Forestry work along the South Edge

FORESTRY: 2.25 hours: 3:15 PM to 5:30 PM

Thinning and pruning along the South Edge road in South Side unit #4.

Forestry work in South Side unit #4, in conjunction with road clearing. Thinning and pruning in three areas: SW corner between the road and the southern property line, at the first bend in the south side road (at about 500’), between the road and the southern property line, and on the west side of the road at the junction of the east-bound (uphill) and north-bound (downhill) routes.  Mostly just clean-up of dead standing sticks, dead stobs and horizontal or leaning live suppressed trees. Some jack-straw thickets that just need to be slashed to the ground, so that I can simply move around and operate. Lots of “Wood on the Ground”. A fairly thorough job in the areas I targeted, but it will need a final sweep to tie it all together and call it complete. Most of the “thinning” is of thoroughly suppressed or dead trees that pose no competition threat to the established overstory trees, and is done more for aesthetics and workability (access).

No salmon visible in the stream today, although it was a flood tide and there was rain-enhanced (slightly turbid) stream flow. Passing a hunter on the gravel road at dusk, he mentioned that a herd of cow elk were hanging out in the clearcut – most likely right above where I was working on the south side. A full (double-load) log truck was heading out of the gate as I arrived, so there is current logging activity nearby.