Canyon Young, SRD Trails and Wilderness Program Manager, sent me the email below today requesting that we work with SRD personnel on Wed., Nov. 13, to fell, limb, and buck three dead pinon trees near the FOSM Guard Station. We would also help load the slash on SRD trucks and trailers and dispose of the slash. We are to leave the stump of the tree in the center of the parking area at a height of 3 or 4 feet.

Wear long pants, a long sleeve shirt, and boots with slip-resistant soles. Bring work gloves, lunch, drinks, snacks, hard hat, and eye and ear protection.

I know the weather has delayed the Wednesday crew’s completion of the removal of hazard trees at Capulin Snowplay, and no rush on getting that finished. However, when you’re done, and if you don’t have anything else scheduled for the Wednesday crew after that, (or if the snow prevents you from finishing the trees at Snowplay soon), here’s another thing for y’all to do:

Three large pinon pines just beyond the FOSM Guard Station and just across the driveway from the “boneyard” have died this year and need to be removed. This spot is where Sandia Recreation often parks a few trailers. Not only will the firewood need to be removed, but the slash will also need to be hauled off to the Bernalillo County transfer station. The USFS can take the slash in our trucks/trailers, it just might be good to have the help of the Wednesday crew to load up and dispose of the slash so it goes faster, and thus if we can coordinate a Wednesday that works for the FOSM Wednesday crew and Sandia Recreation employees (whether trails or dev rec) to work together on this, that would be ideal.

If you could, also leave a high stump (3-4 feet high) of the tree in the middle of this informal parking space intact. I may try to borrow the big skid steer that’s housed at the Magdalena district sometime to remove the stump and thereby make the parking space larger and more usable. (Is this okay, Julie?)

I’m copying Amber here (Heather’s on leave) here so we can all coordinate the best time for this work to happen. Some of Heather’s employees mentioned to me the possibility of using the slash to aid in closing off the entrance of an illegal, user-created road stemming off of Juan Tomas. I’m fine with either that option or the transfer station – the slash just can’t stay in place.

I might still be out of town on a hunting trip this coming Wednesday the 13th, but given next week is the last week of the season for many of our seasonal employees, it may be the time to get this done. If so, let me know by tomorrow before I leave on my trip so I can ensure the FOSM Wednesday chainsaw crew has support from us.