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Dead cedar wrangling
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that Seth and I made a start at cutting away the two cedars that had fallen into the lake after the big ice storm last winter. What you see above is the larger of the two. This one was actually a twin-trunked tree. Each trunk fell in the opposite direction: one into the water and one of equal length up the hillside. That meant that when we took our hikes along the lake shore, we had to divert up the hill at this point just to get around the mess. (That also explains why you don’t see any branches on the top half of this tree. That was the part growing next to the other trunk.)
Our plan was to cut enuf of the lakeside tree away so that at the very least we could walk along the shore here. The rest of our plan was to cut away at the tree and lighten it so that we could eventually haul it up out of the lake.
Trees hanging like this in a lake are supposed to be ideal for fish habitat, and that might be true in deeper water, but I don’t think a number of fish venture into this shallower end of the lake, nor should they. This is among the first areas to go dry. All that I could see this cedar doing was allowing debris to build up, making this spot even shallower.
So we began cutting. First Seth cut away branches, which I dragged up the hill into the forest. Then, when he got enuf branches out of the way, he began taking lengths off the trunk itself. Did I mention it was hot? For some reason, this was exhausting work, but we kept at it with sufficient breaks and bottles of water.
He cut until he couldn’t reach any further out over the water with the chainsaw. I realize it doesn’t look like much, but what you see below is the progress we made.
What remains of the cedar is far too heavy for us to drag out of the water. It’s also water logged on the bottom and even embedded a bit in the mud. But you can see that we did clear the shoreline, and despite the vibrant growth of the spring, we can blaze a new trail through there now.
Seth says removing the rest of the tree will be no problem. In another month or so the lake will have receded from here and we’ll be able to walk all the way out to the tip of the tree. I’ve noted recently that there are a lot of things growing in the lake that I will want to clear out when the water recedes.
So much to do. So few trips to the woods.
Missouri calendar:
- American toad tadpoles metamorphose into toadlets, leave water.
- St. Louisan Ed Furgol won the U.S. Open Golf Tournament on this date in 1954. His handicap was unique. His left arm was ten inches shorter than his right arm and his left elbow was fused due to an accident in his youth.
- Actress Kathleen Turner is born in Springfield, Missouri in 1954.