Very interesting book.

[RSteiner]

A friend gave me a book to read last week that once I picked it up I could not put down.
The book is High Climbers and Timber Fallers.  It is a wonderful slice of cutting old growth and second growth management in the redwood forests of northern California.

There are many pictures that really capture the size of the trees and the scope of difficulty the fallers faced.  I can't imagine having to climb 100 to 150 feet up a tree to secure the rigging to pull one the way it needs to go.  It was amasing the weight in one of those trees and the volume of lumber.

The time period the book covers is from the 1970's into the 1990's.  The author does mention the various forestry practices that have been used over the years and the outcome of each one.

It was a very good read.

Randy

[Tom]

I'm told it is a very good book and can be purchased from Baileys', our sponsor.

High Climbers and Timber Fallers a link to the book.

[Kcwoodbutcher]

I was given that book as a Christmas present and while I haven't finished it, what I have read is amazing. Basically those guys are extremely talented or just plain nuts. I wouldn't even dream of working in trees like they do, but I'm from the midwest where a 36" diameter hardwood is a big tree and to them a five foot diameter offshoot is called a sucker.

[RSteiner]

I was given that book as a Christmas present and while I haven't finished it, what I have read is amazing. Basically those guys are extremely talented or just plain nuts. I wouldn't even dream of working in trees like they do, but I'm from the midwest where a 36" diameter hardwood is a big tree and to them a five foot diameter offshoot is called a sucker.

I hear what you are saying.  Back a few years ago my cousin worked for the fire department and on the side did tree removal in the city.  I would help him as often as I could.  We had to remove a spruce that was a little over 80 feet high.  There was not room to drop the whole tree so it had to be topped at about 60 feet.  That was my first climbing experience.

After reading that book it would seem I didn't hardly get off the ground.  Climbing well over 100 feet into a tree and have it still be several feet in diameter is one big tree.  I helped a friend who worked on industrial chimneys take 20 feet of the top of a 120 foot stack.  He rigged topping ladders up the side of the chimney.  I made the climb to the top three times and it was a long way up and work.  I can only imagine the energy one must expend to climb 100 feet or more using a flip line.

The book really brings out the strength and character of those who worked in the woods on those big trees.

Randy