[Gregory]

Years ago I lived out on the Hoh river.We had a big windstorm that left most of western Washington crippled.I had a generator and satellite tv.Within a day hundreds of down trees were cleared by the locals.Everybody had a saw in there truck.Seatle, on the other hand, took weeks because everybody stood around waiting for the government to come save them.It was frustrating to watch the news day in and day out.This conversation reminds me of that.

[Chico]

[treeswarper]

The last volunteer thing I did had a couple of BCH guys without their horses and they were good to work with. They were from the Vancouver area, I think--Camas/Washougal.

[drm]

[treeswarper]

[Token Civilian]

Tree - if a person with 20 years logging / felling experience shows up at the PCTA chainsaw training, you can bet that they'll be cert in about a heartbeat if they just don't drop start the saw.

[Kim Brown]

TS, they're not saying you can't. Just follow the rules, which may mean some training to satisfy paperwork requirements for the kids s and insurance companies. No different from anywhere else prone to industrial accidents. I know how to swing a hammer but the guys on construction sites downtown won't let me spend my lunch hour banging around the high-rise they're building. But I understand that and I'm OK with it.

[treeswarper]

Nope. The guy who tried was told by our FS folks that he'd have to be certified and that could not be done that year because it was too late. I worked with him some and had to listen to his rant. Since I was a certified bucker, this made me subject to humorous ranting. He told me to tell him how to cut down a tree and I answered back that I would have to lie down and look at it because I was merely a bucker. He is a good guy. He saw me up on a cut bank cutting a blowdown that was hanging in the road, yelled at me that he was gonna watch me work for a change, then when I was done, he showed me how to unstick the bar tip sprocket that I had glombed up earlier. Those fallers have so much to teach! I have learned a lot by asking "dumb" questions and they've almost always produced a serious answer. But I also have learned a lot of tricks at the saw training and certifications. Those are good to go to if one can spare the time. The guy mentioned above does not have much spare time. He's a good production faller and seldom has to look for work.

[Pyrites]

Cutting out post storm in a quite rural setting, up a long single access road might be much less risky. You might have better knowledge of whether power crews are restoring power, and circuit architecture might be self apparent. In a a city you don't know whether a crew is working out of sight on an adjacent street. Where the line in front of your home is fed from is a mystery. If a switch is thrown the line you are next to might cycle on. It's much more dangerous. In addition to my saw, thinking who lives down the block, I'm sure there are several more. My Spouse called me a couple years ago. She was at a shower. There had been some weird microburst that had dropped several alders and a multi-stem big leaf maple across the long driveway. My sailing orders were to cut them out so the Great-grandmother could get to the party, then further so cars could get out by end time of party. Grabbed saw, and necessary stuff, drove two miles. Three neighbors were running saws without being called, with a couple conscripted teenagers as swampers. I am pickier about working close than many. And I wasn't needed. Never got out of truck. I'd be careful about making assumptions about why people don't have their own neighborhoods sawn out after a storm.

[RumiDude]

WTA, PCTA, BCH and other volunteer trail groups have their own "culture" and way of doing things, just like logging operators do. Each have a different mission and approach to accomplishing that mission. I can't speak to the others, but in my association with WTA, I have never seen them turn away anyone who has knowledge and skills for working on trails. I have seen several people from logging industry work with WTA and everyone was very happy to have their knowledge and experience. In my experience these people wanted to work with WTA and did not have a know-it-all attitude. Conversely, I have observed people come to WTA and they could not find a way to fit in. That's OK. Rumi

[Token Civilian]

[drm]

There are people out there who know a lot about doing something, and there are other people out there who think they know a lot about doing something, but really don't. If somebody shows up somewhere and says they know how to do something and just let them do it, should they be trusted? I once hiked a trail and somebody had cut a branch that was hanging down such that they left a sharp edge dangling at about 5' 10" above the ground. Resulted in some real blood-letting from my forehead. It is not easy to cut branches directly above. They may have realized that they made it worse after they cut it but were unable to cut higher without something to stand on. I went back the next day and cut it higher up as high as I could. Not perfect, but made sure no sharp edges. So I'm sympathetic to confirming that people have the skills they claim, even if it results in some unfortunate delays.

[Pyrites]

To back up DRM, First, Do no Harm. I've seen a person actually cutting and leaving staubs. He was using pruners appropriate for a rose garden. He was proud to be active in a trail group. No, not WTA.