Oregon’s post-fire logging is taking trees that may never be hazards, experts say
Today 7:00 AM
Rick Till, a certified arborist from Portland, examining some of the trees cut down in Gates as part of the state s post-wildfire hazard tree removal program.
Facebook Share
Tree No. 252256 is a 95-foot Douglas Fir that stands south of Oregon 22 east of Mehama, one of dozens of trees in this patch of the Santiam Canyon that has been tagged to be cut as part of the state’s troubled hazard tree removal program.
The massive undertaking is slowly creeping westward, leaving swaths of denuded highway and private properties in its wake.
As the hazardous tree-removal program overseen by the Oregon Department of Transportation goes into high gear after last fall’s devastating wildfires, many of Oregon’s most scenic and beloved areas are being transformed into post-apocalyptic stretches of roadside clearcuts, gargantuan log piles and slash.