Graeme McMahon

Happy New Year Angus said I should look up the thread and add. I'm not going to be fancy and quote previous comments (because I can't). The setting we are working in is classified as a "Burra Charter"'. It is of historical, social, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual significance. The collection of about 100 clay sculptures at the base of the E. regnans trees is fragile and ageing. Mr. William Ricketts has passed away some time ago and his ashes are at the base of the tree he called the "Tree of Life". We are to avoid damage to the moss on the rocks that line the sides of the narrow walking tracks and interference to the understory and groundcovers. E. regnans produce much deadwood during the course of their short growth and following decline. The trees we used as high points were not part of the dead wooding program and had about 80' of dead limbs in a variety of decline. The lowering lines had to work between these fragile appendages and thus minor shock loading would shower the 10 - 40' missiles onto the area and sculptures 100 - 200' below. Understanding the client demands prior to devising the method speaks volumes. Guessing line tensions or "near enough" won't cut it either. Notwithstanding an up to 20' deflection of the crown of the support trees, at the point of severing the 1.25 ton blocks to be lowered, it needed to be static. Hope this helps. It’s been a while Rb, look forward to catching up. Pete thanks for the thread. Graeme McMahon

For me, I don't care if a climber has 2 weeks experience or 20 years, I will pay what they are worth, and assist them to be productive. A pig headed old climber is more trouble to me than an passionate inexperienced climber. Graeme McMahon

Tree climbers successfully completing a practical qualification at a college, could come from a variety of backgrounds. Experience is a time and aptitude component, mixed with a "work ethic". Current assessments do not include experience. I view all the qualifications as learners permits, as the "bar" is set low for entry level. That qualification should allow them to work under the supervission of an experienced climber, or gain their experience at their own pace elsewhere. Trainers would serve their trainees well, if they were to instill that concept when preparing them for the work place. There may be room for a "trade / Production qualification" if in time they are involved in production work and are able to demonstrate their experience. Putting an hourly value for a tree climber is difficult because what tasks I give him are probably very different to what a tree company down the road asks of him, let alone across the state or country. Graeme McMahon

Steve Celebrity is a word that conjures up something I am not. I can say that I cannot think of any tree crews that wouldn't feel welcome to pull up at my worksite and have a laugh and a cupper. The reverse is also true. Natural history film work has traveled me the most distance. All over Australia, the Philippines and Borneo. I have been lucky to be asked to present at arb conferences in UK, Europe and USA. The larger tress has caused me to travel hundreds of miles in all directions. The most over looked part of our risk assessments is traveling on public roads. We daily fail to record hundreds of near misses and hazard assessments at intersections. This is also true for the work safe officers traveling to inspect us. They are of course at work when they visit us. Sometimes the intense spotlight of safety on our work sites seems to be out of step with reality, but lucrative for some. The moral high ground of work safety seems to overlook this as well. Oops, I feel myself climbing onto one of my many "soap boxes". Regards Graeme McMahon

I do trim, prune and weight reduce some small trees. I do enjoy the odd one, but don't let it get around, it would ruin my reputation. Unfortunately, I am an arborist (oakman) trapped in a tree loppers (eucmans) body. Regards Graeme McMahon

Old Monkey I have worked in the Dandenong Ranges for over 30 years. On the world scale I have seen little to come close to it regarding large problem trees. The daily grind prepares you for a different set of drafting gates. Many years ago I was often called "dirty Harry". (dirty rotten job,he'll do it) To answer your question, I suppose I don't say "no", just "lets find another way". Regards Graeme McMahon

The primary stabiliser had a dynamometer installed to indicate the inline tension. By preloading the line the effects of ascending the tree, removing bits and resting could be observed. The fine adjustment of the second stabiliser could be observed with a steady decline in tension of the primary. Anything but a steady decline would be change caused at one of the many defects between the two. That insight spoke volumes when progressing up the trunk. The stabilisers need to have very low elongation to be effective. The low elongation also assisted when arresting the recoil of the trunk. My assumption was that there would not be much more flexing in the trunk or stump before it could fail. To allow the trunk to recoil any further than when I started to interfere, was to risk entering that zone. Regards Graeme McMahon

Thanks for the interest in a special removal in Tasmainia. There have been some valid comments made regarding methodology and logic used in the removal at Tahune. I don't believe you could write a manual on "how to climb and remove", in that situation. People looking for such material to be set down into a checklist will be disappointed. One underlying concept when removing difficult trees is that the thin grey line between success and failure can vary depending on how attuned you are to “input” and the skills of the crew. I had no option for a high natural tie in. If we had bulldozed a track into the site and set up a very large crane and basket, it would have ruined the atmosphere of the forest that we were trying to preserve and its position would have prevented lowering/throwing bits. The option for a heavy lift helicopter was considered. In hind sight it would not have been successful as the rotor wash would have almost certainly damaged vegetation or the tree being removed. Lifting sections off had a high probability of breaking at the point of lift or pulling off a much larger section than anticipated because of the unreliable wood quality. The tree was in a bad state. With only 12% of sound wood holding it up on the compression side, huge defect through its length and fractured rotten top half, removing the top did set me at ease a little but pulling sections off also had to be performed carefully. With the back lean each section required a significant pull. That pull was inefficient with its angle and flexed the trunk. When the section released the trunk recoiled downhill and was arrested by the stablisers. Because of the anchor limitations, the section had to be felled close to the stablisers. While the pressure of work was reduced it was not over until it was over. I used a new type of stablisers and monitoring system to give me more insight into the tree security. The "dyneema" lines supplied by Donaghys ropes were highly suited to the task. 14mm gave about 23 ton (max break) 12mm, about 18ton (max break). These were the support lines for the trees mass and were positioned at points up the trunk. With about 1% elongation at break, when the lines were tight there was essentially no more give at that point. In addition they were very light to handle. When I inspected the tree at the time of the quote, I did not climb any higher than about half way. I felt quite unsafe. It was at the end of day 2 that I actually reached the top of the tree. Special credit to Daniel Kelly who ran the ground operations with only one assistant. An extremely competent climber in his own right with empathy for my situation meant that he was lumbered with the responsibility of organising the ground operations. Regards Graeme McMahon