Out with Area Engineers

Last week I spent the day with Area Manager Richard Frit, of the Mulchen region.  The day varied with discussions surrounding eucalyptus chip processing to rock pit possibilities.  The group included the area engineer, road manager, contract operations boss, feller buncher operator, transportaion manager, and a few others with additional perspectives in the operations. 

Native forest and
plantation soft boundary,
observed for remediation

First order of discussion included harvest area boundaries and landing locations.  The main concern was that native trees were included in the boundary.  However part of the objective for harvest units adjacent to native forest reserves is to remove the exotic species.  A small portion of native forests can be cut but may be made up in community projects or restoration mediation.  Additionally, the landing locations was revised based on native forest densities and slope. The majority of the harvest plans are created based on LiDAR and images in the officer prior to on the ground verification.  Furthermore, the feller buncher operator pointed out locations were a cable winching system was needed because of the slope changes.  Several hectares of prime eucalyptus was barely out of reach and needs to be recovered prior to reforestation.  They were tricky spots adjacent to native forests, public road, and slope changes.  The group was able to identify a plan of action for the additional transport and cable harvesting systems needed to complete the harvest areas.

We also got to take a look at the eucalyptus harvesting system.  On relatively flat terrain a feller buncher and grapple skidder were bringing in eucalyptus to the landing for chipping.  The chipper or astillador processed the entire logs directly into the chip truck.  The 30 ton truck is filled with fresh chips in approximately 20 minutes. This product goes to pulp or biomass mills. This particular landing was seeing about 34 trucks per shift, or 60 per day.  The haul is 4 hour on mostly dirt and gravel roads where speed is limited in the community adjacency zones.

Roads foreman observing rock pit opportunities

15 year old Eucalyptus trees

Landslides Ahead!

This landslide overflowed onto a mainline.
It measured about 3/4 hectare or 3 acres.
Yreka Main.

Culvert overflow.
Teeta 500.

Okay so one should know a little bit about what causes landslides. WATER! Well look at that when it rains a whole bunch the soil can become saturated and liquefies and gravity moves it downward!  It is particularly common in areas with steeper slopes, thicker soils, and exposed soil.  While logging can exacerbate landslide frequency proper forest management and road building can help lessen the impacts.   Over the last 100 years logging practices have changed a whole lot.  Heck in the last 20 years they have changed drastically!  So when the land is exposed and saturated the likelihood of landslide occurrences increases.  As land managers we can do our best to mitigate impacts.

Yreka Main road failure. 1of 3 in close proximity.

At Western we abide by a guide of TRMS or Terrain Resource Management Systems.  This guide differentiates high-risk terrain areas and requires professionals to follow a detailed list of measures to alleviate risk.  A geotechnical professional is hired to walk all of the blocks highlighted as potential risk.  They look at the rock formations, soil types, old slides, new/old road placements, steep terrain, streams, and everything in between. The goal is to minimize risk for debris flow especially that would impact fish bearing streams and habitats with high values environmentally and economically.  A combination of reports and thorough interpretations of the landscapes engineers and foresters develop plans to reduce risk and hazards for equipment operations and land movements. 

Matt & I on heli

Randy & I on heli.

Landslides happen but management is key.  For instance, this last October the North Island experienced a heavy rain event.  In fact it was 223 mm or almost 9 inches of rain in 24 hours!  As you can imagine a few landslides occurred. When 100mm of rain in 24 hours happens operations are shut down. The areas that this occurred in experienced enough slides that delayed logging and safe access to many parts of Jeune Landing. 

My place at the bottom of the slides to survey.
Really muddy!

The following week after the rainfall shutdown was lifted I accompanied the area engineer; Chris, forester reporting landslides; Matt, and operations foreman; Randy in an Astar Helicopter to check things out.  Our purpose was to record and summarize the events and damages obstructing equipment and block access.  For two hours we flew taking pictures and points of slide and road damage.  The more we knew the more efficiently we could delegate clean up tasks to the crews.  We recorded well over 50 incidents that either required clean up attention or was greater than ¼ hectare to be reported to the ministry.

The slide went all the way to the ocean!
Yreka Main.

Matt the modern day forester. Heli + Ipad. nbd
Jeune Landing.

Rock truck and hoe before much work was done.
Teeta 500.

Later on I was on site for one such clean up.  A road fill failed a corned on Teeta 500.  The road was likely originally built in the 1930s.  It is used as a mainline to connect the East to the West coasts of the island.  Hauling was occurring prior to the storm and was not safe to afterwards.  An outside engineer used a design to plan out a new fill to best suit the road.  The fill was situated on an 80% slope and required significant rocks to replace and hold up. We did not know how far we’d have to dig to find a bench to lay a new road or if we’d be luck and find bedrock.  The new fill was built up on huge pieces of rock blast out of a nearby bluff. Many truck loads of rock and fill was removed to expose the bench and set the proper road prism.  The project took almost 4 days to complete.  It closed the mainline for at least a week. There was a rock truck, excavator, and rock drill present to assist in the clean up project. 

Survey equipment and Rock drill preping to blast!
Teeta 500.

In addition to assisting with the road repair, I recorded the significant landslides to present to the ministry.  It became my job to measure the areas using pictures and Google Earth.  I had to identify the cause and effect of each incident. The tracking of these occasions are documented for further analysis for a more complete understanding of the geology and landscape reactions to landslides and debris flows.  They are associated with particular storms and can prove how severe the storm was and where it was focused.   

Improvisation at its finest!
The rock drill's boom was bent and the hoe's bucket straightened it out.

Giving the heated metal leverage.
Good thing a welder was around! Ha.