Offside vegetation – Staffs & Worcs (northern section)

[agg221]

2 hours ago, Rob-M said:

It would be good to see a long train of joeys and a tug taking it all away.

 

Sort of heading back on topic, we were at the top of Tyrley on Tuesday, so just north of Woodseaves. A couple of CRT boats had been through the area clearing floating debris. It didn't look as impressive as a boatload of sawlogs though. I also fear that, in the wake of Dudley and Eunice, they will now have to go through and do it all again.

Alec

[Grassman]

8 hours ago, tree monkey said:

I wasn't trying to disparage volunteers more using it as an lasy(?) Way to highlight that those areas in particular need a specialised and carefully considered approach that would likely be beyond the standard volunteer works, obviously because of the diverse range of people who volunteer the individual skills may be there.

 

I have occasionally wondered how I would approach the felling in those cuttings and eventually come to the conclusion I wouldn't go anywhere near it , but if I had to crane assisted fells and remove the timber to the top of the embankment in one hit.

 

the post felling stabilisation I would leave to competence engineers 

 

my skills are rusty and best left to brewing the tea nowadays 

 

 

 

You're right Tree Monkey, those huge cuttings like Woodseaves would need more specialists attention.

 

Most of us are trained to use a pole chain saw. It extends to about 12 ft, but limits us to a cut of branches/trunks up to about a foot in diameter. Anything larger than that requires a proper chain saw and most of us (including me) are not willing to go through the extra training (5 days + exam instead of 1 day plus exam) or the additional responsibility of using one.  We're only volunteers after all, and most are between aged 60 & 70 !!

 

However if we encounter a fallen tree part way across the canal that is restricting navigation, or one that has a dangerous looking lean, we will usually be able to call upon somebody and get it sorted if we are unable to deal with it ourselves. We are also trained to use our industrial sized wood chipper, but where we can we try to leave cuttings to disintegrate naturally, provided we can dump them far enough away from the canal so they don't fall into it. We also sometimes leave manageable sized logs on the waters edge for boaters to help themselves to. That is after we've had what we want for our own stoves of course 🙂.

 

 

[Grassman]

Thanks trane for highlighting those other problem areas on the Staffs & Worcs north. I will add them to the list. Even though we may not have time to reach those places I will nevertheless let the CRT department know about them.

[IanD]

12 hours ago, Grassman said:

 

You're right Tree Monkey, those huge cuttings like Woodseaves would need more specialists attention.

 

Most of us are trained to use a pole chain saw. It extends to about 12 ft, but limits us to a cut of branches/trunks up to about a foot in diameter. Anything larger than that requires a proper chain saw and most of us (including me) are not willing to go through the extra training (5 days + exam instead of 1 day plus exam) or the additional responsibility of using one.  We're only volunteers after all, and most are between aged 60 & 70 !!

 

However if we encounter a fallen tree part way across the canal that is restricting navigation, or one that has a dangerous looking lean, we will usually be able to call upon somebody and get it sorted if we are unable to deal with it ourselves. We are also trained to use our industrial sized wood chipper, but where we can we try to leave cuttings to disintegrate naturally, provided we can dump them far enough away from the canal so they don't fall into it. We also sometimes leave manageable sized logs on the waters edge for boaters to help themselves to. That is after we've had what we want for our own stoves of course 🙂.

 

 

Like the volunteers I see regularly collecting (vast amounts of!) rubbish from the GU towpath here, your efforts are very much appreciated 🙂

Edited February 21, 2022 by IanD

[PaulJ]

@Grassman

It really has made a big difference so cheers from me- took this earlier and thought you may like this..

[Grassman]

Thanks for this Paul. That is my group, and I will share your photo with them. I had a day off today because I was boating on the River Cam through Cambridge with Simon on Scholar Gypsy, and what a wonderful experience that was.