Week 6 June 24-June 28

On Monday and Tuesday we finished the last of the slash piles, ending in the experimental forest. Upon completing the last slash pile, we then loaded up the rig, drove to the nearest trail head, where we donned yellows, packs, and tools. It was time for a conditioning hike. With Andrew Novak and Sam Bowen leading the way we speed up the trail. On Wednesday the 26th we finally got a chance to do some real falling, and clearing operations. This is important since we are in the district that has been the hardest hit by beetle kill and has continued to get worst in the past 15 years. We went to a place called the Double A Barn which the forest will rent out to the public, for weddings, re-unions, etc. Our goal was to clear a 66 foot swath from either side of the road. Tim Gurnett with Ben Henry started on the right side of the project and created a solid foot hold for the beginning of the operation while the rest of the crew bucked and limbed on the other side of the cutting project. The next day Tim split up the team with half with him to work on falling trees, and half with Ben who under a B-saw could supervise bucking and limbing operations, the next day the crew switched with Tim still running the falling side of the house and Ben the swamping. Corps-member Paul Dobmeyer demonstrated a quick learning when he was asked if he could fall a cat faced snag and said yes, he called out his cuts and where he wanted it to land, then dropped it exactly where he wanted too. Eric Spangle and Sam Bowen created an great swamping and bucking team and took to that with a vengeance, and Andrew continued to work with Tim on improving his falling technique. On Friday June 28th we finally started to do the paperwork needed to get our red-cards.