Unfortunately, I don't have any plans for that tree. We do a lot of work of various sorts. We've got climbers, timber fellers and brush cutters of various skill levels. I like to think of myself as a brushcutter. I've never climbed, and I've cut trees for a little while now, but most of the good ones are dead. Most of what our outfit does involves building right-of-ways, land clearing, etc. We do some power line maintenance for coal companies, too. I'm not particularly proud of it, but that's life. That sycamore will spend the rest of it's life rotting into the ground where it sits. They will hang a high-line that will power a ventilation fan for an underground coal mine at the other end.
I don't usually mind it, but when I run across nice trees like this, it bothers me. I've cut some of the prettiest, straightest poplars, maples, black cherries and oaks I've ever seen working out here...only to watch the landowner pay somebody else to burn them on-site. I cut a couple tank's worth of Poplar that would have made absolutely beautiful logs in about 5 more years, but they won't now. Some of our jobs make use of the trees we cut, but most do not. They only want coal.
Don't misunderstand me, though. Some of our customers log the land before we get in there. That's usually a very bad sight for us. The loggers know the land is going to be cleared and mined, so they usually take no care in what they leave behind. 2 or 3 years for briars and brush to grow, and then we come in. Those jobs make you wish you were somewhere else.
I'm a little ashamed to admit the wasteful means in which I make a living, but I'm not going to lie. I'd love to transition to logging, and I'd even more like to learn to climb, but nobody around here is going to pay me $700 a week post-tax to do it. I don't blame them, either. I'd be starting over at the bottom of a pay scale I worked pretty hard to get up, and I can't afford it today.
No flames, please.
That's a good looking stick.Got a plan for it?..And that's beautiful to boot...
