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Blazing A Trail In Chain Saw Safety

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By PAUL CATALA, Tribune correspondent

Published: January 19, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 06:44 pm

THONOTOSASSA - A chain saw chewed through the doomed maple while two men held ropes secured to its trunk.

Within five minutes, the towering tree toppled, landing in a 10-foot divide between two longleaf pines - just as planned.

"By making the single cut, you had a positive lean. Your decision to go with a conventional cut was OK," Bill Martin said to the students around him Sunday at Hillsborough River State Park.

Martin, a Florida Trail Association section leader at Myakka River State Park, was one of the three instructors at the Florida Trail Association Chain Saw School session.

Nine students - trail association members and land-use managers - learned how to avoid accidents when using a chain saw while getting the maximum benefit from the tool's capabilities.

The sessions are held four to six times each year at parks across the state.

Deb Blick, Florida Trail Association resource coordinator, said the clinics' benefits are twofold: Attendees learn proper chain saw use and become certified by the U.S. Forest Service to use one, and the host park gets a few chores finished at no cost. More than 200 forest workers have become certified through the school since it began in 2004.

Blick, who's based in Gainesville, said the school is required for those who need to use a chain saw in Florida forests.

"Generally, only about 5 percent of trail work involves chain saws, but, of course, after a hurricane or fire, it can be up to 90 percent of the work," she said.

On the first day of the school, Jan. 12, attendees spent time in a meeting room, learning how to take apart, clean, fuel and start a chain saw. They also learned safety techniques and studied some of the invasive or overgrown trees that needed to be cut down.

Sunday, the students went into the field, where they spent the day felling trees, cutting off limbs and "bucking" the trunks by cutting them into small pieces.

After his saw came to a stop and he examined his work, Steve Nemeth, a 30-year member of the trail association's Highlander chapter in Clermont, said he was glad to have made it to Chain Saw School and become certified.

"A lot of the members in our chapter are getting older and can't use chain saws. I wanted to help out by doing some heavy work with the chain saws," he said. "I learned a lot about safety here. I'm the typical homeowner. I was doing a lot of things wrong when cutting my own trees."

By the time the field portion of the school finished, Blick and Ronald Traylor, a U.S. Forest Service lead chain saw instructor, said the class had taken out at least 20 trees. Traylor said he hoped the newly certified students would soon put their skills to use.

"This is a reforestation area, and we need to eliminate the hardwoods encroaching on the pines," he said. "The only way you're going to be successful is to come here and cut those trees down. It's all for the park's benefit."

The Florida Trail Association and state park system pay costs and provide a campsite for students. Classes are available to the general public on a space-available basis, Blick said. The next school will be held April 19 and 20 at Myakka River State Park, which is near Sarasota.

For details, call Blick at (352) 378-8823.

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