OK, let’s bench the politics for awhile, shall we? Que sera sera.
“Tree falling as Art” is how I would describe this video by one of my favorite YouTubers, Buckin’ Billy Ray Smith. In it, self-taught woodsman Billy Ray takes on a job involving six “leaners” that tower over a house in British Columbia. He needs to leverage the mass of a tree just a foot or so from the house against five others in a domino effect that will send them all in a direction they would not naturally want to fall. It’s a physics thing.
As Billy Ray puts it early on, “failure will cause broken things”, and the result is actually a rather suspenseful 41 minutes of a truly professional woodsman plying his trade. We see the man studying the trees, planning (and explaining) his approach, and from the moment his chainsaw kisses the first tree, commits him to the final execution of the plan.
Now, I’ve always had a deep love of the woods, which is a big reason why we live on top of a heavily wooded hill in Brown County, IN. A nice stand of wild growth is a gift from God and a treat for the senses. That said, unlike many of my fellow tree-hugger friends, I’m disinclined to criticize or dismiss proper forest management when it’s needed.
I fall a tree myself now and again on the homestead, and one of my besties is a professional arborist and tree faller. A woods left to its own devices can become overgrown, misshapen, or (particularly when humans live in it) downright dangerous to life and/or property. Some thoughtful cultivation, included selective pruning and falling, is necessary. A good tree faller is part scientist, part artist, and given the danger involved, part daredevil. It’s not a job for the faint of heart.
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