How far of a drive from home to the cutting area? Guessing you go South of home for the wood? You might be closer to the capital of Alaska , Juneau, than I am.
Most of the time it is only about 10 miles South to the cutting area. But these loads of old growth Douglas Fir come from about 40 miles away. We spotted this cut block while driving out for a hike into the alpine earlier this summer. Was just to good to pass up and if I want, I can stop for a BS with the Truck drivers, reload and train crews on the way by the reload. It would be a tossup as to who is closer to Juneau! This was one of the firewood logs in the setting. The appetizer so to say but it was gone when we started cutting. But there was lots of other really good firewood! The alpine we hiked into that day. We had not been back to this spot since we camped here with our then teenage daughters 25 years earlier. This year we each decided to make a major lifestyle change in eating habits and exercise and have shed a lot of the lbs we both had put on with our 20 years of sailing. Woodwidow has lost almost 60 lbs and myself about 30, so now we can both start enjoying again the outdoors.
I had to laugh at this picture. You look a little impotent standing beside that log with that saw. Always enjoy seeing pictures or video of people's wood gathering escapades, and I love the Vancouver island rainforests, especially on those rare days when it's not raining. However, I gota say, I always get sad seeing those logging cut areas on the coast. Having spent some time on the island and coastal areas, and on the interior of BC, I have noticed how much more devastating mountain logging practices can be in rain forest areas compared to the interior. I remember being shocked seeing mountain side areas on the island that had been clear cut logged, and all the soil was washed away after the trees were removed. The soil ends up in in muddy swamps at the foot of the mountains, and nothing but rock left on the mountain sides, which of course makes effective tree planting and reforestation impossible on the areas where the soil gets washed away. They do the same sort of logging here in the interior, but we just don't get enough rain to wash the soil away.
One of the past practices the lead to large scale soil erosion and destuction was Slash Burning , which pretty much stopped in this area 20 /25 years ago . Now only the accumulation at the roadside is burnt. Also yarding across and or near small streams is avoided so the stream beds are left intact .But with the heavy rains erosion still takes place.
The pros & cons of clear cutting. Glad Canada didn't let the spotted owl shut down the forestry industry like in Alaska. Even after the shut down, the spotted owl is still an issue.
Allan, that picture of you and your wife is wonderful. So here is one for you. It is one of my granddaughter's favorites.
