Hazard Tree Removal

Update 5/21/14 - Wow!  We had an incredible opportunity so we jumped.  Thanks to Duane's great work, the scary trees are gone!!!!  Duane called 2 nights ago & said we could get the trees out today, if I cleared it with Jennifer.  They did the entire removal today and it all went great.  We're going up this weekend so we'll have more pics & $ amount soon.

Click once on a photo below to start a clickable slide show.  If you can't get an enlarged photo, try this link to Dropbox:  Hazard Tree Removal 2013

Update 5/01/14 -

Keith & I met with Jennifer White of USFS & Duane Warkentin (our contractor) on 4/29/14.  Jennifer marked all the trees we are concerned about and we must take them all out this year but can't do it during summer.  She also asked to make it all happen in one day.  Duane will try to get the tree service to come this month.  The double pine looks even worse this spring than last fall.  We can no longer recommend waiting another year or two to remove it.

Update 04/09/2014

Duane will meet with Jennifer White on 4/29/14 to finalize the permitting process to take out these trees.  Once she designates a hazard tree, we must remove it that year. We will not be allowed to close the road at all and we must get rid of all slash and downed wood.  

The tree service charges $1500/tree - so we'd owe $3000 -$4500 depending on how they count the double.  The tree service is from Oakhurst and will only come into the Hume basin when they have enough work lined up.  They do all the work around the church conference and are expecting to be up there in the next 2-3 months.  They are fully insured & they use climbers, cables & full crew.

Duane would take out the dead white fir & the two small cedars and clean up all the slash from all six trees - he thinks it would take him about 2 days (@ $500/day).  We want to try to be there to help with clean-up to keep the cost down.

Total project cost $4000-$6000

We propose to cut down the 4 items (6 trees) labeled in the above photo.

• The new roof makes removing the White Fir @ NE corner #1 priority
• The back stem of the Double Pine is gunning straight for the cabin.  Both stems are weeping copious amounts of sap.  Needle retention is OK so Keith thinks we could get another year or so, but the drought may increase urgency.
• The very dead white fir will be messy to bring down but will be fairly easy once the Double Jeffrey is gone
• The two small cedars are encroaching on the chimney - we could take them out but we might as well get them out of there while we have a crew in place

This would have been a simple project 15-20 years ago.  Grandma mentioned in the seventies that the White Fir by the kitchen should come out before it grew much more.  Due to additional USFS regulations, safety concerns, increased road usage and the sheer size of the trees now, it is a really big job.