Massive storm clean up

[Hay Dude]

That's a lot to clean up! I collect the brush and downed trees for several neighbors, and burn it off every fall. Nothing like the volume you are dealing with though.
I particularly like the picture of the chainsaw sitting in front of all that WORK!

It sure is. No burning is their mantra, so only chipping or hauling away is left. We chipped 2 small mountains of chips 2 years ago. Neighbor has heater that burns wood chips and Customer uses quite a bit on their walking & tractor paths.
Either way, I get an opportunity to be involved.

I’m in the land clearing business, so this is just another day for me.

 

[Hay Dude]

I don’t remember the bumper being kinked…..

Get into a scrape, ore did I just not see it before?

Yeah here it is a while back.

I hope to be replacing it with this 30,000lb winch bumper when $$ allows.

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[John_Mc]

One of the family members who calls himself a “biologist” wants to drill holes in the downed hardwood, place mushroom spores in the holes, and try to grow shitakes and other mushrooms in them, rather than harvest the hardwood logs for $$$

I supplied some Oak logs to a local friend who was getting in to growing mushrooms. She had no need for big logs. Was looking for 4-6" diameter and 3 or 4 feet long. She's had very good success with them. She did say that one key was to get the logs while they are freshly down. You need to inoculate them with the mushroom spores before something else takes hold and starts growing there.

 

[jyoutz]

I have seen and worked on several of those types of events. We call them micro-bursts. They will blow down trees in a linear pattern, usually along ridge tops and other higher topography. Sometimes for a mile or so across the ridges, skipping the drainage bottoms. Typically we salvage the sawlogs in a timber sale to have the loggers remove the heavy volume, then pile or windrow the slash to prepare the site for tree planting. A small dozer with a brush rake instead of a blade works well for this purpose. Of course the piles are burned. A tub grinder would also work for slash removal from the site, but it’s expensive unless you have a local market for the residual biomass. The biomass outlet sure makes the economics of removal a lot more feasible. Most of the projects we work on don’t have that market, so burning is the only option.

 

[jyoutz]

Those pine trees a white pine. They are like the weed of pine trees. I counted the rings on a 38in one in my front yard and it was only 60yrs old. They also break in the middle of the trunk with any major wind. The tree really has no strength. They are huge and suck to clean up.

White pines do have timber value. They aren’t too good for dimensional lumber, but good grade white pine is prized for millwork and cabinetry.

 

[Hay Dude]

I was able to get this large pile hauled away this week.

This is about 1/2 hauled away.

Loading another of hundreds of logs.​

A few hundred feet ahead, you can see the next pile to be moved. Beyond the lone survivor evergreen is yet another pile.

By the end of the week, I hauled all of just this pile off the Customer’s property. I brought some square bales up in the last day of nice weather. We are supposed to get rain & snow and very low temps in the next 5 days. These bales were way down in the hollow and will be tough to access if we get buried in snow.

The IH-7500 truck performed well, although I do have a drip coming from my transfer case cooler. Tightened it a few times, but it’s still dripping.

 

[Hay Dude]

I was offered an alternative to chipping the brush piles that might work.

On the 128 acre property there’s a long “ravine”. It’s probably 1000’ long x 40’ wide x 8’ deep. Its actually an abandoned logging road that cut through the property. Hasn’t been used for many years. New road took its’ place.
The chief groundskeeper told me the owner thinks she would be satisfied if we push/transport all the piles of brush into the old ravine road and just fill it up.

I don’t like it. Feels like it‘s not the best land stewardship, but it’s not my property or money, either.

This ravine already has a lot of fallen & piled brush/large branches along it.

My thoughts were as follows:

1. Rent bulldozer and push aforementioned brush & large branches into ravine.
2. With remaining room left in ravine, transport other brush piles to ravine and push into it with dozer.

I only have a single arm log grapple to move the further away brush piles. Great for logs, but not the best for massive piles of fine, tangled-up brush.
Might need to buy a big brush grapple. Too long on a distance to push with dozer (probably 1/4-1/2 mile distance from ravine).

Need suggestions on “style” of grapple. I’d like something that can open really wide and “bite” into the side of the piles and really get a bunch at once. Gonna look for a used one on FBN.
Below is a sample pile. You can see another one about 1000’ behind it. There’s 5 more bigger than these.
Thoughts on brush grapple type?

 

[2manyrocks]

If the ravine is otherwise not useable, what is the concern for using it as a place to dispose of the brush?

I tend to think that even with the largest grapple, there would be a lot of trips back and forth. Could it be more efficient to load them in the dump truck to haul more to the ravine to avoid so many trips?

I also think much of the brush would be easier to compact after it has aged for about a year.

 

[Hay Dude]

If the ravine is otherwise not useable, what is the concern for using it as a place to dispose of the brush?

Oh, that’s just my opinion. I kind of think it would just be a messy looking way to get rid of it, but like I said, it’s their money & property. So I will do it if thats what they want.

I tend to think that even with the largest grapple, there would be a lot of trips back and forth. Could it be more efficient to load them in the dump truck to haul more to the ravine to avoid so many trips?

I thought about that, too. However, the ground is really steep and the dump truck really doesn’t hold much brush. It fills up the bed quickly. By the time I load truck with tractor, then jump in truck, drive it down, dump cycle, and drive back, I could probably do 2-3 grapple loads. Probably about same time efficiency, but I still might need to buy a brush grapple and kinda need one anyways. Log grapple isn’t quite the tool for it.

I also think much of the brush would be easier to compact after it has aged for about a year.

Me, too but owner wants it done over the winter. Its already been sitting for 5 months, so it has settled somewhat.

Best thing would be dozer with massive grapple.

 

[4570Man]

I think I’d get the excavator back and load the brush on your dump truck. It’s hard to get a good bite out of a pile like that with a grapple plus the pieces falling off along the way make a mess. Could a skid steer mulcher head grind up those piles? What’s the owner objection to burning them? They make large diesel powered fans to assist in burning that would keep smoke to a minimum.