Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday, July 16, six FOSM volunteers selected hazard tree along the following trails in the Sandia Crest/upper tram terminal area:

     B. Jerry Carroll and Lorna Morrow — Gravel Pit Trail — 95 hazard trees

     C. Cliff Giles and Sam Beard — South Crest Trail between Kiwanis Meadow and the upper tram terminal — 50 hazard trees

In addition to flagging the hazard trees with pink ribbon, small blazes were cut in the bark so that the trees would still be marked if the flags were removed. In groups of hazard trees, only one or two trees were sometimes marked. 

Jerry and Sam had already selected approximately 50 hazard trees along Kiwanis Meadow Trail between the gate at the trailhead and Kiwanis Meadow.

Canyon Young, SRD Trails and Wilderness Manager, defined hazard trees along these trails as trees with hazard-tree defects (usually dead) leaning toward the trail and within one and one-half tree lengths of the trail. 

Hazard trees along short segments of other trees in the Crest/Tram area will be selected later. Switchback and Buried Cable Trails lie within the Crest/Ellis Trailhead area that will be masticated later.

Sam Beard, Projects Chair

Friends of the Sandia Mountains

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Cliff Giles took the following pictures of Sam Beard along the South Crest Trail.

Sam using a plumb bob to determine if a tree is leaning toward the South Crest Trail.

Photo by Cliff Giles

Sam has just blazed a tree with a hatchet to mark it as a hazard tree.