Is there a need for additional safe work practices for work taking place in stands of dead Pine?

UBC Undergraduate Research

Is there a need for additional safe work practices for work taking place in stands of dead Pine? Lewynsky, Martin

Abstract

In the interior of British Columbia forest harvesting is taking place in the 16.3 million hectares of lodgepole pine forest affected by the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosa) (MFML, 2008). In this paper I looked into the types and amount of work with associated hazards that are occurring in these stands. Hazards include whole and partial tree failure both of which can occur in any phase of the harvesting process. I then looked at how applicable the current wildlife/danger tree assessment method in stands comprised mainly of dead lodgepole pine. The assessment method was found to not be practical for use in these stands in its traditional form. I also looked at how hazards in these stands change over time. I found that checking and drying in the wood may be an important factor in partial tree failure. From my findings I came up with a few recommendations for forest companies with employees working in dead pine stands. One is a switch to a stand level risk assessment rather than single tree risk assessment for dead pine stands. Second the creation of a wind cut-off speed specific to stands of dead pine.

Item Metadata

Title	Is there a need for additional safe work practices for work taking place in stands of dead Pine?
Creator	Lewynsky, Martin
Date Issued	2011-04
Description	In the interior of British Columbia forest harvesting is taking place in the 16.3 million hectares of lodgepole pine forest affected by the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosa) (MFML, 2008). In this paper I looked into the types and amount of work with associated hazards that are occurring in these stands. Hazards include whole and partial tree failure both of which can occur in any phase of the harvesting process. I then looked at how applicable the current wildlife/danger tree assessment method in stands comprised mainly of dead lodgepole pine. The assessment method was found to not be practical for use in these stands in its traditional form. I also looked at how hazards in these stands change over time. I found that checking and drying in the wood may be an important factor in partial tree failure. From my findings I came up with a few recommendations for forest companies with employees working in dead pine stands. One is a switch to a stand level risk assessment rather than single tree risk assessment for dead pine stands. Second the creation of a wind cut-off speed specific to stands of dead pine.
Subject	Lodgepole pine; Ponderosa pine; Mountain pine beetle; Danger tree; Blow down; Wind throw; Checking; Saprot; Whole tree failure; Partial tree failure; Hazards; Snag
Genre	Graduating Project
Type	Text
Language	eng
Series	University of British Columbia. FRST 497
Date Available	2016-11-17
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0075521
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/36452
Affiliation	Forestry, Faculty of
Campus	UBCV
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Undergraduate
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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