Tree Killer

[Guyzerr]

In November '07 we had a big windstorm blow through and it took one of our 80' Cedar trees. It landed straight across our driveway and took out the power lines. To get off the yard we had to drive through the pasture and we were out of our house for three days because of the no power issue. It cost $800 to buck the tree up and get it hauled away. The logger kept the wood as well. In any event nobody got hurt.

To prevent that again it was decided to top all of the trees and remove about 20' off each one. A few almost dead ones were uncovered so now they have to go before someone gets killed. Total cost will be about $8000.00 and they keep the wood. What was to be a two day job has now turned into 5.

Here's a few shots of him taking one of the biggest ones down. From the time he started climbing it took all of 20 minutes max. and unfortunately I didn't grab my camera fast enough to get the entire sequence. I didn't think it would happen quite that quick. Note how close he is to the power pole. :eek He has a wack more to do so goodbye to a lot of shade and privacy.

 

[RedRyder]

Wow! That is an expensive adventure!

 

[AUFred]

I think I paid around $1000 to have two removed at my house. They cut me a deal on the second because they were already at my place when we discovered the second had to come down.

 

[alibaba]

i was quite scared looking at those, height are not my thing.
sad that the trees had to come down though, they were lovely

 

[Lord Stanley]

he's a lumberjack and he's ok

 

[MoonOwl]

How sad!!! I can totally empathize on the loss of shade and privacy along w/the bill. It's always sad to see a tree go down...

 

[AUFred]

Pine beetles had gotten the two we took down.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

They say pine beetles are spreading like wild fire because the climate is a bit warmer.... interesting.

 

[BadBoy@TheWheel]

They say pine beetles are spreading like wild fire because the climate is a bit warmer.... interesting.

That or they're having to travel further to find food

 

[Staci]

thats a lovely view, sorry the trees had to come down

 

[AUFred]

They say pine beetles are spreading like wild fire because the climate is a bit warmer.... interesting.

The drought the last few years have kept the pine trees from being able to produce sap to protect themselves from the beetles. The forestry man told me that when he came out and looked at my pine trees.

 

[dt3]

Nice! :clap

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Yes and places with colder climates are also now just barely seeing them for the first time, places like Canada are being ravaged. Just because your area is getting them for a seperate reason (which could not be true) other areas are being devastated and it is because it's warmer.

'Rapid Warming' Spreads Havoc in Canada's Forests

Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers — High Country News

The thing that's bad about this is it was something totally unpredicted. There will be a lot of 'somethings' totally unpredicted by climate change. First you can see the obvious problem of trees dying out, but what about all the side effects to this? Economical loss from less people wanting to visit national parks or from having to remove dying trees and protecting not infected trees. This is also likely to cause droughts because trees won't be there to cover soils anymore so the sun will dry up all the moisture... more wild fires from dead and dry trees... There are tons of problems that are going to come from Pine Beetles, and we never even predicted pine beetles from global warming in the first place!

This is why global warming is so dangerous and why you should be taking it much more seriously.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Reason why I don't think sap is what caused the infestation:



Not these photos of the sap oozing out of the tree, it is a good example of how lodgepole pines try to defend themselves from the beetles by drowning them in resin.



Seems to me like MORE sap would help the tree defend itself, not the other way around, maybe why global warming causing droughts is mainly to blame?

 

[Guyzerr]

The actual reason the pine beetle has ravaged the forests of B.C. is because the winters are not cold enough and what cold they do have doesn't last long enough. I can't remember the exact temp and time issue but it's quite cold & long. This winter was no exception and the problem will persist until it changes. I've seen some of the forests and there isn't any green left. All the trees are dead.

Anything you want to know about the B.C. Pine Beetle can be found at this Gov't site.
Mountain Pine Beetle - Ministry of Forests and Range - Province of British Columbia