Teach me everything you know about logging and forestry!

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northmanlogging said:
right sell the farm, all yer gonna afford out here is 2 bedroom shack on 1/4 acre 60 minutes from anything resembling a day job, with a bunch of other transplants that ***** about the weather and report any chainsaw use to the county... hence we got enough elbows here don't need anymore
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You have no idea what I can or can't afford. As far as chainsaw use, I imagine id be the one being reported there chief.
 
CaliforniaWalnut said:
Hey folks!
I'm writing a screenplay about logging & I need to know everything there is to know! I'd really appreciate any help :) I've been reading about some of the equipment used such as rubber tire skidders, but I just want to have a good handle on how the whole process goes--also the danger factor---accidents, how to remain safe on the job site... what kinds of accidents could occur on a logging site? Any ideas/inspiration would be super helpful! Thank you...

Also, basic stuff like what do you wear when felling trees? Do you wear hard hats, etc? And the land used, is it reused or sold afterwards? What do you call job sites for felling trees? Where is the sawmill in relation to the job site where trees are felled? If someone were to operate a logging business, what operations would they be in charge of? Would they run a sawmill AND handle the operations in the forest in addition to this?

Common words I've heard:

Lumber Yard (is this where the logs are tagged and packaged?)
Forest - (what do you call the site where trees are felled?)
Saw Mill (what all happens at the mill?)

Thanks so much!
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If this is genuine, then it's a very lazy / half arsed approach

You need to meet with and talk to people in the industry in the area where the story is supposed to be set

You also need to visit a range of typical job sites

And when you've written the script in draft form, you need to run relevant parts of it past some people - pay them to critique it for factual errors / errors in terminology / etc
 
ropensaddle said:
Sorry but this is more my style!http://www.landandfarm.com/property/Large_acreage_bordering_National_Forest-3041241/[/QUOTE

Oh yeah. Bordering National Forest = you have a good chance of burning up in that part of the country. I lived that area for several years. They do say you would have some water, but better check on who plows the road in the winter. Or get a snowmobile. I wonder how much fire insurance is now? That highway used to and still might have cows that a rancher seemed to encourage to stand in it. With it being Open Range if you hit a cow, you buy the cow.

On the other side of the highway is a nice valley, but the same problems exist there. People who aren't from here buy places and then realize it's a bit of a drive to a limited medical facility and an icy drive in the winter. Many are retirees. There's lots of turnover. Also, in the 1990s. employees bought the lumber mill in Omak, financed it through junk bonds and lost it. Before they went under, the landowners were surprised to find out that the mill had timber rights on the land and in an act of desperation, pretty much cleaned it out. You might not have many trees to cut down.

You might not like the political situation. I'll just say that some undesirable to me people got in office because nobody ran against them. They've caused at least three legal actions/lawsuits to be filed against the county. It isn't a very prosperous county. Needless to say there are quite a few people running in a primary to be on the ballot against the yahoos.

Deer hunting? Yeah, but they usually hide pretty good during deer season. Baiting is illegal. Fishing? Our fishing rule book, if you want to be legal, is very thick. That's because so many people moved here and fished out the lakes, creeks, and rivers. There are no elk in that area, but occasionally a moose wanders through. Wolves are making a comeback, and we would see a wolverine once in a while just north a bit. Be prepared for beastly cold winters, and hot and dusty summers.

You probably won't find a good job very easily unless the pot industry takes off as predicted. That industry is looking to make the Okanogan Valley into the Napa Valley of pot.

Didn't think anybody knew about that place, did ya? Oh, gotta chuckle about the solar power. In the winter, remember, you are almost at the Canadian Border. Days are short. You might be above the inversion that happens in the valley, but I do not know if 8 hours is enough to run a house on solar.


You'll be pretty close to the Barter Faire. I'm sure you'll like that.

By the way, I've been visiting friends in the area and have been looking at places. We might could be neighbors!
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ropensaddle said:
You have no idea what I can or can't afford. As far as chainsaw use, I imagine id be the one being reported there chief.
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Yer absolutely correct, I don't have any idea of what you can afford, but I have a pretty good idea of what an average person in Kansas can afford, its not the same chuckles...

As for being reported, I mean the police show up, cause a big scene, then since that didn't go as planned, the neighbors then turn you in to the county for whatever BS reason they can think of, unpermitted porch, grass to tall, fence too tall, too many cars in the driveway etc.

As far as property on the east side, there is a reason its cheap, sure its only say 90 miles to Seattle or Everett and you can totally drive that in like an hour and a half...

NO, there is a thing called mountain passes sketchy in summer time and nearly impassable in the winter, sure the DOT keeps em open more or less year round but its a full time job for a bunch of folks, so yer looking at like 3-6 hours one way Ellensburg to Seattle, depending on traffic, and thanks to the massive influx of people the freeway system is horribly inadequate, For instance I'm only about 45-50 miles from Seattle by highway/freeway, yet it would take me 4 hours to get to downtown after 3:30, when I working in Everett for a short time, its only 20 miles, it regularly took 2-3 hours to get home.

So do everyone a favor stay in Kansas.

Jobs on the eastside include, county/state jobs that someone has to die or retire for them to start hiring, retail sales, I.E. you want fries with that, and would like some matches with them smokes? Very very rarely there is a logging job open, but because of the pine beetle timber is pretty much worthless so taint no one logging much over there either. Otherwise its pretty much a giant desert sprinkled with a few college towns, and farm towns.. Hey much like Kansas
 
by the way that property in tonasket, was listed 4-5 years ago, but they mentioned it was only accessible by snowmobile in the winter, and for like 20k...

Also Tonasket isn't much more then a feed store a gas station and a post office. There might be a school, but I think the high shcool kids have to go all the way to Omak...
 
northmanlogging said:
Yer absolutely correct, I don't have any idea of what you can afford, but I have a pretty good idea of what an average person in Kansas can afford, its not the same chuckles...

As for being reported, I mean the police show up, cause a big scene, then since that didn't go as planned, the neighbors then turn you in to the county for whatever BS reason they can think of, unpermitted porch, grass to tall, fence too tall, too many cars in the driveway etc.

As far as property on the east side, there is a reason its cheap, sure its only say 90 miles to Seattle or Everett and you can totally drive that in like an hour and a half...

NO, there is a thing called mountain passes sketchy in summer time and nearly impassable in the winter, sure the DOT keeps em open more or less year round but its a full time job for a bunch of folks, so yer looking at like 3-6 hours one way Ellensburg to Seattle, depending on traffic, and thanks to the massive influx of people the freeway system is horribly inadequate, For instance I'm only about 45-50 miles from Seattle by highway/freeway, yet it would take me 4 hours to get to downtown after 3:30, when I working in Everett for a short time, its only 20 miles, it regularly took 2-3 hours to get home.

So do everyone a favor stay in Kansas.

Jobs on the eastside include, county/state jobs that someone has to die or retire for them to start hiring, retail sales, I.E. you want fries with that, and would like some matches with them smokes? Very very rarely there is a logging job open, but because of the pine beetle timber is pretty much worthless so taint no one logging much over there either. Otherwise its pretty much a giant desert sprinkled with a few college towns, and farm towns.. Hey much like Kansas
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I'm not in Kansas toto rotflmfao
 
004.jpg
northmanlogging said:
by the way that property in tonasket, was listed 4-5 years ago, but they mentioned it was only accessible by snowmobile in the winter, and for like 20k...

Also Tonasket isn't much more then a feed store a gas station and a post office. There might be a school, but I think the high shcool kids have to go all the way to Omak...
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Like I said my style! And I take my job with me.
 
Unfortunately I think you guys were taken for a ride. Who writes a screenplay about something they know nothing about? And if the screenplay thing were true, id bet that it's pro hippie. My guess by analyzing the time of the post and username that yukon John is behind this thread. Notice he's been posting in old threads again lately? He's bored. And if my accusations are incorrect and this "woman" is really writing a screenplay about logging, we will never hear from her again. "She" got us all talking again though. Yes I'm always this cynical in real life. My wife loves it.
 
northmanlogging said:
by the way that property in tonasket, was listed 4-5 years ago, but they mentioned it was only accessible by snowmobile in the winter, and for like 20k...

Also Tonasket isn't much more then a feed store a gas station and a post office. There might be a school, but I think the high shcool kids have to go all the way to Omak...
Click to expand...

I lived in Tonasket. It has the basics, even a small hospital but the hospital is having troubles. It's the place where I sold my house for asking price--no problems because it was the only house in town for sale. I drove through there last year and they've spruced the town up with fancy light poles and flower baskets. There's a little ski hill up in the highlands. It had a chairlift and you skied down making sure you went through a gate instead of through a barb wire fence. There was a cross country ski area there also. I almost got into a bad car wreck with a newcomer who did not understand that you kinda sorta need to slow down on an icy road. She then decided if she replaced the tires with studded tires there would be no need ever slow down. I putted on up to the ski hill in my little Subie with non studded tires.

That area had bug kill. I worked on beetle salvage after salvage. And still, one guy explained it thusly, "All we've done is made safety zones to run to when this area catches on fire."

Jobs? Well the mill shut down in 1993, there isn't much logging, there's gubmint, but those are hard to come by if you aren't related or don't know somebody, there's the orchards but you'd better not be prejudiced, the little hospital is firing head nurses so that might be available but don't object to the wife of one of the big shots is going home but staying on the clock, Folks are hoping the marijuana industry will provide a livable income. There's some troubles with that--neighbors of the pot farms don't like the smell. You might get a seasonal job in a fruit warehouse, once again, leave your prejudice at the door. In fact don't move there if you can't stand living amongst people who look different. You won't like it.

There's a couple of extremes living in those hills. You've got the hippies, who want no timber harvest--not that there is much and try to get small businesses like hand painting neck ties going. They were touting the tie painting business as viable when I lived there. Then you have the hard core gubmint haters that moved there from somewhere else, collect their social security checks, live in places like the advertisement, and occasionally shoot at trespassers and Forest Service rigs. They want to be left alone so don't even step on their land, or some of the FS land around them. I had one bothering me while I was working. He kept coming over and telling me something might happen to me if I didn't leave the area. I ignored him. That winter, 100+ trees were carefully spiked in that timber sale.

I ricochet back and forth across the mountains. Right now I'm looking at doing it again, maybe. Northman, you have overlooked Spokane. If the roads are good, you can be in Spokane much faster--3 hours, than Seattle--4 or 5 hrs. Or bop down the river 100+ miles to the Costco in E. Wenatchee.

Rope, I don't care if you move there, really. I think the posts you'd put on here would be amusing to read and I promise I won't say.......I told you so.
Read up on the Open Range rule. It's a shocker for newcomers who call the sheriff about cows in their unfenced yards and gardens. It's a leftover from the Days of the Old West which weren't as nice as portrayed on TV.
 
ropensaddle said:
Like I said my style! And I take my job with me.
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Ummm, I don't think there's much of a demand for tree climbers. They use ladders in the orchards. 10 foot ones are generally sufficient. It's irrigated desert with a few pines scattered around where people who might be able to afford to hire you live. They probably already know of a local for the rare case when such work is needed, but like I said, give it a try and amuse us with your posts.
 

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