Finding The Line

Mike had a path to my left all cleared with the blade of the bulldozer so I could get into the area to assess the prospects of finding and retrieving the downed barb wire, property border line.

I had worked my way into the  thick underbrush, downed trees and kept a watchful eye above for leaning trees and broken tops. It’s hard to see from all the green growth growing waist high but there are about ten large cherry trees either down or nearly down flung around like Pixie Sticks. Most of them are laying right on top of the wires of the fence. All the damage has left a lot of light to flood into the open spaces of the canopy and onto the forest floor, the growth spurt from the last few years is like a jungle. Getting my way out of the woods is as hard as it was getting into the area of the fenceline.

I clambered my way into this area wearing leather gloves, and carrying a fencing hammer (for pulling out metal staples), flagging ribbons and a can of spray paint. Not my usual logging get-up but this is what is needed for this task. If I can find the wire and I can pull it out from below the mess, I roll it up into rolls that I can carry out of the woods.

For wire that is buried under downed trees or on the upright trees that have wire growing in them, the area is marked with two colors of flagging tape and spray painted where the wire is inside the wood. This way of marking is how we alert the fallers who will be starting their own logging project on the other side of the fence. The ribbon and paint are the warnings that should be noticeable even if the operator is in the cab of the feller/buncher.