What kind of professional do I need for this situation?

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Donnarshmr

ArboristSite Member
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Apr 8, 2015
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Location
Licking County
After taking on a property where substantial tree work is needed, I've been working at learning to fell trees and becoming more and more self-sufficient in it. I've gotten pretty comfortable taking down "average" trees but I've hit something I am in no way, shape, or form, willing to touch on my own, so it's time to call a professional. One of my cousins worked for years for a tree removal service, so my first call was to him. He came out an assessed the tree and his verdict was that I was completely screwed. His recommendation was to find someone who still knew how to drop a tree with explosives, but I'm not sure how you look that up in the phone book.

The tree in question is a standing dead Ash in the range of 85' tall and 42-43" DBH. The tree was killed some years before we bought the property when the Emerald Ash Borer came through. The tree is growing in the side of a STEEP slope. The tree does not threaten any structure but is immediately beside the only access to the upper half of our property (it's literally growing at the edge of the access grade where it falls into the ravine). My initial concern was that this thing will start dropping massive limbs or even fall down completely while we're walking or driving the tractor underneath it. If it goes in a storm, I don't really care because we won't be under it and there's nothing for it to hurt. The serious complication came when my cousin the former arborist inspected the down-slope side of it (which I can't access due to health issues). He found that the entire lower side of the base of the trunk is completely hollowed out. On the high side of the hill, the tree looks intact. On the low side of the hill, he says the tree is missing material 8-10" deep across the whole width and that what remains is soft enough he could push his fingers through it and rip out chunks. Because of this, the tree can't be felled. He says there's too much damage to climb it and take it down in sections. There's no access with a bucket truck close enough to the tree to allow it to be sectioned down that way.

So, in this situation, what do I need to look for in professional help and what skill do I need to ask for on the phone to make sure I've got a hold of the right kind of shop?

Thanks!
 
:thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpictures:

Bulldozer? ICE/Homeland Security should be able to put you in touch with someone "trained" with explosives.
 
Can you get a crane close enough? Pick it out in pieces that way?
I am sure there are cranes that could do it, they build skyscrapers, after all. However, I'm equally sure I couldn't afford to rent one. The closest place to put a piece of large equipment is 235' away from the tree and that's the road, which is the major east-west road (meaning busy) for this part of the county. I can't imagine what it'd cost to rent a crane with a 235' horizontal reach and to shut down the main road for most of a day!
 
How 'bout using a bigshot or APTA with a throwbag and get a 5/8 (or whatever) line set in it.
You could give that tree a really good pull test...
Be nice to see some photos of this thing, because my imagination and your reality might be different.
 
Is there a way you can have access with a spider lift? Its basically a bucket on a boom available in different lenght 55-65-75 and maybe 85' im not sure. Its self propeled on rubber tracks. Its 3' wide so it can go through every standard backyard gate. You still need some space to stabilize it maybe 15' diamater on stable land. It will stabilize itself so you dont need a perfectly leveled ground. wil send a pic soon.
 
I've got an APTA and we definitely considered trying to just pull it over. My main fear with that is that the force of pulling the bull rope up into it might dislodge something while one or more of us is in the drop zone. I'm also not sure that the 1/2" Sampson Pro-Master 3-strand and Maasdam puller I have has enough welly to make it fall. I would think that wind loads on it would have to be larger than the 1500lbs the Maasdam will put on it, even if it is in the canopy with surrounding trees. Am I wrong about that? I guess also I only have 200' of rope. Time you account for being 60+ feet in the air and then running diagonally down to the puller, that's cutting it close on safety margin outside of the tree's fall length if stuff comes flying off of it as it crashes.

What do you guys think about this option?
 
Is there a way you can have access with a spider lift? Its basically a bucket on a boom available in different lenght 55-65-75 and maybe 85' im not sure. Its self propeled on rubber tracks. Its 3' wide so it can go through every standard backyard gate. You still need some space to stabilize it maybe 15' diamater on stable land. It will stabilize itself so you dont need a perfectly leveled ground. wil send a pic soon.
Something that narrow could definitely get back there. How un-level can it tolerate? The grade was cut back in the days of horse-drawn implements, so it's as steep as a horse can get up, which makes it real damned steep for modern machinery. I'm not sure how steep it is, but it's steeper than 1 in 3 (our driveway is 1 in 3 and this is steeper than that).
 
i read on a site it can level from a max of 25-45 degree it needs between 11-16' area of clear space to deploy legs. maybe calling your local lift rental store. they might be able to guide you properly!
 
Get a good logger. You can probably find one able to fell it. I know your cousin said it can't be done, but loggers tend to be.......shall I say.....less gentle.

They are slow when the ground is really wet (at least the good ones are....they don't want to tear things up), so you can probably find somebody willing to help after it has rained for a couple of days.

The Ohio Forestry Association has a list of Master Loggers here: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ohiofo...gr/masterlogger/ofa_masterloggerdirectory.pdf

If they can't fell it, they may have a dozer to push it (ask when you call, not all of them do...some just run a skidder - which could also push it, but they are not as good on steep ground as a bulldozer).
 
Thanks for that link, ATH.

I think my next step is going to be calling people from that Master Logger list and seeing what's possible. If I don't come up with anyone willing to do it or no one who will do it at a price I can afford, then I think I'll look at getting a longer and stronger rope and trying to pull it over.
 
I'd try the pull it over option first. You said you had a tractor. That may be able to pull harder than the Maasdam. If it doesn't work at first, whittle off a little of the trunk and try again. Bulldozer is a good option too if you can find an operator crazy enough to knock over a 85' tree.
 
Tractor only weighs 2k lbs, so it's not going to pull very hard when the rope is effectively lifting it off the ground and making it weigh any less.
 
Tractor only weighs 2k lbs, so it's not going to pull very hard when the rope is effectively lifting it off the ground and making it weigh any less.
You can redirect the line through a block or carabiner at the base of another tree so it's a straight-line pull for the tractor. Also if you have any blocks you can do mechanical advantage systems. We do that often when pulling hard back leaners with our mini-skidsteer (2630lb, 31 hp), which can pull about 2000lbf I think we measured it at. Rig a simple 3:1 and it's a lot of force.
 
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