Road clearing in the South Side

ROADSM&R: 2 hours: 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM

Initial clearing of roads in the middle of South Side unit #4.

Road clearing in the south side of Unit #4. Partial clearing between and around the first and second road junctions in the middle of the south side. Lots of downed trees, big and small, to cut up and toss, along with embedded logs, alder seedlings, salmonberry and blackberry to pull out. Fully cleared three small sections of road, especially defining the second junction. Only about 100 feet to go from the second road junction to connect up to the trail coming up the central ridge that I cleared last month. Tossed the woody debris far off the road to expose the mossy berms for a more attractive appearance. There is some heavy alder seedling and sapling regeneration in the more sunny areas of the road around the junctions, so I am avoiding the difficult work of uprooting them. I only pull a certain amount in any one session to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, blisters and excess muscle strain. Some of the brush and larger trees will require a shovel.

BEFORE: First junction in South Side road, six years after the clear-cut, just before I cleaned up the road.

Many logs are lying across and others are embedded in the road. This was a muddy, rutted mess after the timber harvest. No attempt was made to recondition the roads after harvesting, so the lumps and stumps still need to be dealt with. Clearing off the fallen trees and uprooting the alder saplings and brush now will make for an easier job grading with an excavator or bulldozer later.

AFTER: First junction in South Side road, after I cleaned up the road an.d surrounding stand.

I left a lot of the standing dead snags, taking out the smaller ones. The road is completely cleared of woody vegetation and is ready for the blade – sometime during the dry season.

This photo was taken about a month later (12/13/2013), after I had done some additional clearing work on the trail coming up Middle Ridge (in the center of the photo), so this was a multi-session project.