Big trees get big problems. Part of our job is to tend to these problems before they become dangerous. Many of these problems are somewhat easy to identify. A deteriorating ponderosa pine with browning foliage it difficult to ignore if it is tall enough to be seen above the rest of the forest more than a mile away.
There are a few problems that are not so easy to identify. Some are caused by the weather, without prior warning. Others are hidden in the forests. One might think that those in the forests would not concern us. However, our landscape and facilities are so intricately mixed with the forests.
The shiner in the picture above was where a big broken limb needed to be cut from a big fir tree. It may not look big in the picture, but the limb was probably more than nine inches wide, and long enough to weigh a few hundred pounds. The lower right edge of the shiner is frayed because the limb broke right at the trunk, and was hanging vertically against the trunk.
The yellow arrow in the picture below indicates where the shiner is located. The trunk of the tree is not as tapered as it seems to be in the picture. It only looks like this because it is so tall that the the upper portion is very far from the camera! Although this fir is a wild forest tree, it is only a few feet from the cabin below. The broken limb was dangling directly over the roof!
There was no way to predict that this limb would break. It did not seem to be any more structurally deficient than those that remain. Of course, once broken, it was removed faster than I could get a picture of it.
Tony Tomeo 
And I have learned something more. I always thought the name Ponderosa was a ranch where the Cartwright family lived and did not realise it was a tree sort – stupid Brit.
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That is not stupid. The Cartwrights’ Ranch between Lake Tahoe and Carson City in Nevada was the Ponderosa. (According to the map, it was a huge area by modern standards.) The ‘set’ for it used to be a tourist attraction. The Ponderosa was named for the ponderosa pine, which is one of the most common pines of western North America. In the show, the tree trunks on the set were either real trunks of ponderosa pine, or made from bark from such trunks. The upper summer camp here is names Ponderosa Lodge. I work with the pines regularly. It is odd to have such a nice grove off ponderosa pines (which like warm and dry situations) so close to the redwood forest. They are adjacent to each other, and mingle on the edges.
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I hope that tree knew not to fall on the cabin!
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It hung onto that limb until a crew removed it. The trees are remarkably protective of the infrastructure.
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That is remarkable — and it speaks to the fact that they must communicate as you have discussed!
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Reblogged this on Tony Tomeo and commented:
This old article reminds me that our work here is never done.
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