The Big Tree
Those
days are gone along with the great stands of white pine, but the heritage of
the industry remains strong as our state and national governments have worked
to make the cut-over lands of Michigan again useful by re-creating many of the
vast stands of forest lands that were here before the lumberman’s axe. As a
result, northern Michigan has national forests, state forests, national and
state parks, city and county parks, and large forests owned by private
companies for businesses that depend upon trees and logs as raw materials.
There are also private individual owners of forest lands both large and small
that includes folks like me who have small tracts with lots of trees.
With all
these forests and businesses relying on wood as a raw material, you would think
we would have many businesses for tree trimming, tree removal and so forth. You
would be correct. All those forests use lots of labor to manage them.
Accordingly, our area has many small businesses to provide that labor. I am an
occasional consumer of that labor as I have had periodic need over the years to
help manage the problem of the odd tree falling down or even worse, growing
somewhere that I don’t want it to grow. It was this latter case that led to my
recent need for removing a big tree, a quaking aspen, better known locally as ‘popple’,
a tree that belongs to the cottonwood family.
I had
earlier experience in hiring local woodsmen for tree removal work. It was
always difficult, and it seemed that you had to know someone to even get an
audience. The Godfather movie always came to mind as I waited for a tree boss
to say something like ‘So, you know my cousin Vinnie?’
Part of
the problem must have been that the high demand for this seasonal work precludes
excess work capacity. Another problem was in waiting too late to hire someone
as their work schedules quickly filled to capacity during the warm weather
months. This became apparent when most of the small tree businesses refused to answer
their phones or return calls when I left messages about tree removal work, and
it was a surprise when someone actually arrived for an appointment to look at a
job. Despite these difficulties, a few years ago, I had two or three trees
removed and I included the big tree (it was smaller then), but the tree removal
guy didn’t want to take on removing that tree since it was some distance from
the others he was doing for me and would added an additional $600 to the bill.
So, the tree was left in place, and it continued to grow vigorously. I learned
this year that was a mistake.
By this
year, the tree had reached near-record dimensions, and if it had fallen for any
reason a part of my house would have been its victim. Further, the tree was
persistent in its yearly spring-time flowering that resulted in millions of
cotton-like tufts cascading on my decks, sidewalks, porches, window screens and
everything else within a hundred feet of the tree that was growing on the banks
of my pond. Furthermore, the now massive behemoth was still growing, shading my
pond, and dropping its leaves and branches in the water. It was finally time to
remove it, despite the cost. I faced the prospect once again of trying to find
a tree removal work crew who could take on the job.
As luck
would have it, this spring a tree work crew was finishing a job in our
neighborhood late one afternoon as I passed by. Just as they were loading their
truck to leave, on a whim I pulled into the yard and asked the boss if he could
look at my big tree and give me an estimate for its removal. He agreed,
followed me to my yard and looked over the tree along with two of his men. I
stood apart while they conferred, pointing at the upper part of the tree, the
adjacent wooded area and periodically shaking their heads. It didn’t seem like
a good omen. Finally, the boss came to me. “We can’t get our lift truck back
here,” he said, “so it’ll need to have a climber.”
I steeled
myself for another rejection, but he continued,“we can do it,” he said. “We
have a hole in our schedule so we can
bring it down next week. It ‘ll take just over one day’s work which fits our
schedule.”I didn’t kiss him, but he must have seen my pleased expression. His
demeanor changed a little as he faced me directly.
“You
aren’t going to like this,” he warned, “but to bring this one down we need
$1800. You understand that you will have a job in dealing with the
branches and logs that we pile up.” I probably agreed a little too hastily at
this. He checked his calendar as said his crew would be here the following
week.
It was a
different crew that arrived the following week to begin the job. We learned
later that this crew were subcontractors to the boss who quoted the job. The
straw boss of this crew was a man who had spent the last thirty years climbing
trees, cutting the ever-larger branches from the top to the bottom of the tree into
smaller pieces that could be lowered to the ground by ropes that his
ground-based workmen managed, all done at his direction.
In short
order I learned by watching that the climber was a master at his work; he attached
his climbing gear, with those sharpened hooks on his boots, an assembly of ropes,
a chain saw, a few pulleys, and a contraption that allowed him to pull himself
upwards as he scaled the tree. Using this climbing gear he slowly worked his
way up the tree until he was some 70 feet above the ground and perched on a
ridiculously slender branch before beginning to work on the topmost branches of
the tree. The procedure was always the same as he removed one branch after
another; tying a pulley to the shore-side of the tree, then tying each branch
to be cut with a husky rope, fishing the loose end of the rope through the
pulley, then dropping the rope to the waiting men below.
The
climber’s chain saw hung from his belt, dangling six feet below so as not to
interfere with his climbing from perch to perch. Once he had established
himself at a crotch of the tree and tied his safety belt securing him in place
so that he had both hands available, he pulled his chainsaw into position. Then
he pulled the rope to start the engine and operate the chainsaw with one hand
while guiding each falling branch with his other hand. The ground-based workmen
then lowered the branch away from the pond to the ground where they began
piling up the refuse for my eventual disposal.
Watching the crew work as the tree slowly began to diminish in size was a treat. The climber was akin to a conductor of an orchestra, directing his men, swinging from branch to branch as he worked efficiently to bring the monster to the ground, piece by piece. I have to say he earned his wages honestly, doing the hard and dirty work quickly and without taking a break. By lunchtime, the upper parts of the tree were mostly on the ground while the larger, six inch and larger branches remained to face the saw. At that point, I didn’t notice the size of the pile of brush that had accumulated on the ground. The men on the ground were running out of room for more branches so they began to pile the larger pieces on top of the brush. Those pieces and the large center part of the tree came down the following day. I could feel the ground shake when the big tree came down in one piece and hit the soft ground. Shortly after, the tree men packed their gear and drove away.
So now
I’m dealing with the aftermath of the climber’s performance, dragging the brush
away and cutting firewood-sized pieces from the big and bulky logs that measure
30 inches in diameter. Next will be the splitting up of those large pieces that
are much too large for my wood-burner. It looks to be a job lasting much of the
spring and well into summer. I’m hoping that the job is not bigger than me.
I’ll let you know …
Woodsman
Bill
