I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK

Yesterday the FBN Tree Clearing Service (a crack division of Shelton Trails) took down the remainder of an oak tree that was shading the Eklund Native Species Garden - (see the Garden Blog for more photos). The tree was leaning over the deer fence that we installed last spring, and taking it down was a little fussy to avoid crushing the fence. And to top it off our "cloudy" afternoon began to drizzle after we started; a nice 38 degree drizzle that left everbody soaked and cold at the end of the job.

Here's a photo of Rich putting tension on the 5/8" pull rope with his come-along as the tree is being notched. Rich looks official with all his safety gear, and he has positioned himself as far away from the tree as possible. Bill is even further away behind a 36" oak taking this picture.

Here are Rich & Bill setting up the pull line earlier. We used the pull line and wedges to steer the tree where we wanted it to go. It's good to work as smartly and safely as possible.

Helpful Trail Tip: Bill had a bright idea to bring his extendable pole saw along to set the rope high on the tree trunk. The higher on the tree you can set the rope the more leverage you get during felling.

Well the tree landed almost where we wanted it too. But, the garden was still frozen and shouldn't be too disturbed. The main point was that it didn't crush the fence. Terry and Rich are bucking up the tree while Bill hauled off everything to the brush pile.

This should make a nice fire next winter. An occasional load of firewood is one of the benefits of being a trails volunteer. All we need now is for the Parks and Rec guys to chip up the brushpile when they have time in their schedule.

After we were done at Eklund we went over to Silent Waters to look at clearing some of the vines and briars near the bridge. We want to set a bench on top of the dam so people can enjoy the view, and we wanted to see the best way to do the work. Maybe this is something that Parks & Rec could tackle over the winter as a filler job, otherwise we trails volunteers can handle it. We also looked at the condition of the old Curtis Brook Bridge. Some joggers still like using it even though there's a new solid bridge right next to it.

Bill wanted to just patch the hole, while Rich & I were for taking it out. They were able to jump up and down on it without falling into the Brook - this time. Maybe we'll leave it in place as a science experiment in how long something will last without maintenance. Something to discuss at the next trails meeting I guess. With that, we decided to head home to get warm and dry. Hopefully Bill didn't come down with Swine Flu.

Bill sent out an e-mail about our next trails work party - This Saturday at 9:00 at the end of Constitution Boulevard by Summerfield. More flagging and clearing for the Northwest Passage -see you there.

And if you want singing lumberjacks click here. We're far too serious for this silliness.