A couple of weeks back I finally did something I have wanted to do for some time, get my US Forest Service (USFS) Chainsaw Certification. I did this by being on the Governing Board of The Clinch Coalition (TCC) in Southwest Virginia. It is a two-day course with the first being classroom and the second in the field using a chainsaw. The classroom portion took place at the office of the Clinch Ranger District of the Jefferson National Forest in Norton, VA. The class was taught by Chuck Lane of the USFS. While I'm not a novice the class itself was mostly people with a lot more experience than myself. While long it was a good class and I learned a lot. I also got to try a new pizza place in Norton, Doughmakers.
Anyway, the main event was day two, and getting my hands on a chainsaw. We met in Norton and I rode with one of our evaluators over near Little Stony Falls between Coburn and Dungangon. It was an area burned in a forest fire so it had plenty of cuttable trees. When we got there they had to cut one of the trees out of the road. Once at the test site, we had to get ready to put on our PPE (Personal Protection Equipment). This entails chaps, a helmet, ear and eye protection, and gloves. Because I was going to get my chainsaw certification the USFS mandates PPEs. The fact is chainsaws are dangerous and I should have been using PPEs. Well, for today I borrowed most of my PPE from Uncle Sam, except gloves.
Because this was my first time getting certified the highest rating was a Sawyer A. I got evaluated on felling and bucking three trees. I will admit I have bucked plenty (that is cutting a downed tree) but I haven't felled many. While I got off to a rough start with instruction from my evaluator Chris, by the third tree I had it down. It showed because when I got my Sawyer Certification Card it had feller added. Oh, when we got back to Norton the trip wouldn't have been complete if this Wood Booger didn't head to the Woodbooger Grill. A Wood Booger has to eat...
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