I would rather not just have anyone out walking the trail with a chainsaw and removing downed trees. Believe it or not but just having a chainsaw does not make someone competent in removing and clearing a downed tree due to a storm. Often storm damage has a higher risk of hanging trunks with multiple compression points. Death is only a short mistake away and I can guarantee that the tree does not care if you are on top of it, underneath, or on the wrong side while you are cutting. Just recently we had an experienced individual come very close to making a mistake which could have been fatal. This individual was out on the trail alone which is common for some of us to do at BYT.
I have spoken with Mark Sullivan and I believe we are in agreeance that in the near future we will have another training session for safe handling of saws and safe techniques for felling, limbing, and bucking trees..
This does not mean we do not want help from others with pruning shears and shovels, by all means the more the merrier.
It's just my opinion, but I never want to feel like the desire for someone to help on the trails has created an unnecessary tragedy just because myself or another qualified TC can't make it out for a few days to do the removal.
Here is my one time in 40 years of almost making that fatal mistake for anyone doubting my thought process for the safe removal of downed trees. 10 years ago I was cutting an 18” trunk that crossed the trail in two points.
I assessed the tree and made a plan. The tension and compression point was in a horizontal plane about 3 feet off the ground.
I made a small relief cut on the compression side. Felt my phone ringing in my pocket. Killed the saw and sat it on the trunk. During that 8 minute conversation I was walking around while I became angry with the individual I was talking with. Phone call ended I walked back over to the tree grabbed my saw and started cutting again, next thing I knew I was thrown backwards 10 feet by the upper trunk.
Bruised and a bit more pissed off I sat back and realized what I had done.
I had wandered around long enough to make my way on the tension side of the tree where I had left my backpack and water bottle. After the call ended I had gone back to the tree grabbed the saw and proceeded to make a relief cut on what I thought was the compression side of the tree but in reality I had completely forgotten I had already done that and was now standing in the danger zone of the tension side.
My 1st mistake was when I first went out. I knew that I only had a short amount of time to work on the trail. So I was rushed.
2nd mistake was not taking the time to limb the tree properly.
3rd mistake was planning on only removing the trunk section that crossed the trail. I knew this was more risky but common and can be done in a safe manner.
4th was answering my phone while I was in the middle of this process.
5th was not taking the time to refocus on what I was doing.
6th is continuing to go out in the woods to cut out trees and work on the trail for a bunch of whiny ass boomers.
Ever since then I really take my time. I assess the tree more than once during the initial inspection and depending on the size of the tree I reassess a couple more times during the process. Especially after removing larger limbs or sections. Most important is I stay focused and do not try and rush the job.
ciao
Santana