The Official Work Pictures Thread

I just mean that I get a small whiff that maybe just maybe something is amiss with the concept of industrial logging the rain forest in this day and age. And saying small whiff I am being sarcastic, I think it is bad in a big way. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm not a biologist/ecologist/climatologist/economist.

But that's my take. Doing business as usual logging virgin old growth in the northern temperate rain forest reminds me of whistling past the graveyard-

Whistling past the graveyard:

(idiomatic, US) to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.
(idiomatic, US) To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences.
 
RegC said:
Yeah it costs each candidate 30k. You have to go through the training. You might be able to challenge it, but with very little chance of getting a pass now days.
Click to expand...

That's interesting Reg. I suppose a guy could learn a lot in 30 days of training but $30k sounds like a lot of money.
 
Buddy said:
That's interesting Reg. I suppose a guy could learn a lot in 30 days of training but $30k sounds like a lot of money.
Click to expand...

Well, the supervisor/trainer charges perhaps 600 a day, same as he'd get as a certified faller out in the bush. Then there's insurance, worksafe/governments %, or whatever. I suppose there's not really a cheaper option, all things considered. That terrain in the pics looks pretty tame, and rightly so under the circumstances. But you'd better believe these guys can be falling stands of 180ft + trees and snags on horrendous slopes. They are worth every cent and more.
 
RegC said:
But you'd better believe these guys can be falling stands of 180ft + trees and snags on horrendous slopes.
Click to expand...

Too bad those trees aren't left, those steep slopes get torn up logging the trees and I'd be surprised if they can support regrowth due to the steepness and erosion from logging.
 
Suck it dry! If we don't cut em someone else will!
That said, I bet it's a really satisfying job, nowhere else left for a hand faller.
 
I agree with much of what you say Cory....its crazy, the scale of what's still going on. But from what I've seen since moving here 6 years ago, the government is much like any other in regards to natural resource.... whether trees, oil, salmon farms or whatever....cash trump's all. I dont mean Donald. There's lots of opposition, but their efforts are mostly futile. I heard it said once that only when the last tree has been cut down will white man realise 'you can't eat money'. No doubt they'll be plenty who'll disagree and shoot that down. But I sort of believe it more now than ever before.
 
cory said:
I guess I smell a rat with industrial logging in virgin rain forest. Obviously smaller scale sustainable resource use is a very good thing.
Click to expand...

Cory, the day the people of this planet no longer have a hunger for wood fiber in it's many forms, is the day logging will end.

Assuming that premise is correct...the day we rich nation's populations decide we no longer will tolerate having logging in our back yards where sustainable forestry actually does work, is the day these places that can actually support forest product extraction on a long term sustainable basis, get put in a box to be kept for our rich nation's pleasure.

Which leads to the inevitable export of our appetite for wood fiber to the less wealthy places on the planet that cannot afford the costs of reforestation and often are not places that have the basic ecotype to make sustainable long term forestry viable either.

In short, we save our own forests and kill the forests of poorer parts of the world because we will not stop using forest products. I cannot see that as an ethical position for anyone to take.

:)

It's a big subject, with a lot of nuance. I do not claim to know it all. But I think I know something of the subject, having worked in natural resource product extraction, and protection, for nearly 40 years.
 
Last edited:
I agree with you on the benefits of sustainable forest management, Burnham....so long as it's upheld. I don't see so much evidence of that here. I'd be interested to get your thoughts if you came and did a fly over the mountains, behind the many locked gates, out of the public eye and reach. If anything grows back there, it'll be by chance not purpose. It's a bombsite mate. I hear too, the best logs are bought almost exclusively by the wealthy Chinese and other Asian markets....much like Ivory. The fallers out in the field are mere pawns on the chart of profit and wealth...but you can guarantee others are getting very wealthy off their backs. Furthermore, where wealth and profit is the priority, it's hard to believe or even hope that sacrificing the forests in BC to preserve the forests of less able
countries is on any
bodies list of incentives here....at least, I have never heard that used as justification. Revenue, is the only argument you'll hear or read about. It's a big subject, like you say. I can very much relate to the lure, passion and pride of those working a the grass roots level. But looking further up the hierarchy at the fat cats, rubbing their hands together....its hard not to be cynical. It is indeed refreshing to hear recounts from a vet like yourself, who seemingly did his best to influence a balance.
 
treebilly said:
I'm guessing that was not an "intentional barberchair". Dead ash? Straight grained bastids can chair pretty quick. Do you mind if I show that pic to one of my guys? He doesn't quite get why I tell him to quit watching the tree fall and get outta dodge.
Click to expand...

By all means share the the pic. This really caught me by surprise heavy head lean into the woods, standard notch, bored the back cut, set the hinge, cut the release, and she still chaired. I will be happy when ash are only in the history books, at least in my area.
 
heavy head lean into the woods,
Click to expand...

I've started getting kinda twitchy about head leaning trees. Chains/binder straps much more in my thoughts these days. That picture should help some folks re-consider their approach to leaners.
 
I hardly see the forest industry slowing up until it's all gone. A buddy of mine works at 1 of the 4 Tolko mills within an hr of my home. He was telling me just Friday how that one mill uses 70 seven to eight axle logging truck loads a day. Under 70 loads come in the mill gains on the log yard quickly. One medium sized mill, not even the flag ship for the area.

One of the reasons I got out of the woods, and there were many. But tearing through forest, as fun as it is, takes a toll on you at times. For some it doesn't, for me it did. I've got nothing against logging. But I'll never go back to it I think.
 
Bermy said:
You must be glad you are still alive to sit on that barberchair stump!
Click to expand...

I'll second this.
That one looks like it came FAST!

Do you have a picture of your hinge or did you use a secret cut.
I'd like to do a little stump forensics and try to figure why it barberchaired so badly when you bore cut it.
 
stig said:
I'll second this.
That one looks like it came FAST!

Do you have a picture of your hinge or did you use a secret cut.
I'd like to do a little stump forensics and try to figure why it barberchaired so badly when you bore cut it.
Click to expand...

He didn't gut/bore the actual hinge from the front by the sounds. Rather, just formed it with a bore/release cut. I can well believe it still barber chaired. Yeah, close one !
 
treebilly said:
Some Bradford pear reductions this afternoon. Not bad for two and a half hours.
View attachment 82646View attachment 82647
One more to do next Saturday. Apparently I'll have to do more than cone off the area the night before. I had a thought of hooking a chain to that POS and dragging it away but contained myself. We would've been pushing to finish before dark anyhow plus we have a big pin oak to prune a few blocks away that will take up a good chunk of next Saturday.
Click to expand...

I have drug a car out of the way with a rope. Very satisfying compared to the dangerous alternative.
 
Reg, I don't have any idea what the Canadian fed or provincial gov't requires in way of reforestation after harvest.

Here, it is heavily mandated and enforced pretty strongly, especially on federal lands. At this point, almost all harvesting on National Forest land here in western Oregon is being done as commercial thinnings on units people like me reforested 35 to 50 years ago. I have seen logs from a few units that I actually planted trees on myself, going down the road these last few years.

But sure, even with active reforestation, a clearcut looks like a war zone for the first few years. You have to go back over and over to see the changes as trees again gain control of a site. One has to take a long view, in terms of time. Not a human scaled view, but a forest landscape scaled view.

This is an awfully good place to grow trees. Better than almost anywhere else on the planet.
 
They good at preserving and reforestation on the roadside, I'll say that. But it's not hard to find vast 10 year old sites, laden with stumps and waste either. Nothings grown back. Meanwhile the government continues to approve more cut blocks to eradicate the last remaining old growth rain forest....notably the walbram valley as a recent example. All cultural and environmental aspects considered v a 40 year tree farm/cycle, it doesn't seem like a fair trade somehow. It's like over fishing to extinction. You can't just say, they'll come back, one day. What about the here and now ? Neither mine or my kids generation has 400 years to wait around :)
Typical stories here, from one side if course, but not untrue:

http://focusonline.ca/node/692

http://ramshackle.ca/heartwood-port-alberni-island-timberlands/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mick!
Branch walking, how do you do it?
Replies
21
Views
967
Bodean
Bodean
Knotorious
Official Random Fact/Random Thought Thread!
23 24 25
Replies
608
Views
21K
Nutball
Nutball
lxskllr
Commercial Food Recommendation Thread
2
Replies
26
Views
1K
lxskllr
lxskllr
Burnham
Craters of the Moon N.M., Idaho pictures
Replies
22
Views
1K
Marc-Antoine
Marc-Antoine
lxskllr
Stripped Oiler Gear - Cause?
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
Al Smith
Al Smith
Back
Top