Big ol' logs

[DanG]

A young co-worker of mine came to me this morning, all wide-eyed and excited. He told me of a little "field trip" he took this weekend, with his family. They were exploring the backwaters of a nearby river, in the really wild area west of here, when he discovered the Mother Lode of cypress logs. He had ventured into a dry swamp to attend to a biological need, and came across 14 humongous cypress logs that had been cut down years ago, but never removed. The way he described it, they must be 8' in diameter and over 50' long. Of course, the only way to get to them is via the little creek from the river, and it is only 3' deep. He doesn't know who owns the land, but I suspect it belongs to the paper/land-development company that owns much of the wilderness around here.  He's going back with a GPS, so we can determine the owners.
I know it's a long shot, and an incredible challenge, but it sure got my wheels turning, thinking things like "Peterson" and "Lucas" and "Alaskan."  It would be a definite wintertime job, with the heat, bugs, and snakes we have in warm weather months. It would also require a continuation of the drought conditions we have "enjoyed" for the past 4 years.
My mind is pretty sure nothing will ever come of this, but my heart is saying "GO FOR IT!"
It sure won't hurt to take a boat ride down that beautiful river and take some pictures of them, anyway.

[timberbeast]

DanG it,  take some pix,  I'd love to see those!  A rich man could get them out via helicopter,  with the proper permissions granted.  I have a lightning-stuck White Pine,  still standing deep in the swamp.  Short of building a road,  the only way to get it out would be helicopter.  Must be 60" dbh.  The helicopter would be cheaper than the road!  It has to stay............

[Tillaway]

DanG... I found some Redwood kind of the same way but I never persued it.  It would take a helicopter to get them out.  The only way to do it economically was to cut them into boards and them fly them out.

Red Cedar shake bolts are flown out like this all the time.  You go in and cut everything, get or make slings out of heavy rope,  put the slings on the individual turns and call for the helo.  They move real fast so you might need to run to keep up with them.

The cost for the helo is about $600 hour.  This is for a Hughs 500 or a Bell Jet Ranger.  Opt for the Hughs 500 is you have a choice, it will lift a bigger load.  The day rate for these is about $2400 or so.

[Ron Scott]

An interesting log salvage project along with their history of being there. Were others cut and taken out from the area years back?? Would be some interesting pictures.

[TJACK]

Recently, in my neck of the woods( North central PA ) logging with helicopters is becomming more common on National Forests and State Game Lands.  I realize it is much less impact on the enviroment and I am all for that, although how does the timber buyer make money paying those prices?  What is the average bd of saw logs they get out in an 8 hour day?  The area was marked off do not enter therefore, I could only watch from the nearest road, so I could not get a exact feel for how big the logs were.

TJACK

[Tillaway]

Helicopter's move allot of wood real fast.  They also require a large amount of personnel to keep up.  A friend of mine was running a shovel ( big excavator converted to load logs) on a Columbia Helicopter show on the Oregon Coast.  The operation put out about 50 loads (about 250mbf to 300mbf per day).  Equipment on site was something like 2 shovels straightening and sorting logs, two big wheel log loaders loading trucks,  ground support for helo, a bunch of  chasers, small helo to fly out chokers and transport crew, two big helos for logs, a great big falling crew (12 or more).  Heck there was probably more than that.  These opertions are expensive and usually reserved for high value stands.

The little helos like they use to fly shake bolts are really quite affordable.  But you still have to have a valuable product to fly.  Shake bolts go for $200 to $700 ish a cord depending on market and quality.

[Jeff]

Check out the full members section for a clip of Old Helicoptor Logging.

[Kevin]

Lets do this the easy way.
Gas powerd pole drill and black powder.  
Split it then you have something to work with.

[DanG]

That sounds fun, Kevin, but I got a funner idea.  I'm gonna go see ol' Hooty Parramore, over at the surplus yard, and get some old rocket engines. We'll just stand those logs up on the end and fly'em outta there. Chances are, they'll come down in a more accessable location.  Now, "Plan B", just in case Hooty ain't got no rocket motors, is to rent one of them snow makin' machines, and you can come down here and skid the lumber out with yer snow scooter.

[Kevin]

Sounds like a job for the Junkyard Warriors!