July Drop – Your safety!

[Jaeger]

Aye Up All,

An interesting point was recently indirectly identified by a member in another post which I suggest warrants its own titled thread so as to reach as many people as possible, so here it is.

I’ve entitled it ‘July Drop’ as it was that term, used by a forester, which first highlighted the issue of overhead safety in woodland to me many decades ago but I suspect that tag might now be out of date.
Coincidentally, I recently raised the issue in a p.m. to another member who had informed me that they were about to head into the great outdoors to try out a new (equipment) shelter configuration.

July-drop was described to me as the occurrence of trees literally dropping their branches (often heavy boughs!) when they could no longer draw up enough water from the ground to satisfy their needs. This might occur during a particularly dry summer season (remember those - summer and dry periods?) although I assume that it could also occur when other reasons might limit the water take up of a tree (diverted/dammed streams?)

I often spend several days a week out and about in the countryside and specifically in woodland and I’ve experienced deadfall throughout the year not just in summer

The upshot of the info from the forester was, that if I can, I will most often basher-up in less ‘threatening’ woodland – birch for example. If not, I have always taken extra care to check for potential nearby overhead hazards - are there any dead-standing trees nearby? Any already broken/hanging sections? Are there any already leaning trees? Are there any dead-standing trees nearby?

In some of the woodland that I frequent this is a regular occurrence. I walk out to about 30 metres from an intended basher site (defo in the direction of the prevailing wind but also around the general area too) and have a good look, not just up into the branches but also down at the root area – to see if there any signs of early uprooting taking place.
I then adjust my site accordingly.

If I can’t avoid setting up in ‘heavy’ woodland, as well as the above I will also string a couple of diagonal lines of 5mm cordage high above my shelter in the hope of at least deflecting any errant falling branches, especially if there are high winds forecast.

In recent years the exceptional amount of rainfall, saturated ground and periodical high winds seems to have accelerated the incidence of the blowing over of shallow rooted conifers and the snapping off of the tops of the older deciduous trees.
On the day that I took the posted phots I discovered several instances of both in a piece of woodland which I had set up a basher for a brew-stop only days before!

 

[Goatboy]

Hi Jagger,

Back when I was still in forestry it was called Beech Summer Branch Drop (SBD). There's a few papers and ideas as to why it happens but it is worthwhile bringing it to light. often as beech suppresses vegetation underneath it folks are wont to camp under them as it's nice and clear. So saying it's pretty rare (though it generally seems to happen between 2pm & 4pm on a summers day.)

Fortunately for me it usually wasn't a danger but a chance to add to the woodpile at home after clearing up the debris.

 

[Jaeger]

Aaah yes Goatboy, I recall a ref to you having been in forestry in one of your previous posts,

Was that 2pm/4pm comment for real or a blag?!

If for real - how strange - I wonder how that phenomena occurs - a point around the hottest part of the day/thirsty tree perhaps?

Notably, the woodsmen who I these days often rub shoulders with (Wait 'til I drop 'SBD' on them, thanks for that! ) have stated that it's been a long time since there have been 'drops' that they would attribute to 'July Drop'. (Evidence that those of us old enough to have experienced those loooong hot British summers weren't imagining it?)
It's usually high winds that break the tree limbs off and eroded soil around the tree roots that weaken their hold.

 

[Goatboy]

The 2pm to 4pm thing is supposedly true. Coupled with the time of year and weather conditions it tends to occur in I'd personally put it down to some sort of lack of structure due to turgor pressure failure.
A couple of large beech fell apart up here last summer right next to the main dual carriageway. Think the most spectacular thing I've seen (and heard) tree wise was when lightning struck a Western Red Cedar about three miles from my house. We heard the bang all that distance away. The tree exploded due to the water contained instantly boiling and blowing it apart. It was a big tree and ended up being spread over a large area. Have some pictures of it somewhere before I had to clear it up. (I saved some of the bigger bits and turned them as I had a lathe back then.) Brilliant stuff to turn, the bits that you turned off of it came off in huge long ribbons. They would shoot out of my shed door in a long streamer.

 

[Jaeger]

Bl%**y 'ell Goatboy - TPF!

Don't give me any more technical terms 'cos I won't be able to resist using them on the lads and when they come back at me I'll look a ........

What happened to that Western Red Cedar sounds spectacular (poor tree!) but at least you 'turned' a negative into positive!

That's it I'm off, I've reached daft humour level.

 

[John Fenna]

I was paranoid about trees in the wind before - now I should be paranoid all the time?
I just went up my "Small Woods" again ... at least three more trees down - but well away from the communal area thank goodness

 

[Jaeger]

Naaah John - not paranoid - just mindful and careful.

I've been practising what I've preached in the OP (mostly) for years but never even had a naturally occurring bough drop or tree fall near miss. I have been in woodland on the move when they have occurred in the vicinity though on several occasions and they do seem to be getting more frequent. Larch in particular seem to be 'throwing' almost arm thick branches down (from height!) and uprooting quite frequently. Is it becoming more prevalent?

I did a test at one point on the overhead cordage idea with an already fallen tree top. It took two of us to pulley it up to almost the original height and the cordage did deflect it from the shelter.

With the recent pattern of weather that has been hitting the UK and that still forecast to come I think that it is worth bearing in mind as a part of pre camp set-up.

Glad your communal area was intact!

 

[Goatboy]

Will say that though it's not a good idea to be there, that I've been working the woods when storms hit and start knocking them down like dominos. Best to head home at that point, but the explosive crack of rending timber and tortured groan on falling trunks does get the juices going.
Also the pressures that are in downed timber are immense. Always best to either put machines in or wait a year or two till the pressure dissipates but have seen blokes and chainsaws flying through the air when they get it wrong in new blow that has to be cleared. Very dangerous stuff. Always worry when the home chainsaw user tackles blown timber on their land. Even very skilled operators get taken by surprise as the forces can be acting in multiple directions.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Jaeger]

Aye Up Goatboy,

I realise that cutting down windblown trees with a chainsaw is a bit off the original OP but then again if cutting takes place in relation to a camp site clearance (and even with a hand powered saw) it could still be very relevant.

It brings to mind a partially downed, fairly young larch (only about 10 inches in diameter) that I once decided to 'dispatch' with a forerunner to the Bahco - I was fortunate that it was only my elbow that it hit! So you are right - stresses to be taken into consideration.

 

[wicca]

Timely that this subject should be brought up now. I spent 5 nights in the wood just last week, a period (in the South) of warm settled weather and on the night in question not a breath of wind. About 03.00 hrs I was awoken by a creaking sound which quickly became a splintering crash. As always when something like that happens the sound appeared to be very close but the next morning after a brief hunt I found this big, apparently healthy Fir which had broken off about 15 feet above ground level.



In my wood the chalk soil is shallow and falling trees are not uncommon during windy or prolonged wet weather, but under such settled conditions the 03.00 wake up call was a bit startling...

 

[OldJimbo]

I started trail clearing after seeing how people were trying to deal with leaning trees with a chainsaw.

The problem here is that narrow strips of trees are left after clear-cutting either following a coastline or valley. And people trails go through those strips as do animal trails. Along the coastline especially, dead trees can become very brittle, and so clearing is exceptionally hazardous. Having survived my first trees I became paranoid to the extent that I believe I can suss out just how a tree is set up to kill me and I've seen what happens when a big sharp spear falls on a person, when even a small tree breaks. Anyway I wouldn't camp in that stuff.

Some of my sister's friends were having lunch under the shade of a maple in Ontario when the tree suddenly split and half of it fell on them. And that was in a peaceful summer garden with no wind. My sister had a similar tree behind her house - rot in the middle and on branches and all. The concept was that since I visited in winter, I'd borrow some tools and bring it down. The problem was that I'd never seen anything so scary even in my extensive experience with really dangerous stuff. And it was too close to the house with a likelihood of part falling on the house. The only solution was to trim carefully with pole chainsaws prior to putting on tension with ropes and tractors before dropping. Luckily it exploded naturally that winter after pole chainsaw treatment but before requiring tractor etc., luckily with minimal damage to the house.

The point of this little story is that most people will think me stupid (and insane) for clearing trails of leaning trees. And that's probably so. But in doing so I learned to really trust my instincts and knowledge about how a tree could kill me. My sister being older than me would have had friends (or worse their kids) trying to cut down that tree the next summer and that would not have gone well. I can not imagine a better set lethal booby trap than that maple sitting in a well trimmed lawn - and it looked so innocent to the un-initiated being a standing growing tree. the simple problem was that cutting too much of a branch at once would have caused swaying then cracking then one side would recoiled and the weakened branches would have been thrown. I wore a path in the snow around that tree studying it and finding no weakness in the lethality, given its proximity to the house. The problem is while I am certified and hold a ticket in explosives, you can't just walk down to the local explosives store and get a few meters of 800g primacord and a few detonators. They don't sell in low quantity just as well if you try getting half a big mac.. But I was thinking in terms of low velocity stuff like home made tannerite which is legal here even for teenagers. Before we all freak, drilling holes in branches for placing charges would have be immediately lethal, too and yes I know all about the dispersal of huge tree shards from detonating low velocity charges in trees.

If the damned thing hadn't fallen when it did I'd have been back with a tractor - or a bulldozer if that's what it would have took. And we'd have taken that tree safely. And I wouldn't have cared about the damage to the perfect lawn or well anything else for that matter. I work on the notion that if there are no people/pet casualties then there is no problem. But yes out here in the wilderness if I come across an insoluble leaning tree on tree on tree on tree issue. You bet grandpa is mixing up the medicine rather than trusting to the force of his vintage Gransfors. There is this rule about having to be breathing to collect my retirement pension and spoil my great grand-kids.

 

[Goatboy]

Back when I was still training in chainsaw technique we were doing a course on large edge trees and hung up trees. At lunch on the first day the instructor was hammering home that we should never leave a dangerous tree hanging up. He also wanted us at the end of the day to deliberately hang up the hairiest tree we could find as he'd brought along a new winch to trial. It was a Polish copy of the old trusty Turner winch.
So just before lousing time we chose a real doozy of a tree and hung it up in the fork of another tree. The instructor came along with his bony new winch and unveiled the captive wire cable. At which point he discovered a kinks in the cable which ment that it wouldn't feed through the winch. It was getting late and he hummed and hawed and said that he'd bring another winch tomorrow. Of course being standing young forests we quoted back to him the rules about leaving hung trees overnight. Hoisted by his own petard he had to struggle with the massive hairy tree using the de-barked log-rail in the notch technique to get it on the ground.
OldJimbo, aye standing dead timber can be interesting, specially near a house (as many YouTube videos seem to attest). Folk don't seem to realise how much damage even a relatively small tree Will do to a house. It's a skilled job, and a dangerous one. We weren't really allowed to use explosives much over here. Only time we got to play with them were during some big forest fires when we were blowing fire breaks in the tree line.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[OldJimbo]

$hit always happens.

And when it happens you must always be prepared to go in and clean up your stuff. If with explosives great. If not then you go in and do it the hard way.

I always figure on having to do things the hard way, because it's not the exception.

 

[Goatboy]

I think one of the most exciting days I ever spent was fire fighting a huge forest blaze.
It was raging away and three of us drove into the flames in an old bulldozer, laden with petrol, chainsaws and explosives. Not a mix condusive to safety in inferno like heat. We were clearing firebreaks to try and stop the fire spreading. Maybe not as exciting as the tales of the American "Fire Jumpers" who purportedly parachute into fires with a chainsaw and an axe (though they'd call it an "ax") as well as a fire blanket to hide under so that if trapped they lie beneath it and wait 'till it passes over them.
But an afternoon of trundleing around in an ancient bulldozer with a pyrotechnique cake recipe was exhilarating to say the least. I'm just glad the health & safety officer wasn't around that day.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Tony]

Good thread

 

[hughlle1]

An interesting read. I was watching a Ray Mears vid the other day where he briefly discussed the importance of location of your pitch, and highlighted a tree who's name i forget, that is very prone to dropping large branches. This thread goes a bit beyond that though. It really highlights the importance of understanding trees, and not simply being able to identify one over another.