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• Storm Damaged Trees
• Emergency Tree Removal
• Broken Branches
• Urgent Tree Care
• Tree Specialists

As per our last response to the July 2011 draft, Graeme McMahon’s feedback is available below.

September 2011 Tree Trimming Draft Code of Practice

Graeme McMahon’s response to the September Draft

During the early 1990′s, Graeme McMahon monitored the heart rates of climbers using various canopy access systems.
In comparing spurs, prussic, frog and yosemite, he found the single rope technique (SRT) systems were an efficient method of access.
This had been long known within the caving, rock climbing and other rope access industries.

The video was part of a presentation to Arboricultural Association of Australia (AAA), included was Graemes research.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be making a post on our website with the charts, tables and documentation as pdfs.

Tape was used in the systems, as part of the research was to compare the efficiency gains/losses of shortening and lengthening these. Modern systems are tailor made to the right length to reduce bulk.

The small trees we felled in Cockatoo were just the right size to fit into the backyard. When falling trees it is really important to understand where they are leaning, and how the tree will behave as it departs the stump.

On many of the trees I fell today, I used rope and tackle to ensure that in the event of a mistake, or failure in the hinge, the tree would still fall in the intended direction. Ensuring that good distance is made from the tree by the use of escape routes is essential. Cockatoo, like Emerald, Avonsleigh, Clematis, Belgrave and other towns in Cardinia Shire – has a vast mix of tree species. Sometimes the tree can be felled, other times the tree must be climbed and lopped.

The tree uprooted and fell downhill through a neighbours roof. There was over 15ton in the trunk alone, and access to the property was particularly tricky given the steepness of the terrain, the season and the sheer volume of tree to be cleaned up.

The tree had fallen heavily onto the Belgrave neighbours roof.

The first task was to stabilise the tree to prevent further damage from being done. We used 3/4″ Steel cable to prevent the tree from moving further. This was pre tensioned with a tree winch or tirfor.

Using the cable, we pulled the stump back into its hole

Tree removal in Belgrave can be tricky given the terrain and sheer size of many of the trees that have grown at the base of the Dandenong Ranges. We used our trees jacks to take the weight of the tree off the house.

A rope access system was installed to ensure work could commence as safely as possible. We then removed any tree branches not touching the roof. Jacked the tree up some more, giving us some more clearance. Removed larger branches, working our way back to the gutter. Once we were clear of the roof, we could easily use the excavator to lift heavy wood sections that were sitting in free space, and load them to go off-site.

We pulled the stump back into the hole (after clearing the stump hole of mud!), and used a stump grinder to get rid of it.

• Stabilise The Tree to Prevent Further Damage
• Reduce the weight of the tree on the structure
• Remove branches and chip them into mulch
• Remove Tree Wood from the Belgrave site
• Return stump to its hole
• Grind the stump out

I’ve uploaded some photos of the Belgrave Tree Removal, by the time we had removed many cubic meters of wood from the site the photos became less frequent, but you’ll get the idea.

A draft code of practice has been presented for comment on the topic of “Managing Risks in Tree Trimming and Arboricultural Work“.

The majority of the practical tree industry is notoriously shy to submit any kind of comment on these issues, yet, is often willing to complain after a guidance material, codes and acts have been put in place.

If there are items you find objectionable, now is the time to submit your feedback to the process. Time is fast running out.

Our response to the draft is freely available for people to consider.

When we work close to the edge of roofs, or the pitch is too great to work safely on we use rope access systems to keep us safe.

We used our heavy lift tree jacks to lift the tree from the roof, allowing us to handle the tree under control.

The tree had tipped out of the ground after some very heavy rain, landing on the roof of the house. We stabilise the stem so it can’t slide any further then take the weight off the roof.

All the branches were then chipped and the mulch taken away.

Anyone that knows The Patch area knows how steep the ground is, we have special techniques for sectioning the tree down so that blocks don’t go flying off down hill into houses and property. Sometimes this includes the use of ropes, other times barriers and catch-rigging.

The recent spate of jobs in the Dandenong Ranges has left us with some ugly examples of tree failure.

If you have concerns about a trees declining health, seek independent opinions that are not driven by a desire to maintain the tree, remove the tree or do nothing.

As a company the specialise if tree removal and tree care, we often decline opportunity to assess tree health. It is a conflict of interest, because in most cases work will need to be done.

Carefully consider where the opinion is coming from when you seek advice on your tree. Some species of trees decay very quickly, and after 12 months of rotting the decay may become so bad the removal is dangerous and expensive. The costs of dealing with these kinds of trees in the long term are rarely considered by those promoting habitat retention.

If you need:

• Emerald Tree Removal
• Emerald Tree Pruning
• Emerald Tree Lopping
• Emerald Tree Care
• Emerald Tree Service

Give us a call on our tree removal hotline, and we would love to help you out!

Angus and Graeme work together to remove a large blackwood over the top of a carport in Emerald.

If you are thinking about getting a tree cut down at your property, the cost of the job is affected by the complexity of the tree. If the tree has been dead for a long time, climbing the tree can be slow due to the increase risk. If you have a large enough driveway, a suitably sized travel tower can be used to help expedite the process. Contrary to common belief, when this is possible, the cost of the removal can be lower. This may give you the customer additional budget to have things like chipping done.

The exception to this is when companies are only interested in doing a particular type of work i.e. tree climbing OR travel tower removal. As a customer, it is hard to discern the difference but this is why it is worth exploring the companies expertise in your particular job. The size of the tree being removed or pruned, is NOT always proportional to the price!

Sherbrooke Tree Service has expertise in both tree climbing and travel tower removals. We take pride in applying the right tree removal technique, to the right job.

• The first tree was a tall, vertical and very dead tree. To remove we set the cherry picker up, and blocked the tree down, from top to bottom.
• The second dead tree was tall, with a multi-stem leaning over the absorption trench.
• Using ropes and tree cutting techniques, we removed the tree to ground level without damage to garden or absorption area.
• The tree was so dead that climbing would have led to catastrophic failure, using a travel tower was a cheap and safe option
• The third dead tree was hanging over a carpark. It was a wide spreading, heavy leaning tree.
• Climbing was possible, but suitable high points were scarce and progress through the tree’s canopy would have been slow.
• Cutting the tree down with the tower allowed us to drop blocks into a safe zone quickly
• After removing the three trees from the house in Cockatoo, we moved up the road to remove another two large trees.
• The size of the trees meant climbing would be slow
• Since we had a large driveway to use, setting up the travel tower was ideal
• We striped the branches and limbs from the tree, and returned later for the trunk

Graeme will be heading up to World Arbor Camp tomorrow to do some additional talks.

Trivect Presentation Slides

Trivect Software

The program hasn’t been updated since I wrote it, normally before this kind of thing would be shared it would go through fairly vigorous bug testing.

If I get some time to neaten it up I will fix some of the major bugs. I will point out some major things to consider:

• Don’t use angles outside of -90 and 90 degrees. Apart from being completely pointless, in a practical sense it would be dangerous. One day I’ll write some restrictions that stop those kind of numbers being entered
• Have a good think about what the program is telling you to do.
• Is it realistic?
• Will my high points handle that kind of load?
• Are those vertical components what I would expect?

Apart from that, the formula, presentation, source code and software are provided under a create commons licence. To find out what that means visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/deed.en

2011 ITCC Masters Results:

Womens Masters
1. Chrissy Spence, New Zealand: 155.67 points
2. Jessica Knott, Australia: 144.8 points
3. Kiah Martin, Australia: 90.67 points

Mens Masters
1. Scott Forrest, New Zealand: 237.67 points
2. Joe Harris, Australia: 237.00 points
3. Jonathan Turnbull, UK-Ireland: 235.67 points
4. Johann Gustavsson, Sweden: 235.67 points
5. Jared Abrogena, Western Chapter USA: 210 points

Joe steps into the Masters.

Looking forward to posting a heap of new videos after the conference!

• Monbulk
• Silvan
• Montrose
• Wandin
• Kalorama

We couldn’t tell what exactly was holding the tree up – obviously it was branches, but by themselves they were not really strong enough to hold the tree in place.

The main priority on these kinds of jobs is getting the tree stabilised so it can fall no further. During the main storm damaged tree season, this can be difficult to achieve; it is darker sooner, often wet or rainy making everything heavier and more slippery to handle. In this particular case we had two strong high points, reasonably close to the tree that was tipping out of the ground. We also had enough daylight left to make the job not require extra lighting. There are some photos of the tree being rigged up and stabilised.

If you need help with trees that cannot be done by emergency tree services such as CFA or SES, we have the equipment and expertise to stabilise the tree.

• Storm Damaged Trees
• Emergency Tree Service
• Confined Space Removals
• Complex Tree Rigging
• Stabilisation and Sectional Dismantling

If you need a quote for your trees call 03 5968 8041 or 0428 383 677.

This tree was large enough to cause considerable damage to the fence line and surrounding garden. After chipping the branches and cut the tree into firewood and left the firewood and mulch for the home owner.

These kinds of tree removals are not unusual at this time of year, as trees tip out of the ground due to prolonged wind and rain. If you need your tree removed call us!

• Immediate Asset or Life threatening trees
• Blocked roads, driveways
• Hung up trees
• Tree moving in the ground
• Tree Cleanup

We have a ready supply of rigging equipment to make safe trees that are immediate hazards to life and property. We have a rubber tracked excavator with a log grab for clearing roads and handling fallen trees.

Emergency Storm Damage Tree work is our bag. We have access to a huge variety of rigging and stabilisation equipment to make storm damaged trees safe.

Sherbrooke Tree Service is turned to by contractors nationally for dangerous trees, storm damage and emergency works.

What makes us different?

We are a light weight, highly experienced organisation that has built a business around complex tree removal for over 35 years.
Our equipment surpasses many of the large tree organisation and the experience housed in our small crew is incomparable with most tree practitioners.

When a storm hits, our company is the goto for fast, safe response.

Trees on homes, caught up in other trees, splitting and tipping out of the ground are all part of what we do. We have access to heavy cables used in skyline operations that can lift whole trees, helicopters, tree jacks, slings and 50+ ton lifting pulleys. In extremely hazardous situations, we use explosives to remove or reduce the hazard to a manageable level.

What will it cost?

Cost varies significantly from job to job. Sometimes we cannot safely complete the job in the weather conditions, we decide this on each job. Often we can stabilise the job and make safe for completion in better weather and daylight.

We provides quotes prior to commencing any work, and can discuss with you the options available.