#047-008 - Big Old Silver Maple - Pullman WA

40 man hours. Plus 8 man hours of other pruning. Tree is in decline. Actually trimmed it last year. Deliberated then with the customer about trimming or removal. Silver Maples are credited with being the most notorious hazard trees. They grow so fast and get so big and start to rot quite readily.
They can be maintained though. Right down to nothing.[Trees in decline will actually start shrinking in size as you remove dead wood.] If you can afford it. Every 3 to 6 years. And. If you can comprehend it and accept it. The way they are usually trimmed though, makes them worse. If they haven't had PROPER periodic maintenance. They can be scary. Trust me. You don't want to wait for Mother Nature to trim these! Of course it can require a certain process and time to accept the idea of cutting them down.









Reuben in tree. [18 yrs. old] Some folks say that he was born in a tree. Tough as a mule, healthy as a horse, strong as an ox, and smarter than a tree full of owls!












Mark Germain. [Grandad] 660 Stihl - 36" bar.

Nothin' like sendin' 'em packin'!

# 046-008 2nd Elm - East City Park - Moscow ID

24 man hours. Reuben starting on the 2nd Elm tree. 044 and 046 were infected from the roots of Elms next to them. They were cut last year. The City trenched between them. But that sometimes fails. Trees were so close together.

Took some extra time to get this one down. Had to rope everything over the stage. Plus the Montrose Academy students were practicing Shakespeare again. Same thing happened last year.Their teacher said it was good. They needed to get used to noise and distractions.

Here is Reuben and Jon and Jeremy. Getting ready to trip the trunk. Kathleen is on the camera.

#045-008 Non-Typical Elm Moscow ID

20 man hours. Customer stated that several experts have looked at this tree. Non of them could positively identify just what variety of Elm it is. Not your typical Elm limb formation either. Quite beautiful. Tree was very compacted. Full of dead limbs and debris. This is the finish product. No one would guess it was trimmed. Unless they saw it before. We trim the whole tree. We go to the tip of every branch and trim for safety, structure, and design. The goal for safety is to make the tree self pruning, without major failures. In other words. In the event of a storm [wind, snow, or ice.] the tree will thin itself rather than lose major limbs or uproot. Also, pruning and thinning the canopy stimulates the tree to grow. Tree will fill back in with healthy, strong, vibrant growth. The opposite of this. Which is often mistaken for proper pruning. Is. Gutting the inside. And. Hacking the bottom half of the tree. Leaving it top heavy for Mother Nature to prune. The lower limbs stabilize the tree and roll the wind over the tree.

# 044 - Moscow East City Park

36 man hours. First job on the job blog. No picture of the tree before it came down. Here I'm getting ready to cut the stump at ground level. Before we bring in the stump grinder. Didn't want to leave anything for anyone to trip on. The annual Rendezvous in the Park was starting the next day.

















Started on first infected Elm in East City Park. One week ago. 07-14-07. Infected with Dutch Elm Disease. Also infested with the Japanese beetles that spread the fungus. The beetles of course fly around and infest and infect other trees. Also, the fungus spreads through the root system and infects other trees that way. You can begin to see why the Dutch Elm Disease has been so devastating. Since it came here from Europe about 90 years ago. Before that. Elms were the most common shade tree in America. It's so important to try and maintain diversity. We took 7 out of the park last year. 10 went away the year before. Too many Elms in one place didn't help. I'm afraid it's not over for this year.

Kathleen Flores. Arborist apprentice. She's excited about learning to climb and prune.
















Some mighty fine hardwood. # 044-008. Cutting full 4" by 8" cants here. Stuff is like lead. Until it dries. Then it's still heavy.