[Volunteers_fosm] Report of Balsam Glade PA Trail Cleanup and Wood Collection, Wednesday, July 3, 2019

[Robert Lowder via Volunteers_fosm]

Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday, July 3, nine FOSM volunteers worked on two tasks in Balsam Glade Picnic Area -- 1. Cleanup of slash and logs along the Nature Trail leading to the overlook of Madera Canyon, and 2. Bucking and hauling wood from a large fir hazard tree felled a few months ago.

1. Nature Trail Cleanup -- At the request of Sandra Arazi-Coambs, SRD Archaeologist, the volunteers moved slash and logs from earlier hazard tree felling so that the area beside the trail would be more attractive to visitors. The slash was moved farther from the trail and scattered. Solid logs were bucked and moved by wheelbarrow to a USFS pickup and hauled to the donation wood pile adjacent to the hazmat build behind the Ranger Station. Rotten logs were moved farther from the trail. Most of this work was done along the trail segment that is east of the site of the former YMCA facility. One and one-half pickup loads of wood was hauled to the hazmat building. Photographs of this work are presented in an attached Word document.

2. Bucking and Hauling Firewood -- A few months ago FOSM volunteers felled several hazard trees in Balsam Glade Picnic Area that had been selected by Kerry Wood, SRD Trails and Wilderness Program Manager. Jerry Carroll felled a 29-inch diameter Douglas Fir tree in the lower area of the picnic area. Carl Smith and Eric Russell felled trees with diameters of 15 inches and 20 inches, respectively, in this same area, and those trees have been bucked and removed. Homeowners do not usually own chain saws large enough to conveniently cut trees as large of the 29-inch fir; therefore, the trunk of this large tree had not been taken. FOSM sawyers bucked all of the smaller upper parts of this fir tree with chain saws with 24-inch and 18-inch bars. Due to the large diameter of this trunk, it was bucked into 12-inch pieces. Lou Romero and others split all this wood after one end had be scored with a chain saw to help start the steel wedges. One and one-half pickup loads were hauled to the hazmat building. Photographs of this work are presented in the second attached Word document.

The volunteers were Bill White, Sally Lowder, Jim Levesque, Jerry Pekarek, Lou Romero, Jerry Carroll, Bob Lowder, Sam Beard, and Dan Benton.

Sam Beard, Projects Chair
Friends of the Sandia Mountains
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