Logging After an Ice Storm?

[Does’ Leap]

We have had severe icing here in northern Vermont. I have numerous trees and large branches down in my woodlot not to mention power outages throughout the region. Anyone have any experience logging after an ice storm? The same conditions (i.e. branches and trees heavily laden with ice) still exist. Is it safe to assume an equilibrium (of sorts) has been reached with falling branches? Proceed with caution or stay out of the woods for a while?

Thanks.

George

[carl ny]

I’m far from an expert on logging but I would give it a little while to make sure everything is down that’s going to come down. Unless there is a reason(emergency),I would wait a while and let some of the ice melt off. JMHO

carl ny

[Carl Russell]

I have done quite a bit of post ice-storm clean-up, and woods work. As long as there is ice on the trees it is extreme unpredictable, and dangerous. They are calling for some thawing temps this weekend, so ice may reduce some. If you don’t have hazards that must be taken care of, a little waiting will go a long way…….. however you can always benefit from the experience…. as long as you don’t get hurt. 😯

Carl

[mitchmaine]

hi carl, I tried cutting after the ice storm in ’98. we had a week or ten days of ice before it really started to disappear. a couple things, one, as the sun came up and started warming the trees, the tops would explode and send limbwood and shards of ice showereing down on you. with ear protection you couldn’t hear it happening and that was pretty scary, but also, the weight of the ice gave a new center of gravity to the trees. anything I thought I knew about dropping wood didn’t apply. I notched a double top pine that had about 12 feet of single bole, and it split from the top right down to the stump, pinned my saw, and finished my ice logging career. I spent the rest of the storm working for the town opening up roadways and left my first saw stuck in that pine for a week. the wood in the roadways we picked up on forks or with a log bucket and bucked it into short lengths. it was so heavy, you could hardly move it by hand. nope, don’t want to do that again.

[Does’ Leap]

OK, I guess I will stay out of the woods for a while. How is the ice damage in NY, ME, and central VT? It seems as bad here as it was in ’98.

George

[carl ny]

It’s bad up north,just nowhere near as wide-spread as in ’98.

carl ny

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