PICTURED: Crew piecing fallen tree for removal
A good week with a really good group made the week of the MDS/RMMC fire mitigation tree project a success. Held October 7-12, there were seventeen participants and leaders who worked in the forest, and four who worked in the kitchen (9 from Colorado and 12 from Kansas). Volunteer efforts for the week totaled a significant 542 hours (68 days of an 8 hour day for one person)!
This project focused on removing dead trees and thinning areas of the forest that had been overgrown. Because of the steep terrain where most of the trees were located, great care was needed to safely remove the logs and slash. RMMC Facilities Director, Tom Unruh, selected the trees and logs to be removed, and he worked with Paul Unruh and Bob King of MDS to provide the expertise for technical removals.
The MDS chipper ran four days as it chipped slash and small logs from this project. It also chipped huge piles of slash that had been left by previous RMMC volunteer groups in anticipation of the chipper being brought to the site. An additional chipper operator was also trained during the week.
A summary of the week included trees cut, limbed, chipped, and hauled firewood with the following results:
- 9 trees 16-20 inches in diameter
- 19 trees 10-15 inches in diameter
- 36 trees 5-9 inches in diameter
- 45 trees 1-4 inches in diameter
- 15 marketable logs were harvested to be sold to the local lumber mill
A summary of the week also included providing meals, housekeeping and guest services to all that were here (Including Quilt Retreat participants) with the following results
- 6 volunteers
- 132 volunteer hours
- 170 meals meals served
- Numerous snack breaks for all at RMMC 😀