maple flats
03-05-2018, 05:01 PM
The storm we had from last Friday thru Saturday mid afternoon caused more damage here than any other storm I've had since I started in 2003.
Driving in to the sugarhouse, the first thing I saw was a 15" DBH red maple up-rooted and laying across one of the driveways in. My driveway is a big circle, about 3/8 mile total. That tree is still there. Then when I got to the sugarhouse a cherry about 7-8" dbh had broke off at about 14' high and as it broke the top pushed a power line going to a camper down about 2', nothing broke. That top is now gone. Then I walked back into the woods, got in just about 30' and saw limbs and trees down. I got the excavator (with a thumb) and drove that in. I first picked a 5" diameter hemlock top off a lateral. Then I drove up to the mainline, another 6" hemlock had uprooted and laid right on the mainline. That is now gone. Then a few smaller hemlock limbs and smaller tops also laid on the main, all were clamped onto from the excavator seat, lifted off and dropped out of the way. From there, I then had to drive to another road to gain access to the rest of that mainline. When I got back in there I had several more trees laying on the tubing but those were not on the main, just on the laterals. I lifted off all I could access from that side of the mainline. By then it was almost 5:00 and to get to the others I'd need to go the long way around. All but 1 lateral comes off the west side of that main and I was on the east side. Access to the west side will require bushwacking with the excavator and it has no lights. I'll do that in the morning. From the excavator seat I could see at least 4 more hemlocks laying on lateral lines, when I get there with the excavator there may be more.
This woods has been tapped since 2003 and before this I've never had even 1/10 this much damage. That's what 2' of very heavy wet snow and a wind of 30-40 MPH can do. In all I had 2 dead limbs from maples down and the rest on the lines were all hemlocks, some up-rooted, the rest were tops that had been snapped off, or big limbs. I could have done them with a chainsaw, but the excavator is much faster. Especially getting the wood out of the way. Even on an uprooted hemlock, I just clamped on to it, lifted, swing the cab and drop it all out of the way.
Driving in to the sugarhouse, the first thing I saw was a 15" DBH red maple up-rooted and laying across one of the driveways in. My driveway is a big circle, about 3/8 mile total. That tree is still there. Then when I got to the sugarhouse a cherry about 7-8" dbh had broke off at about 14' high and as it broke the top pushed a power line going to a camper down about 2', nothing broke. That top is now gone. Then I walked back into the woods, got in just about 30' and saw limbs and trees down. I got the excavator (with a thumb) and drove that in. I first picked a 5" diameter hemlock top off a lateral. Then I drove up to the mainline, another 6" hemlock had uprooted and laid right on the mainline. That is now gone. Then a few smaller hemlock limbs and smaller tops also laid on the main, all were clamped onto from the excavator seat, lifted off and dropped out of the way. From there, I then had to drive to another road to gain access to the rest of that mainline. When I got back in there I had several more trees laying on the tubing but those were not on the main, just on the laterals. I lifted off all I could access from that side of the mainline. By then it was almost 5:00 and to get to the others I'd need to go the long way around. All but 1 lateral comes off the west side of that main and I was on the east side. Access to the west side will require bushwacking with the excavator and it has no lights. I'll do that in the morning. From the excavator seat I could see at least 4 more hemlocks laying on lateral lines, when I get there with the excavator there may be more.
This woods has been tapped since 2003 and before this I've never had even 1/10 this much damage. That's what 2' of very heavy wet snow and a wind of 30-40 MPH can do. In all I had 2 dead limbs from maples down and the rest on the lines were all hemlocks, some up-rooted, the rest were tops that had been snapped off, or big limbs. I could have done them with a chainsaw, but the excavator is much faster. Especially getting the wood out of the way. Even on an uprooted hemlock, I just clamped on to it, lifted, swing the cab and drop it all out of the way.