Hello Everyone,
 
On Wednesday, April 10, eleven FOSM volunteers safely felled 13 hazard trees in Tree Spring Trailhead and Balsam Glade Picnic Area that had been selected and flagged by Kerry Wood, SRD Trails and Wilderness Program Manager. At Tree Spring TH, four trees with diameters of 8 to 9 inches were felled. In Balsam Glade PA, thirteen hazard trees were felled, and the diameters ranged from 5 inches to 29 inches.
 
The felling, limbing, and bucking at these sites were completed by lunch. We then planned to limb and buck the upper part of a large pine tree on the ground at the Ski Area Overflow Parking Lot, but the wind was too strong.
 
The photos and captions in the attached Word document illustrate and explain one procedure that can be used to safely limb and buck a large tree with the cut end high above the ground.
 
The volunteers were Dan Benton, Jerry Carroll, Sam Beard, Eric Russell, Jerry Pekarek, Ben Meisner, Sim Cook, Carl Smith, Bill White, Byron Garner, and Dennis Crowther.
 
Sam Beard, Projects Chair
Friends of the Sandia Mountains