With all the trail work that's been going on lately, I've really felt kind of guilty that I haven't been out to help. So tonight I decided to do something about it and loaded-up the chainsaw and will head for Boen Gulf in the morning. I suspect it will take many trips over, but if we want to have access to some of these areas, it will take lots of man-hours to accomplish. With so many "unofficial" trails that no doubt need a lot of work, I thought about the possibility of groups or individuals "adopting" a trail to clear. In fact, maybe we, as a group of photographers, could adopt a trail to work on. I can think of many possibilities in the Richland Creek and Upper Buffalo areas. Anybody interested?
Posted by Tom Kennon on March 24, 2009 at 11:23 PM
Bill, put me down to help. I have a new chainsaw ready to go to work. I can not make it in the morning but let me know the other times you are considering.
Posted by Randy Wilson on March 25, 2009 at 1:07 AM
Are we talking about the actual wilderness area? Are chainsaws allowed there?
THANKS GUYS, but no chainsaws are allowed in wilderness areas. On top of that you are not allowed to operate a chainsaw in the national forest unless you are certified to do so (must take training from the government and have your certification "card"), and you must be signed up as a forest service volunteer before you could do any trail work. It is a great idea to adopt a trail, but you would not be able to use chainsaws and you would need to contact the forest service in order to get signed up as an individual volunteer. We have several sections of the Ozark Highlands Trail open for adoption - all you need to do is join our club and then maintain your section at least twice a year (without chainsaws). Our chainsaw crews would then come in and do the heavy work if any is needed.
It IS possible to adopt a trail as an individual or a group, but you would need to contact the forest service to sign up, and again you would need the special training if you wanted to use chainsaws. Most maintenance does not require a chainsaw - in fact we built the entire Ozark Highlands Trail WITHOUT ever using one! Could not live without one now though with the red oak borer killing all the red oak trees and all the ice damage.
Ok, guess I'll just have to use a bow saw. But it seems like I've seen several places within designated WAs that have had places cleared with a chainsaw. Maybe it was just done illegally. How about using dynamite? That's legal isn't it?
Sometimes it is tough to tell the cuts apart from a chainsaw and a crosscut saw, which is what we use to make the larger cuts inside wilderness areas (a crosscut saw is typically six feet long with a handle on each end, although I've seen them in the Pacific Northwest that were 12 feet long - these days you can often find them with painted scenes on them sold in craft or junk fairs). I've spent a lot of time at one end of a crosscut saw and it will make a real man out or ya, or a boy! In fact I have one hanging in my living room on the wall. It is amazing to think that the real "axmen" that settled this country used crosscut saws to fell the giant trees that used to cover our landscape.
I built a "puncheon" across a wetland area high up in the Popo Agie Wilderness Area in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming one summer with a large crew of volunteers (above 10,000 feet). A puncheon is kind of a low bridge that sits on the ground, or in this case in a bog. I've built a lot of these structures in the wilderness areas out west, and due to the high-altitude environment we expect these log structures to last 75-100 years or more (the wood does not rot in those high and dry environs, unlike around here where the same structures would only last a few years before rotting). For the base of the structure we had to cut down four very large pine trees - I'm talking about trees much larger than any pine trees that grow in Arkansas. It took us an entire day to cut down each tree using a two-person crosscut saw - usually four of us would work on the cut in ten-minute shifts, swapping out while the other pair rested. It is some of the most difficult work I've ever done, although if you pace yourself right with your partner you can work very long hours before exhaustion sets in. While we were felling the big boys, other members of my crew cut down smaller trees a foot in diameter using other crosscut saws to use as "roller" logs. Once on the ground and after limbs were cut off, it took our entire crew of 30 volunteers a couple hours to move each log into place - about 200 yards away. The logs weighted many tons each, and the roller logs were placed underneath the big logs while our crew pushed the big logs along. It was quite an operation and took us ten days total to construct this puncheon - it was built so large to hold up to the constant strings of pack horses that use it all summer long (lots of hikers too).
I must confess that after a very long day of using one of those crosscut saws on a monster tree it was quite a thrill when the time came to yell out "timber" and experience the big tree fall. Something primal about the entire experience that goes back to the very beginning of our country.
I must also confess that I probably could not last all day on a crosscut saw now - maybe ten minutes before total exhaustion!
For somewhat smaller trees I carry a "turbo" hand saw in my car all that time that is quite amazing. It has teeth that are sharpened on both sides that allow you to cut while going both directions - both push and pull. Most saws just cut in one direction. I often have to use this saw to get in or out from my cabin when smaller trees block the road. This is what I use for trail maintenance when I'm not carrying a chainsaw or crosscut saw.
There is your axmen lesson for the day. Speaking of that TV show, I find it amusing that most of the people I know who watch this show are actually intellectuals and not rednecks. While not a true "fan" I will sometimes watch also - not sure which camp I fit into though!
Sorry to make a second long post here, but the thought came to me that perhaps not everyone knows what an official "wilderness" area is. There are only a few hiking trails within official Wilderness areas in Arkansas - most of the rest are in national forests, national parks, or state parks. "Wilderness" means different things to different people, but an official Wilderness area is a special plot of land that is designated as such by Congress and signed off on by the President. They have their own set of rules and regulations, including no vehicles of any kind, nor any motorized equipment, nor any timber management practices can be done by the managing agency (i.e., they can't cut trees for sale or drill wells or construct buildings).
Trails within Wilderness areas in national forests can be constructed and maintained, including building bridges and putting up signs and blazes. No power tools can be used though - hence the need for crosscut saws. "Natural" materials should be used for any structures, however I'm not sure that some of the giant 12" steel spikes we used to put some of these things together out west would quality as natural, but they are allowed when needed (actually I guess iron is natural after all).
The Hawksbill Crag trail is the only official trail within the Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area - all of the other access points (like Kaypark Cemetery and Boen Gulf) are just that (access points), and while trails have developed along old roads, they are not official trails and are not maintained in any way.
The Ozark Highlands Trail goes through the Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area (but goes around both the Richland Creek and Leatherwood wilderness areas). We had some major tornado damage along the OHT back in the 1980's and spent a good bit of time with crosscut crews cutting it all out. We have not been into the wilderness after the ice storm - according to reports by hikers there is some damage, but very little. Just outside the wilderness area along the OHT there was a lot of damage, which we cut out with chain saws.
These are the only two official trails within wilderness areas in the Ozark National Forest. While it is legal for an official trail crew to maintain these trails, it is quite illegal to cut any living thing within a wilderness area otherwise. That is also the case in the national forest at large.
There are no official trails within the Richland Creek, Eastfork, or Leatherwood wilderness areas.
The Ponca Wilderness area within Buffalo National River park does have a lot of trails running through it, including parts of the Buffalo River Trail, trails into Hemmed-In Hollow, the Chimney Rock Trail, and part of the Old River Trail (the trail over to Big Bluff is not an official trail). The park service wilderness areas have their own set of rules and regs, but they are pretty close to the forest service ones. There are no official trails within the Lower Buffalo Wilderness Area, nor the "other" Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area (both the park service and forest service have wilderness areas by this name, and they share a common boundary - which is about 1/2 mile from where I'm sitting typing this).
In the Ouachita National Forest we have trails in the Flatside Wilderness Area (part of the Ouachita Trail goes through it), the Black Fork Mountain Wilderness Area (Black Fork Mountain Trail), and the Caney Creek Wilderness Area (Caney Creek trail - the very first such wilderness area and trail in the state, and the Buckeye Mountain Trail). There are no other official trails within wilderness areas in the Ouachitas on the Arkansas side (there is one on the Oklahoma side that does have part of the OT running through it).
That's about it - just a handful of trails within wilderness area in Arkansas.
Most of our wilderness areas were designated in 1984 after a long fight we had with the forest service. I testified on behalf of wilderness areas at hearings held by both houses of congress in Washington. It was a lot of fun, and we got about 80% of what we wanted - 11 new wilderness areas.
With the exception of the Ponca Wilderness, the general policy in Arkansas is to not have trails within wilderness areas. The general policy in the rest of the country is that trails belong in wilderness areas and so you will find a lot more of them elsewhere. I don't want to jump up on my high horse, but trails belong in wilderness areas and we should have more of them here in Arkansas. In fact the only reason why there is a trail to Hawksbill Crag for instance is because I described a route to the Crag in one of my first guidebooks so that people could find this scenic icon and not get lost. Before that there was no way to reach the Crag without trespassing unless you just happened to know where it was - most people did not. The forest service eventually caved and built the trail you now hike to the Crag - which follows my original route.
HERE is one resource for wilderness area info in Arkansas.
Tim as always thanks again for the detailed information. I know Bill is skilled with using a chainsaw and can take care of himself. I am not skilled with one and although my heart is in the right place, I can see this needs to be left to people with some training and done legally, etc.
Sounds like we need to put Bill and Tom to work on a crew of their own! Unfortunately it takes a while to get certified - they only offer the classes once every year or two.
On a related note, I spent a good bit of today cutting out the access road down into Home Valley Bluff. I ALMOST made it all the way but still have the steep hill at the end to cut out. This area was hit really hard and I was quite surprised at how much damage I found - even after cutting out trails and roads for the past two months. Edd French had started the work last week, so it looks like it will take a total of tree days just to cut out this access, which is less than a mile. The public can't drive on this road since it is gated (and goes across the property owned by the crazy lady from Connecticut), but getting it cut out will make access a LOT easier on everyone. We'll probably be taking workshop folks there for the rest of our weekend workshops this spring. I continue to feel about 100 years old after every day with a chain saw - oh the good old YOUNG days...
Yeah, even work with a chainsaw is exhausting. I think it's more the pulling and dragging of limbs around and tossing them than actual cutting. How does it look once you get down to the bluff? Are the big pines to the right of the rocks OK?
I spoke with the forest service yesterday about the possibility of relaxing the rules on chainsaw use temporarily, but they will continue the policy as-is. One of their difficulties however, is finding crosscut crews and quality saws (must be the cheap steel these days). The FS maintains a cache of them somewhere in Kentucky I believe, and may be requesting a few if their application for federal "stimulus" money is accepted, and if they can find any crews that know how to use crosscuts. It was interesting to find out that they did a study somewhere in Florida, where they compared the speed at which chainsaw crews cleared with crosscut crews. Turns out, they were about the same. The crosscut crews used hoists and pulleys, and chose their cuts much more carefully.
Yup, that is correct on the quality of the steel. The last big pile of good crosscut saws was up in Washington State and Oregon - I used to know a guy who had piles and piles of them in a back room - he made a mint selling them after the wilderness act was first signed into law in 1964 - they were almost worthless up to that point. The only problem with them was that they were tuned for softwood and not for hardwood - the angle of the individual teeth (called the "set") was different and so in order to use his saws here in hardwood country you would have to change the set of each and ever tooth - a very time consuming process - assuming you know what you are doing to begin with.
You CAN be just as quick with a crosscut saw if you have a good crew, but these days very few people have those skills, and I doubt it would be equal in the situation we have here with all of the ice damage - those studies were done on simple felling and bucking tasks and not the type of work we have to do today - it would take a crosscut crew forever to clear out the trail - it only takes us almost forever now! There really is very little damage in the Hurricane Creek Wilderness area anyway so there is no need for them to get any special saws or crews up here to do the work - our volunteers will get to it once we find the time. The local forest service really does not have a clue, but I bet ya they will spend thousands of taxpayer dollars doing the study and getting some hotshot crew ready, only to discover it could have been done in a single day with what we already have all the time - that's the way our government works these days.
I did not make it all the way down the hill yesterday to the bluff - still have to cut out the steep hill at the bottom - so I can't report on the trees. When you work at the edge of exhaustion you don't have the energy for extra scouting, especially when you are so fat and out of shape as me!
Discussion
11 repliesIt IS possible to adopt a trail as an individual or a group, but you would need to contact the forest service to sign up, and again you would need the special training if you wanted to use chainsaws. Most maintenance does not require a chainsaw - in fact we built the entire Ozark Highlands Trail WITHOUT ever using one! Could not live without one now though with the red oak borer killing all the red oak trees and all the ice damage.
I built a "puncheon" across a wetland area high up in the Popo Agie Wilderness Area in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming one summer with a large crew of volunteers (above 10,000 feet). A puncheon is kind of a low bridge that sits on the ground, or in this case in a bog. I've built a lot of these structures in the wilderness areas out west, and due to the high-altitude environment we expect these log structures to last 75-100 years or more (the wood does not rot in those high and dry environs, unlike around here where the same structures would only last a few years before rotting). For the base of the structure we had to cut down four very large pine trees - I'm talking about trees much larger than any pine trees that grow in Arkansas. It took us an entire day to cut down each tree using a two-person crosscut saw - usually four of us would work on the cut in ten-minute shifts, swapping out while the other pair rested. It is some of the most difficult work I've ever done, although if you pace yourself right with your partner you can work very long hours before exhaustion sets in. While we were felling the big boys, other members of my crew cut down smaller trees a foot in diameter using other crosscut saws to use as "roller" logs. Once on the ground and after limbs were cut off, it took our entire crew of 30 volunteers a couple hours to move each log into place - about 200 yards away. The logs weighted many tons each, and the roller logs were placed underneath the big logs while our crew pushed the big logs along. It was quite an operation and took us ten days total to construct this puncheon - it was built so large to hold up to the constant strings of pack horses that use it all summer long (lots of hikers too).
I must confess that after a very long day of using one of those crosscut saws on a monster tree it was quite a thrill when the time came to yell out "timber" and experience the big tree fall. Something primal about the entire experience that goes back to the very beginning of our country.
I must also confess that I probably could not last all day on a crosscut saw now - maybe ten minutes before total exhaustion!
For somewhat smaller trees I carry a "turbo" hand saw in my car all that time that is quite amazing. It has teeth that are sharpened on both sides that allow you to cut while going both directions - both push and pull. Most saws just cut in one direction. I often have to use this saw to get in or out from my cabin when smaller trees block the road. This is what I use for trail maintenance when I'm not carrying a chainsaw or crosscut saw.
There is your axmen lesson for the day. Speaking of that TV show, I find it amusing that most of the people I know who watch this show are actually intellectuals and not rednecks. While not a true "fan" I will sometimes watch also - not sure which camp I fit into though!
Trails within Wilderness areas in national forests can be constructed and maintained, including building bridges and putting up signs and blazes. No power tools can be used though - hence the need for crosscut saws. "Natural" materials should be used for any structures, however I'm not sure that some of the giant 12" steel spikes we used to put some of these things together out west would quality as natural, but they are allowed when needed (actually I guess iron is natural after all).
The Hawksbill Crag trail is the only official trail within the Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area - all of the other access points (like Kaypark Cemetery and Boen Gulf) are just that (access points), and while trails have developed along old roads, they are not official trails and are not maintained in any way.
The Ozark Highlands Trail goes through the Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area (but goes around both the Richland Creek and Leatherwood wilderness areas). We had some major tornado damage along the OHT back in the 1980's and spent a good bit of time with crosscut crews cutting it all out. We have not been into the wilderness after the ice storm - according to reports by hikers there is some damage, but very little. Just outside the wilderness area along the OHT there was a lot of damage, which we cut out with chain saws.
These are the only two official trails within wilderness areas in the Ozark National Forest. While it is legal for an official trail crew to maintain these trails, it is quite illegal to cut any living thing within a wilderness area otherwise. That is also the case in the national forest at large.
There are no official trails within the Richland Creek, Eastfork, or Leatherwood wilderness areas.
The Ponca Wilderness area within Buffalo National River park does have a lot of trails running through it, including parts of the Buffalo River Trail, trails into Hemmed-In Hollow, the Chimney Rock Trail, and part of the Old River Trail (the trail over to Big Bluff is not an official trail). The park service wilderness areas have their own set of rules and regs, but they are pretty close to the forest service ones. There are no official trails within the Lower Buffalo Wilderness Area, nor the "other" Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area (both the park service and forest service have wilderness areas by this name, and they share a common boundary - which is about 1/2 mile from where I'm sitting typing this).
In the Ouachita National Forest we have trails in the Flatside Wilderness Area (part of the Ouachita Trail goes through it), the Black Fork Mountain Wilderness Area (Black Fork Mountain Trail), and the Caney Creek Wilderness Area (Caney Creek trail - the very first such wilderness area and trail in the state, and the Buckeye Mountain Trail). There are no other official trails within wilderness areas in the Ouachitas on the Arkansas side (there is one on the Oklahoma side that does have part of the OT running through it).
That's about it - just a handful of trails within wilderness area in Arkansas.
Most of our wilderness areas were designated in 1984 after a long fight we had with the forest service. I testified on behalf of wilderness areas at hearings held by both houses of congress in Washington. It was a lot of fun, and we got about 80% of what we wanted - 11 new wilderness areas.
With the exception of the Ponca Wilderness, the general policy in Arkansas is to not have trails within wilderness areas. The general policy in the rest of the country is that trails belong in wilderness areas and so you will find a lot more of them elsewhere. I don't want to jump up on my high horse, but trails belong in wilderness areas and we should have more of them here in Arkansas. In fact the only reason why there is a trail to Hawksbill Crag for instance is because I described a route to the Crag in one of my first guidebooks so that people could find this scenic icon and not get lost. Before that there was no way to reach the Crag without trespassing unless you just happened to know where it was - most people did not. The forest service eventually caved and built the trail you now hike to the Crag - which follows my original route.
HERE is one resource for wilderness area info in Arkansas.
Aren't you glad you asked?!
On a related note, I spent a good bit of today cutting out the access road down into Home Valley Bluff. I ALMOST made it all the way but still have the steep hill at the end to cut out. This area was hit really hard and I was quite surprised at how much damage I found - even after cutting out trails and roads for the past two months. Edd French had started the work last week, so it looks like it will take a total of tree days just to cut out this access, which is less than a mile. The public can't drive on this road since it is gated (and goes across the property owned by the crazy lady from Connecticut), but getting it cut out will make access a LOT easier on everyone. We'll probably be taking workshop folks there for the rest of our weekend workshops this spring. I continue to feel about 100 years old after every day with a chain saw - oh the good old YOUNG days...
I spoke with the forest service yesterday about the possibility of relaxing the rules on chainsaw use temporarily, but they will continue the policy as-is. One of their difficulties however, is finding crosscut crews and quality saws (must be the cheap steel these days). The FS maintains a cache of them somewhere in Kentucky I believe, and may be requesting a few if their application for federal "stimulus" money is accepted, and if they can find any crews that know how to use crosscuts. It was interesting to find out that they did a study somewhere in Florida, where they compared the speed at which chainsaw crews cleared with crosscut crews. Turns out, they were about the same. The crosscut crews used hoists and pulleys, and chose their cuts much more carefully.
You CAN be just as quick with a crosscut saw if you have a good crew, but these days very few people have those skills, and I doubt it would be equal in the situation we have here with all of the ice damage - those studies were done on simple felling and bucking tasks and not the type of work we have to do today - it would take a crosscut crew forever to clear out the trail - it only takes us almost forever now! There really is very little damage in the Hurricane Creek Wilderness area anyway so there is no need for them to get any special saws or crews up here to do the work - our volunteers will get to it once we find the time. The local forest service really does not have a clue, but I bet ya they will spend thousands of taxpayer dollars doing the study and getting some hotshot crew ready, only to discover it could have been done in a single day with what we already have all the time - that's the way our government works these days.
I did not make it all the way down the hill yesterday to the bluff - still have to cut out the steep hill at the bottom - so I can't report on the trees. When you work at the edge of exhaustion you don't have the energy for extra scouting, especially when you are so fat and out of shape as me!