Removing trees with a light touch within parkland

[parkguy]

Hello,
I am faced with removing about 100 trees within a wooded park and I would like to know how to best remove the trees without damaging the rest of the trees and vegetation nearby. There are a lot of concerned citizens with eyes on this park. What are negative impacts of using a Feller Buncher or Hydro Axe within a park? Would it be better to use chainsaws and do it by hand? Any info you have would be great.

 

[jefflovstrom]

What is your level of experience?
Jeff

 

[BC WetCoast]

I assume you are the park manager.

If you have enough space between trees, then a feller buncher would work ok, but you will have a lot of ground cleanup and turf remediation to do because it is a very big machine. Feller bunchers don't work well with smaller diameter trees because they are harder for the grapples to grab them.

A hydro axe is just going to make a big mess for you and in this situation you should avoid it. It takes the smaller trees and vegetation and chops it up. It doesn't work on large trees.

Without seeing the site, I think that straight falling the trees where you have room, and piecing them down using either climbers or a bucket truck (depending on access) will be the most optimal at removing the trees at a reasonable cost while minimizing collateral damage. You may also consider using a crane. I would suggest you get an experienced operator in there to provide options and prices.

 

[4x4American]

I would say to cut with powersaw. If you hire a logger, they might make a mess, if you hire a tree service that's up to the task, they might be your best bet, because the whole point of a tree service is to get the tree on the ground whilst making the least mess possible

 

[Toddppm]

Budget wise Hydro Axe will be way more fun and efficient, works good on trolls too.

 

[parkguy]

Me personally, I have no experience in this field. I'm just trying to get an outside perspective on what would be the least destructive way of removing many trees within a high quality wooded park. This is a regional park that receives a little over a million visitors a year. I don't want the falling trees to hit other trees nearby or impact nearby wetlands. So far it sounds like a hydro axe is not the way to go. The contractor hired to do the tree removals is a tree service, not a logger. They are sending me info on the feller buncher they are planning on using. Seems like the feller buncher can direct where the tree lands? Thanks guys for your help!

 

[Trailtrimmer]

Hello,
I am faced with removing about 100 trees within a wooded park and I would like to know how to best remove the trees without damaging the rest of the trees and vegetation nearby. There are a lot of concerned citizens with eyes on this park. What are negative impacts of using a Feller Buncher or Hydro Axe within a park? Would it be better to use chainsaws and do it by hand? Any info you have would be great.

What is the terrain like where they will be working and what is the plan for the wood? Are they coming out because they are old hazard trees, for revenue or for land clearing? Is it a select cut to thin an existing wooded area? Stumps staying in place or are there plans to grind?

Lots of variables that are helpful to know for these guys to give a good recommendation.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Budget wise Hydro Axe will be way more fun and efficient, works good on trolls too.

I'm with Todd!!!

 

[parkguy]

The site is relatively flat. A corridor is being cleared for a temporary access road so larger vehicles can maneuver to conduct utility work. There will be a fair amount of disturbance from the utility work, so I'm not to scared of a larger machine doing the cutting. Just don't want to clear more than I need to, or have trees falling on other trees, or have a gigantic mess to cleanup. I'm thinking the mess may be inevitable!

 

[parkguy]

Also, stumps will be ground down.

 

[Toddppm]

Hard to tell without seeing the conditions, sizes, spacing, natural woodlands etc. etc. there's not any way to recommend anything. Should be written in the contract no unnecessary collateral damage.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Got any map coordinates? An address? We could bird's eye view it.

 

[parkguy]

It is Roberts Bird Sanctuary in Minneapolis, MN. The corridor is between 30 and 50 feet wide and about 2600 feet long. A 100 year old sanitary sewer pipe (39" in dia.) is being re-lined. Our biggest hurdle is that the project is within a bird sanctuary.
Here is the project info page: http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=1476
Here is a google maps link: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9283794,-93.3012963,798m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
Here is a rough layout of the corridor.

 

[parkguy]

The sewer line runs basically under this 8 foot wide road. The 30 to 50 foot wide corridor is centered on this road.

 

[MasterBlaster]

A can of worms, for sure!

 

[parkguy]

A can of worms, for sure!

Yes it is!

 

[MasterBlaster]

It looks to me like a bucket truck crew with a chipper, in cahoots with a grapple loader for the logs, may be the best option. Perhaps even a crane for the bigger, more difficult trees. It's quite doable!

 

[B Harrison]

A good tree service will be able to take care of that, if he can do it cheaper with a large machine then the clean up needs to be included for that machine. If its not then the trees should come out with a bucket truck only because it should be able to stay on that road. A skid steer and grapple should be fine for getting logs out, I would look for a staging area and sell the logs after its all done, as well as the other 8" plus hardwood to a firewood company.

You should plan on a walk through with the contractor to discuss and plan (in writing) strategies on the trees near water. There could very well be some issues there.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Having seen that picture, I would say the feller buncher is the way to go. It will be able to pick up every tree and lay it where you want. Then get a grapple skidder to skid everything to a landing at the end of the corridor. The fewer branches you cut in the project site, the less cleanup you will have.

 

[peakbagger]

Hire a horse logger, they generally leave less damage but would even if they do some damage they are considered by most as being more politically correct.