Clearing the Way
Bruce Baker Falls Danger Trees Head On
By Julie Horner
Here’s to the unsung timber fallers who just go home after the day’s work. “They eat good, sleep good, get up in the morning, and be an athlete,” says Boulder Creek’s Bruce Baker. “A timber faller doesn’t last forever. They get injured or worse. I’m living a dream in real time.”
Bruce is senior executive among local mountain men, not a winner, he says, but a finisher dedicated to getting the job done. “My whole life I’ve lived and worked in timber.” Baker is a go-to independent timber expert who was called to assist Travis Tree Professionals and other teams to clear burned danger trees from the areas where the San Lorenzo Valley Water District replaced pipe that was damaged in the CZU Lightning Complex fire. “We’re clearing a path for the pipes,” he said, “These trees are 100-200 feet tall. Every tree is evaluated by a forester to determine whether it is compromised.” The trees had to be taken down asap before new pipe could be placed.
Crews mitigated the smaller brush, chipping it, removing all the logs. “You can’t just fall the trees and have the remains become fuel. And these stumps smolder down below, sometimes with no smoke. On SLVWD land there were smokes, and we had to stop everything and use portable water pumps, digging out the coals, and every couple of days they may or may not flare up again.” There are 80,000 acres of burned forest within the containment zone. Crews will continue to look for and put out smokes until the rains.
Replacement high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe was delivered by helicopter on September 8 from downtown Boulder Creek to the SLVWD treatment plant in a dozen drops of bundled 40-foot sections. Crews from Lewis and Tibbitts shaved the ends of each pipe and fusion-welded the sections together using special machinery that heats the pipe ends to 450-500 degrees to bond the sections into the lengths needed to supply neighborhoods with water. More than seven miles of new pipe was moved by tractor into position along areas cleared by Baker and the other crews.
Lightning strikes are of fascination and focus. Baker was up on China Grade when the fires started. The fire crept for days. “There was one out there creeping this way, and one out on that ridge creeping that way. We could go right up to the fire, you could stand this close to it because it was just creeping.” But they didn’t have any resources to put it out. And then the flame height got taller and started leaping over into the brush. “On Tuesday when the humidity dropped, I saw the writing on the wall…game on. Get the hell off this mountain and get out as fast as you can.”
“This fire is something we started with Smokey Bear. It’s a feel-good thing to save a tree or a banana slug.” He says the forest is ripe for fire no matter where you put the blame for starting it. “This is the new California. Many of us knew this would happen in my lifetime, we knew it was going to happen at some time. The forest is supposed to burn every once in a while.”
And the rest is ready for another round. “State Parks properties are choked out with suppressed trees. Cutting and thinning is better than doing nothing at all.”
“We have another winter coming. The sediment is going to blow people out. We’re regrouping our strategy for being able to get off this mountain.” He says Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department is looking for responsible people with top skills to be ready for that eventuality.
Back atop China Grade on September 29 looking westward across the Waddell drainage there are several smokes contributing to an early morning haze across a vast palette of sepia tones. An unusual wind shivers through the skeletons of Knobcone pine, Douglas fir, and the blackened bones of manzanita forests twisted in askance. A distant tongue of flame unfurls serpent-like but there is no smoke to support the sighting; binoculars reveal no evidence.
The San Lorenzo Valley Post is your essential guide to life in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We're dedicated to delivering the latest news, events, and stories that matter to our community. From local government to schools, from environmental issues to the arts, we're committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased coverage. We believe in the power of community journalism and strive to be a platform for diverse voices.
