Boy Scout Felling Merit Badge.

Was being ISA certified a condition of getting that contract? Just curious because the guy with the park contract here operates like AmericanTree LLC. Not that I want that contract but it is disturbing. This is Canadian National Parks and I searched their websites and documents and found no mention anywhere of anything ISA.
 
OK Sean thanks for the context. If you are not getting paid for drive time i do not envy you that contract.

"Having a full day to prune one large tree would be great."

Having a week would be great too, but that still looks like 2-3 hours, including cleanup aka brush piles for habitat/cwd.

"As far as failing-
I don't feel at liberty to discuss the inner workings, though I will say that the large basal wounding (approx. 1/4 of circumference or so), and proximity to immovable "targets" (bridge, roadway, walkway) is one red flag."

So the govt keeps the TRA process secret? If i was a taxpayer there i'd be curious. as for the basal wound, that may increase the risk of it falling into the river much more than any other direction, right?

" This tree did drop a large limb off the "lean side" over/ near a closed campsite."

Branches getting overextended toward openings is natural and foreseeable and preventable without too much work; see above. Your supervisors hopefully will consider this type of work being done in the future as regular maintenance.

"It showed some decay in the upper crown limbs, but most of it collapsed on impact, and we didn't have time to look into the whole tree too much that day. Treated as an individual tree, other things could have been done here, however in the overall context of our situation, it is what it is."

I totally understand, and am not going to war over an old damaged cottonwood. It's just that the risk factors seemed hastily described at first and potentially overstated; that's all. Sounds like rewarding work and i hope the contract works out well for you guys.
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BTW, I haven't been checking in much lately, in part because I've been working full time as a WA State Parks employee. This cottonwood is not private contract work, but all in-house State work. You can't see in the pictures, but the logo on my work shirt is a Parks shirt.


Sorry, I failed to mention a significant bit of background information. We did Resistograph the tree in multiple locations around the buttress roots shown in the pics with a 500mm model. Not good.
 
I'm all for climbing and pruning big trees! That's a rarity with our limited resources, and huge amount of trees and geographic coverage.

Plus the WA SP system is having a huge layoff right now, since the State is Broke!

I've pushed for a Wraptor as an equipment purchase, but right now, no way. Then it could make safety pruning an old growth/ big tree a couple hour process. Some would be maybe only an hour.
 

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[ QUOTE ]
I've pushed for a Wraptor as an equipment purchase, but right now, no way. Then it could make safety pruning an old growth/ big tree a couple hour process. Some would be maybe only an hour.


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Exactly; that tool is always part of my mental equations, since it's the only way my half-dead asp is getting up those big ones any more.
Even if my legs were as long as mark c's, my lungs, blood, etc. would not get me to the top anytime soon.
Sounds like good winter work you got there!
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As for the basal wound, and increased likelihood of failure direction in a park campground with families beneath, it depends on the winds that day.

In the case of ice loading without wind, then yes, it would be more likely to crumble toward the river, or pull over with the lean, though at that point, surely the campsites in the fall zone would not be occupied.

In any case, public safety (with the benefit of salmon habitat restoration, approved by Fish and Wildlife) ruled out. Our legal duty is to provide a "safe" (whatever that means) environment for patrons (a challenge in newer and older growth forests)


As far as the TRA process being secret, I am sure that it is available, but I am not the Parks' representative to the public in that matter. There are outside professional consultants that work with our NR department staff with TRA and other issues.
My supervisor has worked and lived in the PNW forests for over 40 years.
We are going about the work with a lot of thought (which I didn't really spell out clearly), and none of us profit for making one decision or another, as we are all salaried.
 
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Plus the WA SP system is having a huge layoff right now, since the State is Broke!


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Don't have to remind me that WA State is broke... They keep giving us fines at the DOT inspection station, audit paperwork @ L&I to find ways to fine me, require more bs when bidding their jobs, collecting taxes monthly - not quarterly...

Yeah, I hope they can get a Raptor so they can save some old Cottonwood that took 4 hrs (2 men) to drive and look at.

p.s. - layoff's here in my neighborhood too. We get all the out of work guys with chainsaws underbidding easy jobs, cash only, no taxes.

:) - with sense of humor!
 
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Yeah, I hope they can get a Raptor so they can save some old Cottonwood that took 4 hrs (2 men) to drive and look at.



:) - with sense of humor!

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I was just saying that it would take a full day, with travel both ways to prune the cottonwood, without clean-up.

When I went to look at that tree, travelling two hours each way, I also looked at over a hundred trees, fell about 8 trees, made a work plan for removing several trees for a sewer project, over a drain field, that was going to need a power line drop.



As for lazy gov't workers, the hard working gov't workers have the most against the lazy ones. Its like Chris Rock saying, "I love black people, but I hate ...".

My Parks job is easier in terms of the clean-up aspect, or little that we do (though we helped chip a bunch of trees just yesterday), but it is far, far more dangerous, and technical than residential work, overall.
 
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