Ive been timber cruising since 1989. all over the NW, Alaska and California. Had loads of fun and been to places and in situations that are hard to describe to anyone outside the profession. Great video.
I enjoyed this video but it's interesting to see the differences between the Forest Service and private industry (the purchasers of these timber sales). As one of my secondary responsibilities as a private industry forester, I cruised timber in the Pacific Northwest from 1986 to 2016 and most of my peers and I absolutely hated cruising Forest Service timber sales. In my experience, the trees you're marking today are not going to be on the market for 5 to 7 years, during which time your blue paint will fade to guesswork for the acquisition cruiser. When I cruised for a company called Rosboro in Oregon, the local Ranger districts also tended to put up their Cascade foothill sales in the winter (I have no idea why) when there was 6 to 8 feet of snow on the ground. It was fun snowmobiling in to them, but exhausting cruising on snowshoes. And needless to say, that tell-tale blue paint flecking that lingered on the bark and indicated a take tree was now at least two feet under the snow! I'll also add that the selection of trees may have enhanced the forest ecology, but was consideration of the logging process part of that as well? It sure didn't seem to be further north in my neck of the woods. Partial-cutting or thinning is an expensive and technologically difficult harvest operation, rendered even more so if you are limited to specific trees, especially on cable units like the one you showed here. Those take trees are not always well selected for damage free felling or efficient removal. I'm curious to know what experience you and your crew and your District silviculturist have as logging engineers or harvest managers and if that influences which trees you decide to mark for removal at all? On the plus side, that sale you spent a month marking and cruising with four cruisers, I would cruise in a day if by some coincidence the unit was up for sale when there wasn't snow on the ground, and the procedure and program I followed (I don't think I can mention the name of the product here) produced a result better than the Forest Service prospectus. Of course (ha, ha) the Forest Service data was 7 years old at that point... :) And I would definitely avoid any hornet's nests! There are different ways to measure the height and diameter of a tree without ever having to actually be close to it... It looks like you enjoy what you do in spite of some of the adversity. Timber cruising can be a mental challenge as well as a physical one and it takes a certain type of person to do it day-in and day-out. Best of luck in the future.
I swear, every time I watch one of your videos I learned something I knew nothing about. All the times that I've hiked through the forest and I saw those markings on the trees I had no idea what they were. Thank you again for another awesome video, and education! Thank you for all your hard work and what you do!
I would advocate for skipping cliffs and doing away with comprehensive cruises. I do inventory cruising for a private company and generally can get 20 - 50 acres done a day. One guy. Maybe 1.5 - 2% of the trees actually are tallied but that is what statistics are for. As for cliffs, they generally compose less than 5% of any total area, so why risk life and limb to tally trees that no timber cutter will actually ever cut down?
I can't imagine how difficult it will be to harvest these trees on such a steep side slope! Start at the bottom and work your way up? BTW, perfect soundtrack for this video. Thanks, Jake!
We joke saying they let the chainsaw roll down the hill, the tree it lands on is the one to cut next 😂 In actuality, the trees in that unit would be hauled out via helicopter. I’m not sure how they’d manage to stage trees to be connected to the chopper though. I’d imagine they’d fell the trees directionally side hill, then let trees below catch the logs to be staged. I’m glad you enjoyed the video! I can’t wait to catch up next month during Raz The Haz!
I have an interview coming up for a timber sale prep / cruiser position with the forest service. I have a wildlife biology degree and this would be my first job in the “industry”. I’m looking for all the information I can get before the interview next week.
I got my job with a sustainable ecosystems degree. Just be ready to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and show a willingness to learn anything you don’t yet know. Timber is really a world of its own, you can only learn it by doing it 🙂 Best of luck with the interview, I’m sure you’ll kill it! 👍🏼
I’ve been on the harvesting crews, I’d rather walk it with some paint than a heavy saw, fuel and bar oil. I’m debating doing wildland fire another season or taking a timber cruising position.
Timber theft is when someone harvests a tree that wasn’t designated for harvest. When a forestry prescription is carried out, there are target metrics we want to hit to improve the ecosystem so usually there is a specific diameter size range to take, and/or a preference for species depending on the stand. However, sometimes larger trees are marked due to them being hazardous to humans or infrastructure. A timber harvester might be tempted to take a really big tree to add a bunch of volume to their harvest, so special paint is used by the USFS to verify it was actually the forest service that chose a given tree to be taken, and not some random guy’s blue spray paint.
Looks like hard but fun work, but what do you carry for predator protection? Bears and cougars? Sasquatch?? Just kidding haha 😆 Bear spray? Firearm? You seem to be way out in the bush
We wouldn’t carry any bear spray. The most common threats were ground nesting wasps and hornets in the trees. We only encountered one bear and it was while we were in the truck.
The job site was 2 hours from the office, and driving from the bottom of the unit to the top takes an hour, so we only had about 5 hours a day to work at it. With the steep terrain, it takes quite a while. The grade was 80-90%.
I too did sale area layout. Cruising Timber in the NW. Since 1979.
Ive been timber cruising since 1989. all over the NW, Alaska and California. Had loads of fun and been to places and in situations that are hard to describe to anyone outside the profession. Great video.
Keep Tahoe blue!
I enjoyed this video but it's interesting to see the differences between the Forest Service and private industry (the purchasers of these timber sales). As one of my secondary responsibilities as a private industry forester, I cruised timber in the Pacific Northwest from 1986 to 2016 and most of my peers and I absolutely hated cruising Forest Service timber sales. In my experience, the trees you're marking today are not going to be on the market for 5 to 7 years, during which time your blue paint will fade to guesswork for the acquisition cruiser. When I cruised for a company called Rosboro in Oregon, the local Ranger districts also tended to put up their Cascade foothill sales in the winter (I have no idea why) when there was 6 to 8 feet of snow on the ground. It was fun snowmobiling in to them, but exhausting cruising on snowshoes. And needless to say, that tell-tale blue paint flecking that lingered on the bark and indicated a take tree was now at least two feet under the snow!
I'll also add that the selection of trees may have enhanced the forest ecology, but was consideration of the logging process part of that as well? It sure didn't seem to be further north in my neck of the woods. Partial-cutting or thinning is an expensive and technologically difficult harvest operation, rendered even more so if you are limited to specific trees, especially on cable units like the one you showed here. Those take trees are not always well selected for damage free felling or efficient removal. I'm curious to know what experience you and your crew and your District silviculturist have as logging engineers or harvest managers and if that influences which trees you decide to mark for removal at all?
On the plus side, that sale you spent a month marking and cruising with four cruisers, I would cruise in a day if by some coincidence the unit was up for sale when there wasn't snow on the ground, and the procedure and program I followed (I don't think I can mention the name of the product here) produced a result better than the Forest Service prospectus. Of course (ha, ha) the Forest Service data was 7 years old at that point... :) And I would definitely avoid any hornet's nests! There are different ways to measure the height and diameter of a tree without ever having to actually be close to it...
It looks like you enjoy what you do in spite of some of the adversity. Timber cruising can be a mental challenge as well as a physical one and it takes a certain type of person to do it day-in and day-out. Best of luck in the future.
I swear, every time I watch one of your videos I learned something I knew nothing about. All the times that I've hiked through the forest and I saw those markings on the trees I had no idea what they were. Thank you again for another awesome video, and education! Thank you for all your hard work and what you do!
This was very interesting. I am looking forward to more! I am almost finished watching your AZT videos. Hope you're enjoying your new life!
Great video. You have a wonderful day. Thank you for sharing and see you again soon
Great video! My hat is off to you guys! I'll bet it's even more fun for fallers to drag their saw, gas, etc through there. Subscribed👍
I would advocate for skipping cliffs and doing away with comprehensive cruises. I do inventory cruising for a private company and generally can get 20 - 50 acres done a day. One guy. Maybe 1.5 - 2% of the trees actually are tallied but that is what statistics are for. As for cliffs, they generally compose less than 5% of any total area, so why risk life and limb to tally trees that no timber cutter will actually ever cut down?
Hey dude, Adam D, veteran of the Tahoe NF Timber sale prep ace epic crew 2020. Hope you guys are killing it this year!
Not sure who’s doing the killing, Trapper or us, but I’d like to think we’re making it look good out there 😁👍🏼
I can't imagine how difficult it will be to harvest these trees on such a steep side slope! Start at the bottom and work your way up? BTW, perfect soundtrack for this video.
Thanks, Jake!
We joke saying they let the chainsaw roll down the hill, the tree it lands on is the one to cut next 😂
In actuality, the trees in that unit would be hauled out via helicopter. I’m not sure how they’d manage to stage trees to be connected to the chopper though. I’d imagine they’d fell the trees directionally side hill, then let trees below catch the logs to be staged.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video! I can’t wait to catch up next month during Raz The Haz!
Need more videos with jack johnson
When I make it back East I’ll be sure to!
"Where does wood come from"? Kind of a dumb question
Fair, it comes from trees. But the process of how it goes from tree to plank is more than one would likely expect.
I have an interview coming up for a timber sale prep / cruiser position with the forest service. I have a wildlife biology degree and this would be my first job in the “industry”. I’m looking for all the information I can get before the interview next week.
I got my job with a sustainable ecosystems degree. Just be ready to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and show a willingness to learn anything you don’t yet know. Timber is really a world of its own, you can only learn it by doing it 🙂
Best of luck with the interview, I’m sure you’ll kill it! 👍🏼
How close where you guys to the fires?
30 miles or so as the crow flies. We had another one start about 5 miles from us, fortunately they got it under control.
I’ve been on the harvesting crews, I’d rather walk it with some paint than a heavy saw, fuel and bar oil. I’m debating doing wildland fire another season or taking a timber cruising position.
What s timber theft? Thanks.
Timber theft is when someone harvests a tree that wasn’t designated for harvest.
When a forestry prescription is carried out, there are target metrics we want to hit to improve the ecosystem so usually there is a specific diameter size range to take, and/or a preference for species depending on the stand. However, sometimes larger trees are marked due to them being hazardous to humans or infrastructure.
A timber harvester might be tempted to take a really big tree to add a bunch of volume to their harvest, so special paint is used by the USFS to verify it was actually the forest service that chose a given tree to be taken, and not some random guy’s blue spray paint.
The paint is toxic to humans * buddies beard is blue*
Looks like hard but fun work, but what do you carry for predator protection? Bears and cougars? Sasquatch?? Just kidding haha 😆
Bear spray? Firearm? You seem to be way out in the bush
We wouldn’t carry any bear spray. The most common threats were ground nesting wasps and hornets in the trees. We only encountered one bear and it was while we were in the truck.
Usually more than 1 person is marking the unit, so most animals run away before we see them.. we r too loud out there for any animal to be around
A month to mark 200 acres with 4 guys?
The job site was 2 hours from the office, and driving from the bottom of the unit to the top takes an hour, so we only had about 5 hours a day to work at it. With the steep terrain, it takes quite a while. The grade was 80-90%.