I can relate to being laughed at by the peanut gallery, Jed. It happened at a shrine tree job where there was an old outhouse with a small tank behind it in the ground with the lid ajar. I stepped right into it up to my knees. No compulsory smile to those f@ckers though, more like silence is mandatory after they found the humor in my misfortune.
Jay: Compulsory smile?... I'da wanted to fight them boys for not telling me. You're story is WAY more messed-up. At least, I have only my own buffoonery to blame for getting laughed at... which... I gotta say... is badly (if disgustingly bitter) needed medicine for a soul like mine.
OH! Rajan (and Scott)... I didn't finish the story... The boys were already laughing, so I figured, what the heck, and I just lay down on my belly with a self-fabbed, "reacher," (you just--Birch would be a good species here--grab the first branch you see, and then trim the first branchlet on it to about 3" to form a bit of a hook--super good for getting 'hangers' out btw) and fished it out, only having to reach my arm in for a full retrieval.
Rich: Wow, that's pretty cool. I like your boss better than mine, methinks.
Sam: You're a freakin MAN, that looked pretty scary. I got no experience in Eucs, but heard stories. Man, I've heard some CRAZY stories from old-timers. One guy tried to wrap the tree 3 times, (before portys) cause his climber was taking a giant top... freakin thing "speed-barked," on him (blasts the bark off so that the rope's now just running on pure cambium) and sucked him up (jackass wouldn't let go) into the tree canopy while the top flew to the ground. No injuries worth speaking of. Pretty sure I read that story on here somewheres, just in case anybody was thinking of calling BS on it. (Help me, Butch.) Ohh... and in the story that I read, the groundie flew up over the power lines from the cetrifugal force of the 'wraps' unwrapping, as he sailed ever upwards, before tucking up safely in the canopy like a scared cat fleeing an angry dog. That's the story as I read it, but I want to continue it somehow. I want for the groundman to be so pissed that he forces the climber to give up his gear right there up in the tree, and then free-climb down the rope so that HE can get a taste of what a thankless job of brush-dragging it can be for stupid climbers who don't give a care for jeopardizing a guy's safety like that.
Cory: Thanks for the vid, but it was a bit hard for me to keep a straight face while watching it, since it put me in mind of Butch's "Boutiqe Firewood," parody vid he posted up about a year er so ago. I dunno... something about the melodramatic slow-mo, combined with the rather maudlin music, plus the sentiment about "trees removed so easily, and sometimes needlessly," made me think about so many, young jackasses these days (that the media has demonized--and stupidly demonized, imho--as "millennials") who would nostalgically harken back to "purer and simpler times," whithout acknowledging that it is was with mere axes and cross-cuts that all of the world's monster forests were decimated without the least though of retaining a proper vestige for posterity's sake. I figured that you would resonate with this last point, since you seem to deeply lament the loss of so much OG. I've never shared your opinions at all till rather recently, but I may be coming around a bit. You've certainly influence my thinking on it a great deal... that and the astonishing photographs from the old-timer's books.
Sorry gents... a bit too much philosophy (and wordiness) for the work-pic thread, I well confess. Matter o fact, the only "work" pic I have today is the pic that I took while driving to work this morning of the smoke that's STILL choking us out from all of the B.C. fires that Reg started just to roast-up that poor Coogar.
I feel there is something intrinsically not right about cutting mammoth trees in this day and age. Hey, maybe I'm wrong. It would be AWESOME if I'm wrong! But I smell a bit of a rat re the relationship between the BC fires and the continued high pace of logging OG in BC.
No need for pics like this in this day and age. Hey the dude is living life, working hard, making money, and feeling special cuz he one of the ones cutting massive trees in 2017. But yeah, nah. I smell a rat. Short term gain, long term loss.
Resource extraction economy... Still the prevailing mindset here in Maine, more than 300 years after it started. Still talking about preserving commercial fisheries and logging, long after the costs became apparent. Milk it dry and let the next gen worry about it, crazy mentality imo
From my armchair here, BC appears to be that through and through.
Is Maine bad off that way? I started logging there just before feller butchers and delimbers were appearing. My understanding was clear cutting became pretty rampant but with all the advocacy for 'North Woods" was thinking it was more under control these days?
I visit ME every summer, was just there 2 weeks ago, a large parcel in back of my camp area had recently been logged. I checked it out and have to say that it was one of the nicer cuttings I'd ever seen. Yes all the big trees and most medium trees were gone but it had been done mechanically so there was virtually zero damage to the surrounding trees and there was no slash left behind (the environmentally friendliness of that can be debated I presume) so the effect was a bit park like. Not as nice as an unlogged spot but not super bad and well on its way to recovering aesthetically not to mention lumber wise. They appeared to have taken pains to preserve the surroundings. This is in the lower 1/3 of the state, not up north in the boonies.
Maine had some highly skilled loggers and some hacks too. Glad your locale had a good one. Just my cynicism showing. Maybe based off the history of garbage logging, but mostly fisheries like cod and salmon, sea urchin, Maine shrimp, and now elver fishing. Keep chasing the next resource till it's gone all to frequently, while realizing a fraction of the end value of the product. Disheartening to see time and again.
Where's your camp at BTW? Give me a heads up next time and I'll bring some beer
Maine had some highly skilled loggers and some hacks too. Glad your locale had a good one. Just my cynicism showing. Maybe based off the history of garbage logging, but mostly fisheries like cod and salmon, sea urchin, Maine shrimp, and now elver fishing. Keep chasing the next resource till it's gone all to frequently, while realizing a fraction of the end value of the product. Disheartening to see time and again.
Where's your camp at BTW? Give me a heads up next time and I'll bring some beer
I've got mixed emotions Corey. I know it may be a horse of a slightly different color, but what about the 100+ year old long leaf pines or maples or whatever species that you and I and the rest of us east coasters are subject to cut because they may be endangering a house? Just because they don't have the girth or age of those trees in B.C. does it really make them any different, or more or less valuable? After all, nearly all of us reading this are also part of the "resource extraction economy" that Sean spoke of whether we like it or not. And for many or most of us, that resource is spread on the ground to rot or hauled to a landfill.
Probably all of us have pictures standing on a stump or a log of some sort, showing off our trophy.
Just trying to think it out and get different points of view on this.
I hear ya but I don't agree. When we remove a big tree near a house it isn't for purposes of resource extraction, and the environmental effect of it would seem to be minuscule in comparison. The scale of logging OG in BC is apparently massive afaik and entire landscapes/moutainsides/watersheds turn from being green and treed to being mostly bare top soil. Replanting, if it happens, is a big help but will that land anytime in the foreseeable future be fulfilling the role it previously did in the environment?
Obviously I'm no biologist, climate expert, etc but as I said earlier, cutting like that just seems wrong in light of environmental/climate issues we read about daily. Skipping ahead, yes maybe folks have to be paid not to cut trees if we determine that OG trees and landscapes are more important to life on earth than lumber for decking or siding that is going to rot out in a few years anyway (see my back deck area!). And the erosion and water heating that often results doesn't help the fish much either.
Again, maybe I'm wrong and if so GREAT!. Cutting huge trees is a bit fun and thrilling, if there is little down side to it then let the deforestation continue, its keeping busy a lot of burly young studs.
I hear you too Corey. I tried not to imply that what we do was either right or wrong, but most of the last really old trees in my area are on private land in and around houses, which we cut when need be. So we are basically killing off the dinosaurs, one at a time. It may not leave such a vast and immediately obvious scar on the landscape, but in the end, the results are similar as far as old growth timber is concerned. And the way I see it, I AM extracting resources from the customer to kill the tree.
I was not aware that logged areas in other places were not replanted. Every logging outfit in the south that I know of replants as soon as conditions allow. Pines are as much of a row crop here as beans or corn are in the midwest.
I love wild places and bemoan the encroachment on those places as much as anyone, just trying to think all this out in a logical way. I respect your opinion, you are always thoughtful in your responses and are an obviously observant thinker and writer so keep it coming.
One of my points is that I think there are far more old growth trees hitting the deck thru logging than via tree work, so the negative effects are larger in the case of BC logging than tree work around the US. From my armchair here it seems that a large patch of OG woods would have a far greater ability to lessen extreme temperature swings for example than scattered big uglies (as Jerry would call em) in the urban/suburban forest.
The unprecedented BC fire season(I think? Maybe Justin could shed some light) might likely be related to the ever decreasing quantity of OG forest. Bold and unsupported statement I know, but not out of the range of a common sense, intuitive statement.
Actually, HO called me to go buck it up next week...fell it earlier this year before the big rains came, but when they did, pond filled up and pondie became a turtle roost
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