# A long path to the bush



## 2yb3 (Dec 12, 2011)

I ended up moving away from bc and the trees to grande prairie (at least i thought there were no trees) worked in a lumber yard, quit that. Now found a job that i want to stick to. Ended up being a survey assistant(oil and gas survey no rural), my cousins boyfriend/husband is a surveyor. I mainly joined because the company will get me my chainsaw and falling tickets and its the great outdoors. first day was a write off, he took us the wrong way then the wrong place and ended up being a quick 3 min job. 

Before i joined on he was telling me of how he just bought a 576 with a 26" bar since he was cutting some massive spruce, i thought yeah right. 3rd day he got to go up to this nose mountain, and i guess this big wood is near there but we dont have to go there, turns out one job was a write off, so just as were heading out this consultant came up, he worked with buddy on the site with big timber turns out when it got the road put in and logged they prety much destroyed all the flagging and lath, so he wants us to go down and re flag. well down in this little valley it hasnt been logged before. (gramps had a trap line here about 60 years ago, inbetween logging, he was telling me how it used to be alot of nice wood.)
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its not the biggest spruce but for being SE of grande prairie and able to see gp from top of hill i was surprised, the line cut going down to the river was abunch of 30"+ dbh spruce.

Now out of town for 2 weeks. Anyways now that I seen we get to cut some decent trees i think ill stay, they wont let me touch a saw for 3 months yet, but partner doesnt mind me cutting, was gonna grab the 390xp till we hit a moose now using crappy spare company truck, no room for my saw or able to sneak it. about 2-3 hours of cutting today, couple nice spruce. He gets to fall with the 576 while the company gave me a crappy little hatchet to follow his path and clear his line of sight for the total staion and prisms. i wana cut so bad yet i have to use this little hatchet. Partner knows this, so he makes me top up his saw and pack it cause (just to tease me) thats what "assistants" do.

I know I am not in the forestry/logging buisness yet but plan to use this job as a base, and the tickets then go back to bc. Nice thing is going to these leases and seeing it untouched before anyone else has been here. but this morning it was all chips, mix oil smoke, and pine/spruce pitch in the air, thats the smell of a good morning I say.

if any of you got any tips or advice please share. Thanks

one weird note is that this lease we just did, about 100-120' pine and good size dbh its all green mostly but i guess the pine beetle just got in there, some boys came along and marked from pest controll, so now all this pine apparently we were told is just gonna get burned, mill wont take it. i dont get that


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## 4xrpm4x (Dec 18, 2011)

From what I've heard... The trees turn red when the beatles move on. If you have one deadred tree in the area it's to late for all the other trees.

If you leave them standing they're still gonna burn. The deadred trees have their own fire intensity rating... Some where between extreme and Armageddon. 

I've heard that some furniture companies are using the trees. Kind of like barn board. Rustic looking wood. But I'm sure the demand isn't even comparable to the supply. 

Sounds like you found a fun job that you'll be gaining some experience and getting your tickets in no time. A few steps closer to your ideal job.


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