Not good...

[pete mctree]

sorry to hear that Burnham & I cannot add much more as others have said plenty. Good on you for having pride in your work and doing it to the best of your ability though.

 

[treebogan]

Sometimes I think a man's Spirit is like a a wire rope.To much tension and it snaps,with genuine consequences to anyone nearby.Other times the tension makes it start breaking wires,sharp jaggy bits that end up breaking strands until the whole thing unravels before tearing apart almost in silence.

We all have a breaking strain,some of us are rated more than others but we all need to learn how to manage that tension.

Burnham I think you and your Wife need to away for a couple of weeks if you can.As counter intuitive as it sounds ,distance provides perspective and perspective is what you need right now.

 

[lumberjack]

I need to apologize for what I now think was an unnecessarily abrupt, even rude post in the Cory's current thread pertaining to planet earth. Not really being willing to discuss the subject again. I'll try to do better. I did put something up there just a bit ago.

After some quiet thinking, I have to admit out loud what I suspect I already knew but have been pushing away hard as I can for months...that thing being my soul deep grief over the loss of basically my life's work, in this past September's Riverside Fire.

Most of the significant portion of the Mt. Hood NF that I worked reforestation on from the late 1970's until the early 20 teens is burned. The hundreds of harvest units, the thousands of acres that I sweated over, bled over, successfully reforested, was proud of, and deeply loved...are simply gone.

I have not found the steam to talk to anyone but my love and wife Melanie, and barely scratched the subject a tiny bit with her, about this. I'm on the edge of deleting this post now.


I'm not going to do that. It would be chickenshit.

Y'all are my peeps, my friends, I know that you have my back. Thanks for your grace.

I'm not a therapist, but that neatly explains your dreams/night terrors/lack of accepting the "new reality" of your area and its standing vulnerabilities.

Understanding the problem is the sercond step towards a solution, good on you!

 

[Burnham]

Sometimes I think a man's Spirit is like a a wire rope.To much tension and it snaps,with genuine consequences to anyone nearby.Other times the tension makes it start breaking wires,sharp jaggy bits that end up breaking strands until the whole thing unravels before tearing apart almost in silence.

We all have a breaking strain,some of us are rated more than others but we all need to learn how to manage that tension.

Burnham I think you and your Wife need to away for a couple of weeks if you can.As counter intuitive as it sounds ,distance provides perspective and perspective is what you need right now.

The covid cautions we have placed on ourselves make travel difficult. I'm sure you are right, but it won't be happening for us, not for a while yet.

 

[vharrison]

Could it be time for a pup?

 

[Burnham]

 

[flushcut]

Sometimes I think a man's Spirit is like a a wire rope.To much tension and it snaps,with genuine consequences to anyone nearby.Other times the tension makes it start breaking wires,sharp jaggy bits that end up breaking strands until the whole thing unravels before tearing apart almost in silence.

We all have a breaking strain,some of us are rated more than others but we all need to learn how to manage that tension.

Burnham I think you and your Wife need to away for a couple of weeks if you can.As counter intuitive as it sounds ,distance provides perspective and perspective is what you need right now.

This is a damn fine anology!
I tend to deal with stress like a spring. I'll take the pressure untill I pop. Then it's a wasteland of distruction.

 

[Burnham]

Melanie and I did take a drive up the newly opened highway through part of the fire area. A bit traumatic, but not too bad...it triggered a lot of good memories as well as the inevitable sadness.

Third pic is a campground I served as FS guard in the early 1980's.
Last pic is a Spider doing rockfall mitigation above the highway. Not sure what good that will do .

 

[lxskllr]

Rugged terrain. That wouldn't be fun to survey.

 

[gf beranek]

Boy, that was hot. Nary a living tree left on the slope.

Some of that was salvageable, I'd guess. Or was it burned too bad for salvage?

 

[Burnham]

Some salvageable, some not...per normal. So much politics involved with salvage sales on USFS lands these days...makes it hard to move as quickly as should be to maximize merchantable value in what is salvageable.

 

[Burnham]

Rugged terrain. That wouldn't be fun to survey.

I traved old school with 200' steel tape, handheld compass and inclinometer, for acreage many a unit out there on those steep and rocky slopes; and gridded many more for one plot per acre plantability and stocking surveys. I was in pretty good shape then .

 

[stikine]

I traved old school with 200' steel tape, handheld compass and inclinometer, for acreage many a unit out there on those steep and rocky slopes; and gridded many more for one plot per acre plantability and stocking surveys. I was in pretty good shape then .

Oh man, I remember those damn steel tapes...thank goodness they came out with lightweight fiberglass versions.

 

[lxskllr]

When I started surveying, that was how we did just about anything that was ≤200'. It was usually quicker than shooting it cause we had theodolites with a distance meter attachment, and slope distances had to be reduced by hand. Nobody understood how to do it properly. They'd just pull the shit out of the tape(we call them chains from historic precedent), and who knows what you have? Level was the only thing anyone kept close track of. To do it right, you need to account for a lot of variables, and make corrections. We weren't doing anything that had to be close though. Amazing the lack of knowledge amongst the "leaders" back then. There was maybe two people who really knew what they were doing, and the rest were button pushing monkeys.

I couldn't tell you the last time I chained anything good. I keep a 100' in the truck, but I think it's been used twice. The rest of the time, we use a 100' hardware store tape I've repaired a half dozen times for very crude measurements, and shoot the stuff that has to be good.

 

[davidwyby]

Random, but Melanie is a good name

 

[davidwyby]

I will attempt to commiserate…I grew up in the pacific north wet…fire wasn’t much of a thing. Now in the desert of CA, it’s “over there” in the mountains. I admit I was callous to it. Circle of life, I said, look at all the flowers and and undergrowth that come back, and the wildlife population booming.
Then it got personal. Growing up in WA and now living in a desert I escape to the 8,000’ mountain and it’s trees as much as I can in summer…it nearly burned last year I think. I was was terrified I’d lose my escape.

 

[lxskllr]

How do you like the desert? Heat aside, I'm not sure I could get used to the wide open nothing. I like the closed in feel of having a lot of trees around.

 

[Burnham]

When I started surveying, that was how we did just about anything that was ≤200'. It was usually quicker than shooting it cause we had theodolites with a distance meter attachment, and slope distances had to be reduced by hand. Nobody understood how to do it properly. They'd just pull the shit out of the tape(we call them chains from historic precedent), and who knows what you have? Level was the only thing anyone kept close track of. To do it right, you need to account for a lot of variables, and make corrections. We weren't doing anything that had to be close though. Amazing the lack of knowledge amongst the "leaders" back then. There was maybe two people who really knew what they were doing, and the rest were button pushing monkeys.

I couldn't tell you the last time I chained anything good. I keep a 100' in the truck, but I think it's been used twice. The rest of the time, we use a 100' hardware store tape I've repaired a half dozen times for very crude measurements, and shoot the stuff that has to be good.

You're right, John...we called those tapes "chains" as well and for the same reason. I didn't in this post because I figured that would confuse the youngsters .

 

[flushcut]

I would think land slides should be more of a concern than rock falls. Right? Or is my glacier honed thinking wrong?

 

[Burnham]

No Rajan, you are quite right. At least equally a risk to the highway, I'd say. Oftentimes, it's hard to tell the difference in that steep cliffy country.

 

[flushcut]

Ok good to know.
It look’s like there is some soil left so that a good thing.

 

[Burnham]

Really greening up on the ground anyway. Trees, not so much.

 

[davidwyby]

How do you like the desert? Heat aside, I'm not sure I could get used to the wide open nothing. I like the closed in feel of having a lot of trees around.

Lots of free wide open country to explore…in the winter. I was really into off-roading (4x4 stuff) when I was younger and so I loved it.

Older I get the more I wanna be in the forest. I like a mix of open and closed…not too close. The lower mountains here are oak and brush. Hate it. Can’t go where I want and can’t sneak up on wildlife to view it. I like the big open pine forests.

Speaking of fire…what do y’all think of the fuel situation in this vid?

 

[Bermy]

Geeze that spider on the slope! Looks precarious

 

[SeanKroll]

Yes.
Are you doing the winch line?