Hardwoods
I Got a taste of falling hardwoods on the East Coast. Working for Columbia in 96, volunteered for a trip to Marianna, Florida. Working in the swamps, mostly hardwoods with the exception of a few cypress. The over-story was intense, especially with the vines running everywhere. Would usually get a good 15-20 feet away from the stump and preferably behind a big tree. Some of those big oaks with branching tops going every which way would throw back some serious debris. It was tough to get much further away from the stump as we were usually treading knee deep water on average. It was even worse when it was just mud. A guy definitely wanted to wait for all the limbs to stop falling and note any that were still hangin and if they were safe to work under, or if you should open a bigger hole. My biggest fear was gettin conked in the head, and knocked unconscious, subsequently drowning and gettin eaten by gators
. Worked there about a month...long enough to get poison oak so bad that Columbia felt bad enough for me to send me back to the West Coast (good thing too cuz I was not makin very good money in the swamps). Definitely earned a respect for the different timber falling environments that a guy can encounter while trampin around the country. There are, however, some gnarly hardwoods on the west coast too. I just so happened to get my leg broke very badly by a big, broken over, tan oak in Northern California...It made an erratic and acrobatic movement when it hit the ground, and sprung around and shot back hitting me in the chest, launching me back and coming down on my leg, snapping it like a twig and pinning me to the ground. Luckily I hung on to my saw and was able to saw the butt of the tree off of me. Some of the very brittle, and heavy Madrones can be nasty too. Loaded vine maple :jawdrop: , Alder all over coastal Oregon, Washington, and some in Alaska, all had to be fell with the rest of your strip. It all deserves respect. The most dangerous timber falling environment that I encountered was the broken up, nasty snag infested islands of Southeast Alaska. Falling snags that you wonder why they were still standing, on ground that can snap your leg, or your body, with one false step...trying to clear from some of those trees was scary, if you could even clear much at all. Anyhow, enough rambling, I just wanted to say that every timber falling environment has it's own unique set of obstacles to encounter and overcome, some more adverse than others, but they should all be learned, and most importantly, respected.
