Job Corps cuts Camp Baker trees for safety, accessibility

[RememberSchiff]

The teenager had been sawing off “widowmakers” for the past half hour — long branches periodically falling to the forest floor of Camp Baker (Oregon). He had just cut off a long one. However, instead of falling to the ground, the branch got caught in the lower tree limbs....

Bell is with the Yachats-based Angell Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, which is working to clear an area so an ADA-accessible camp can be built at Camp Baker, considered one of the nation’s premier Boy Scouts of America camps.

Job Corps is the nation’s largest free education and job training program for young adults from ages 16 to 24. 

While Angell works with a variety of trades, the group at Camp Baker are in the forestry program, which takes them to different sites around the region to learn in the field. Here, they’re taking out dying trees, cutting down dangerous branches from the living ones and making the place safe for Scouts.

“Absolutely it’s dangerous,” Crunkilton said. “Once in a while they’ll get cuts and scrapes, but nothing major. The main purpose of the program, the main priority, is always safety. We’re teaching them the right way. It’s one of the most dangerous fields out there. Learning how to do it the right way is really important. We teach them all of our industry safety standards. If they’re running a chainsaw up in the tree, they always have two separate tie ins. In the event they cut one, it’s still there. There are always two hands on the saw. Wrap your thumbs.”

Very interesting read at source:

https://thesiuslawnews.com/article/top-of-their-field

Edited January 19, 2019 by RememberSchiff