Tigercat M760 with FAE mulcher in Skull Valley, Utah

[shabydoll]

when i saw acres of knocked over junipers in the tooele valley as a teenager i couldnt figure out what the hell could have knocked them down and why. you just gave me both answers to a burning curiousity ive had for years

[axeman276]

@shabydoll Chances are that if you saw knocked over trees it was done by a method called "chaining" where they take a anchor chain from a large ship and pull it between two bulldozers. It is still used and is cheaper but causes more soil disturbance and the ugly piles of dead trees.

[kenfo0]

They should be planting elk to stop erosion. Or whales. What they hell are they doing for anyone anyway? Pooping in the ocean? Not on my watch!

[RichmanJ93]

you want me to trim & prune the bushes too? ok !

[boringnameF4]

All that comes after this kind of "work" is useless cheatgrass, which deer and elk can't eat.

[phantomcreamer]

And has a much higher rate of fire cycles which means desolation to the land.

[bowsniperAZ]

Bullshit! The BLM could care less for the deer and elk! This is done specifically to produce forage for public land welfare cows!

[lettermen15]

we do it better in the south its called fire

[adamdm87]

axeman276

Thanks for letting me know. I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

What other aspects are there to the restoration management plan, besides just cutting back the junipers?

[adamdm87]

Not to sound like an antagonistic hippy ...

But why are these junipers being trimmed en masse with such a huge fucking machine?

Just curious.

[axeman276]

We were hired by the Utah BLM to remove these trees for fire danger and to encourge the return of native plants and grasses that have to compete for water so that it will improve the food sources for the mule deer and elk in the area. Historically the junipers grew closer to the foothills of the mountains and over the years they have spread down into the sage flats. Our job is to push them back to restore the original sage openings.

[MaabudZ]

And just exactly how is the return of native plants and grasses encouraged? There are some photos of areas stripped bare by such machines just left barren. I suppose it's great ATV terrain.

[phantomcreamer]

This is another handout to the ranchers. It shows they care nothing about sustainability or the environment.

[phantomcreamer]

But the cheatgrass grows way faster then the natural plants do, so without the seeding of the area then nothing will grow except for the cheatgrass. By the way cheat grass is a serious problem because after a fire it grows and burns a lot sooner so the local vegitation can't compete and more fires happen every year.

[axeman276]

Most of the jobs we have been doing of this type in the last couple of years, the BLM has been broadcast seeding the job before we mulch it. That way the mulch holds the seed in place and helps hold the moisture also which helps the seed take hold. It's true that a lot of this ground is grazed but some of the jobs we've done during the winter we loaded with deer hanging out in units that had been treated in previous years.

[kenfo0]

@axeman276 that is an awesome use of tax dollars! "i don't like the kind of plant that is thriving. Instead, let's pretend we are God and spend a gazillion dollars to chop down the genetically preferred plant so we can put back what was naturally out-competed!". Yeah. That's a battle that's going to be won.

[mathiastheok]

Does it come with the attachment that lets you chase Greenpeace idiots around your property?

[phantomcreamer]

Greenpeace isn't chasing around my property, or anyone I know or have even seen on TV.  It sounds as if you are a very bad person to have that problem compared to the rest of us.

[steam0001]

Wow. That Tigercat 760 provides a lot of power to the mulcher attachment.

[axeman276]

415 hp 138 gallons per minute hydraulics