Firesmart Update for Mechanized Tree Removal

The most recent Community FireSmart newsletter has not been sent out. My hunch is that it is because of one of the following reasons. The Strata Council is consumed by the sewer and AGM prep, or perhaps, because I did not include the statement that the Strata Council will have to approve the program. I left that out because of two reasons - one being the formatting was done before I had the input to include that. The other being that one member of council has made his intentions known that he will not allow it to happen.

Those who expressed an interest in this cost saving tree removal process deserve an update.

The actual newsletter has the name of the contractor in it - I have left that out here as it is a publicly available blog. The lumber prices contained here are out of date. We are fortunate to have RPF James Graham on our committee.

Option for Selective Mechanized FireSmart Logging at Mt Baldy

Contractor J presented to the Fire Smart Board the numbers he has put together for selectively Fire Smarting lots at Baldy with his logging equipment.  His calculation takes the gross revenue from selling the logs and subtracts his mobilization and demobilization costs, his machinery costs (fuel, lubes etc) and his profit margin.  This leaves the net cost for the property owner.

J analyzed the financial end of doing this work based on the following assumptions:

§  Current log price paid by Vaagen Fibre Canada is $110 per cubic meter of solid wood.

Ø  This price fluctuates up and down significantly depending on the lumber market and it is currently on a downward trend.

 

§  He has assumed that at least 20 lots will commit to employing his services and that he will cut approximately half a log truck load from each lot.

 

§  He estimates that it would take approx. ½ to ¾ of a day to complete each lot.

 

§  He will not deal with the waste (brush, tree limbs, dead and down timber).

 

§  If log prices are lower or higher when it comes time to do this work, then his estimate will change.

 

§  If a particular lot has significantly more solid wood volume, then the cost to that property owner may go down somewhat.

 

§  All metal (fencing staples, wire, nails etc) must be removed from all the trees on each lot prior to J arriving.  Any metal in a log causes sawmills to totally shut down and can be fatal to workers if run through a sawmill.

 

§  Each lot to be Fire Smarted must have the property boundary thoroughly flagged to avoid trespassing on neighbour’s property.

 

§  J will determine which trees to cut based on his long experience in this.  Therefore, individual trees will not be flagged by the property owner.

§  J will do this work next summer as soon as soils dry enough for his equipment to work efficiently and with minimal soil disturbance.

 

Based on the above assumptions J has estimated that each lot will cost each property owner approx. $1200 to have this work completed. This cost estimate may increase or decrease depending on log prices next summer.

J has many years of experience in selection logging and has done mechanized Fire Smart logging throughout the Boundary Forest District over the past few years.  If interested people can view his work for the Village of Midway and at Jewel Lake near Greenwood.

Prepared by James Graham RPF ret’d.

Next steps:

If you have not already indicated interest in this program, please e-mail Sam and Rod.

If you have a vacant lot, J would like you to stake your potential building site.

If you can locate your corner pins before the snow flies, that will speed things up in the spring.

Think about your trees – which one might have a nail from an old bird feeder etc.

There is a heavy fuel load on deep lots between Porcupine and Cougar. We walked this area with J and two of the property owners, and will be consulting with adjacent owners for a path to remove fuel.