Here are a few pics from last week of our Koller yarder thinning eucs near Oakland CA. The yarder is ancient and a bit beat up but the Detroit in it runs well and everything works OK. The skyline didn't have much angle to it so this made using the mechanical-hydraulic carriage a pain but we got through it. This job will last 3 weeks or so. The area is where the Oakland Hills Fire burned in 1993 and the landowner wants the gum trees thinned and eventually removed entirely and the hills replanted an native vegetation. There is a steep drop from where the trees are to a major 2 lane road so all the trees have to be felled across the slope to keep them from sliding down hill. The falling part scares me to no end. The trees are small, maybe up to 18-20" DBH, but mostly in the 6"-14" range. They are also tall, around 80'-100', and the tops are braided together. Lots of hangers too.
The mornings are foggy and cool. The fog drip is like rain,
The yarder sits at the top of a saddle and the skyline runs across the slope we are cutting. There are many sensitive plant communities so yarder placement was up to the botanist.
The skyline was only about 20' above ground in some locations. This was across a swale.
It works better than it looks.
The carriage up close.
Uhmm. I guess we ran out of duck tape.
The ground. Pretty steep and lots of poison oak.
The mornings are foggy and cool. The fog drip is like rain,
The yarder sits at the top of a saddle and the skyline runs across the slope we are cutting. There are many sensitive plant communities so yarder placement was up to the botanist.
The skyline was only about 20' above ground in some locations. This was across a swale.
It works better than it looks.
The carriage up close.
Uhmm. I guess we ran out of duck tape.
The ground. Pretty steep and lots of poison oak.
I have been pretty impressed by the Koller that worked up here. They put a tube extension on it. Here it is.
