sob, true enough :).

I got involved originally as a trainer for the gondola operators (those were the guys with the REALLY cool gig) instructing and certifying some of them for tree climbing, so they could transition from the crane to the trees. That led to helping develop equipment kits and protocols for emergency escape from the gondola should the crane have a breakdown or power outage during use.

Later I was brought in to use the crane to allow me to set SRT ascent lines to allow less expensive, if far more labor intensive, repeat access to some scientific monitoring gear. Crane time was costly, and the schedule for it's use was competitive in the extreme to get on to.

Fun times :D.
 
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  • #7
Strictly research, Butch. There was a lot of demand for crane time, and an emphasis on keeping impacts to the study stand to a minimum, so a bunch of tourists day after day was not a compatible use. Any application for use of the crane had to come with funding to cover at least a portion of the operating costs, though clearly not all or the budget woes would not be affecting it, I suppose.
 
So why not just charge whatever it costs to operate? Oh yeah, this is a gubmint project; run it at a loss until some paper pusher realizes its losing money, then shut it down.
 
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  • #10
Fair question, and I have no idea how the funding really works. I know it was a cooperative agreement between the USFS, U of WA, and some others. Perhaps one or more of those parties who had committed XX dollars had to drop out under current circumstances, leaving the project in the hole.
 
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  • #12
Found a link to a news release by U of WA about it. Says finding parts is becoming a problem, besides the funding issues.

I'd like to know how much it actually costs to operate it annually, and how many hours a year it was in operation.

I did find out that the charge for crane time was $185/HR. And it cost $1,000,000 to install 16 years ago.

http://www.washington.edu/news/arti...tain-research-and-education-activities-remain
 
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$140 per hour is top dollar for a guaranteed long term gig like that. I can get a 33 ton, 127' crane for $100 per hour with a 4 hour minimum.
 
I think people would pay to experience how fresh the air is when above the forest canopy. Really clears your head, it might even be a treatment for some maladies like mental stress.
 
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