# marking tape meanings



## wvlogger

i know this is off the topic but i have a question i think people in this forum would know. i was riding my quad today and came across some marking tape i have never seen. there were 3 indivdual strands in each bunch. colors were red green and white solid. i have know idea what these colors mean i would love to know. if any of you all know what any other colors mean i.e pink orange white and oranged striped or any other feel free to add thanks

chris


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## valekbrothers

Red, Green and White means you were too far South...................


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## wvlogger

valekbrothers said:


> Red, Green and White means you were too far South...................



smooth


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## hammerlogging

maybe a survey. Surveyors are prone to elaborate taping to identify "real" lines, corners, etc., probably a trade tradition, and each develops their own signature.


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## wvlogger

hammerlogging said:


> maybe a survey. Surveyors are prone to elaborate taping to identify "real" lines, corners, etc., probably a trade tradition, and each develops their own signature.



i think it might have something to do with a gas well but i am not sure


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## RRSsawshop

Slowp may know the answer?? But its most likely a boundary or property line..:monkey:


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## 371groundie

seems like everyone uses a different color code. 

when i was a rookie forester hanging flagging the company code was:
orange = boundary
blue = skidder trail
orange and blue together = property corner
pink = water
2 blue together = dead end of skidder trail

somthing as elaborate as three colors together is probly somthing more permanent than a skidder trail. 

could be property corner, survey marker, CFI plot (Continuous Forest Inventory), etc.


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## slowp

371 groundie is correct. Everybody is different. We use blue for partial cut boundaries. Blue and white striped for spur road locations. White is a fire color. Yellow WAS for clearcut boundaries. Orange is used for stations when GPSing or traversing. Orange is also used to mark cruised trees. 

Then the loggers move in. Most use pink for skyline corridor or skid trail layout because it seems to be the easiest to see. One guy uses yellow with SKID TRAIL ON IT. Yellow is harder to see in our brush. 

The fallers carry DANGER TREE flagging but some of them tend to use it to mark everything which sort of defeats the purpose of having it. I've used toilet paper and lunch time aluminum foil to mark things (like garbage that needs picking up) when I'm out of flagging. 

Our brush/berry/mushroom pickers use plastic grocery sacks which creates a mess. I think they have somebody scouting ahead and doing that to lead the group into the good places.

Today I was told I would find a blowdown to mark because he had put a Busch Light can on a stick at the place. I found it. But those cans are everywhere.

Everybody has a system.


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## madhatte

^ agreed with the above

Where I work, the only rule we have for flagging convention is "Pink and black stripes is for ISI", which of course is confusing as all get-out because nobody follows that rule. Plus there's all the horse trails and other non-forestry markings. Basically, if I didn't hang a flag, I can only guess at its meaning.


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## redprospector

Yep, it's different every where.
And this can pose a dangerous situation. For example, slowp posted that she had used toilet paper to flag garbage that needed to be picked up when she was out of flagging.
When I was cutting for the mill here, toilet paper hung in a tree meant that there was poop under that tree. We called it danger flagging.
Imagine the anguish, and frustration that could cause.:hmm3grin2orange:

Andy


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## slowp

redprospector said:


> Yep, it's different every where.
> And this can pose a dangerous situation. For example, slowp posted that she had used toilet paper to flag garbage that needed to be picked up when she was out of flagging.
> When I was cutting for the mill here, toilet paper hung in a tree meant that there was poop under that tree. We called it danger flagging.
> Imagine the anguish, and frustration that could cause.:hmm3grin2orange:
> 
> Andy



I forgot to say it was unused toilet paper! Often there's so much flagging from all the different specialists having taken plots, it can be confusing. But the boundary flagging is pretty much never duplicated by anybody else. The boundary is also painted and carded to prevent it from wandering around.

Oh, then there's flagging the mile markers, flagging the turnoff, flagging the flagging. Still, some truck driver will do the unthinkable and PAINT THE MILES ON THE PAVED ROAD. Bad, Bad Bad.


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## madhatte

Dunno how many times I've paced off some unknown ridgeline only to find several generations of flagging of different colors and various conditions, all marking the same feature I'm there to mark. If the records don't show any timber sales or surveys, who knows who flagged there or why? Again, I can only guess at their meaning (Western Oregon is the worst offender here because of the piecemeal ownership in the Coast Ranges).


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## 2dogs

Here yellow with black stripes means danger danger flagging. So can orange or pink or green. I prefer to carry just pink glow flagging and write on it with a felt pen what it really means. Blue usually means something to do with water and is not as common as the other colors. Pink can mean escape route when it does not mean danger. I like the concept of biodegradable flgging but I have never used it.


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## wvlogger

i do not neciserally think it is for a logging job i think it has something to do with a gas well but i am not sure


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## Tzed250

In WV most likely a gas well layout. Back when I was a younger man I worked surveying gas well locations. The locations were marked with flag that usually matched the colors of the company that owned the well. Usually you will see an access road flagged in as well.


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## wvlogger

Tzed250 said:


> In WV most likely a gas well layout. Back when I was a younger man I worked surveying gas well locations. The locations were marked with flag that usually matched the colors of the company that owned the well. Usually you will see an access road flagged in as well.



the acess is were i seen the tape i will make a video


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## 056 kid

wvlogger said:


> the acess is were i seen the tape i will make a video



Great the first one with some actual value..


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## hammerlogging

WV- Today I was cutting a strip.... above a strip (you know the kind) and saw a similar flagging- and it wasn't a corner or anything. Gas well, sample core, something like that I suppose.


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## wvlogger

056 kid said:


> Great the first one with some actual value..



 :taped:


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