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FFA students got a lesson in tree-felling Wednesday morning as they watched logger Anthony Gruver topple a dead elm.
The tree was on city property just across from an electric sub station. Gruver felled it onto an open space in front of Ron and Mark Bennett’s shop on Strait Avenue. The single-level shop, Ron said, was a three-story canning factory built in 1910.
“I bet that tree was here when this was built,” he said.
Gruver assented it probably was.
Two dozen FFA students walked over from the school using their Ag Science II class to learn about chainsaws and how to use them. Gruver explained safety equipment: the chaps he wears and ear and eye protection. His saw cost $1,000 and he showed students how to take care of a chainsaw by checking the gas, oil and filter, and told them to make sure their spark plugs are tight.
“Whenever you look at your tree you go by feet and lean,” he told students pointing to the tree’s nearly 30 foot lean.
The diseased elm had partially rotted, leaving a splintered exterior and soft spots.
“This is a very dangerous tree to cut,” Gruver told students, pointing out the damage to the tree.
Some of the students are on the school’s forestry team, but FFA adviser Angel Roller hopes all of them learned something.
“Hopefully, some of them will find an interest in a job like this,” Roller said. “Sooner or later this is a skill everybody is going to need”
Gruver, D&D logging, was one of the youngest to ever complete the conservation department’s professional Timber Harvester Program at 13-years-old. Now, at 26, he does a lot of work for conservation. He showed students how to make a face cut, hinging the tree toward the vacant area and away from the road. The line on the saw, he said, points the direction that what he is cutting will fall.
“It’s a fairly easy process,” Gruver said, “if you watch out and do what’s safe.”
The downed tree will wait for Saturday when members of the Seneca FFA Disaster Response Team will cut it up and remove it.
Bennett said he was relieved to see it removed. Heavy winds always seem to come from the southwest, which could have downed the tree onto the street and cut electricity to the substation which serves much of town.
“I’m glad to have it down,” Bennett said. “I don’t know what held that old thing up. I guess there was a little life on the edge of it.”
The Seneca FFA will hold labor auction at 6 p.m. April 9 in the intermediate school gymnasium.
FFA students got a lesson in tree-felling Wednesday morning as they watched logger Anthony Gruver topple a dead elm.
The tree was on city property just across from an electric sub station. Gruver felled it onto an open space in front of Ron and Mark Bennett’s shop on Strait Avenue. The single-level shop, Ron said, was a three-story canning factory built in 1910.
“I bet that tree was here when this was built,” he said.
Gruver assented it probably was.
Two dozen FFA students walked over from the school using their Ag Science II class to learn about chainsaws and how to use them. Gruver explained safety equipment: the chaps he wears and ear and eye protection. His saw cost $1,000 and he showed students how to take care of a chainsaw by checking the gas, oil and filter, and told them to make sure their spark plugs are tight.
“Whenever you look at your tree you go by feet and lean,” he told students pointing to the tree’s nearly 30 foot lean.
The diseased elm had partially rotted, leaving a splintered exterior and soft spots.
“This is a very dangerous tree to cut,” Gruver told students, pointing out the damage to the tree.
Some of the students are on the school’s forestry team, but FFA adviser Angel Roller hopes all of them learned something.
“Hopefully, some of them will find an interest in a job like this,” Roller said. “Sooner or later this is a skill everybody is going to need”
Gruver, D&D logging, was one of the youngest to ever complete the conservation department’s professional Timber Harvester Program at 13-years-old. Now, at 26, he does a lot of work for conservation. He showed students how to make a face cut, hinging the tree toward the vacant area and away from the road. The line on the saw, he said, points the direction that what he is cutting will fall.
“It’s a fairly easy process,” Gruver said, “if you watch out and do what’s safe.”
The downed tree will wait for Saturday when members of the Seneca FFA Disaster Response Team will cut it up and remove it.
Bennett said he was relieved to see it removed. Heavy winds always seem to come from the southwest, which could have downed the tree onto the street and cut electricity to the substation which serves much of town.
“I’m glad to have it down,” Bennett said. “I don’t know what held that old thing up. I guess there was a little life on the edge of it.”
The Seneca FFA will hold labor auction at 6 p.m. April 9 in the intermediate school gymnasium.
