up
covering over a magnificent forests in the pacific northwest
by helicopter pilot readies compared with one hundred wooden logs
who
on the poorest Dec is a log known as the futon
his job is to hook the timber on long line
hanging from the helicopter him as he licks
the pilot balances shipping locks
his swing in mood gets caught in the forest canopy
disaster will strike
once clear retreat of the pilot flies in three thousand pound load was simple
landings up
men and women known as Chopra Center the ground troops September
runnin in clear and collect the cable line this test
to his parents
longer gets hit by a log it could be
logging is a noble and difficult profession success is measured
in lumber produced and live speakers
it has continued in much the same way from generation to generation timber is
cut
collected am
in the 200 views that there has been a logging industry in North America
the machines methods and safety standards have all
evolved but the Lumberjacks job remains
rule and talk these modern-day lumberjack sheer
in a rich tradition the very first professional lumberjack March
into the great American forest over two centuries ago
it armed with a sharp axe in a bold spirit
the film the first read and created away a polite
the all time augers
when you talk about pioneer spirit they had it along with the wagon train people
came out here to develop this country
they were the first they were their stores
they were once produced the product to allow the country to be built
the Pioneer logger immortalized in figura Paul Bunyan and babe the Blue Ox
range the best American wilderness with cork sole boots
steel spikes in a swift acts the lumberjack cleared the Timberland bring
the landscape
when an axe wasn't enough
he used to walk all the general in literally voice did the tree
up been of the stock on
with the lumberjack blazed the trail civilization quickly fallen
when the summer's first hit the shores America the force was
an obstacle it occupied the sites that they needed for growing
food and so they didn't do the force that the same as we do today
it was a dark place in many areas that they needed to open up for
sunlight so that they could grow crops and was seen as pretty intimidating I
think the most settlers
the first Lumberjacks but the would be built the towns and cities the Northeast
but the 1850s
they had forged a path to the Great Lakes states the lumberjack set up camps
and film be abundant and strong
white pines you have to realize that the first loggers were dealing primarily
with hand tools
and using sometimes very large trees trees at work way
a five times for example
the invented new ways to cook across could solve
replace the act the big wield pulled by horses
help move logs rugged terrain the relatively high wages
ensure a steady supply top Bolden spirited mental ward
for most that the 19th century
and much of the twenty on-the-job fatalities were horrific me hard
100 died every year in the woods
experts estimate that at least the logarithm he would lose his life in the
forest
this grim record as only been significantly reduced
in the last few decades
yes men were killed quite regularly you know what recourse now
you can fell a tree and it kicks back instead of following the way that you
predict it will it'll hang up very very dangerous occupation moving the logs to
the sawmills was also a deadly proposition
and a logistic challenge however
agreed to bloggers turn running waterways in too fast and free highways
ok the first reason build with the biggest and best
mining the pearl river banks windows were gone
specially built from shoot logs down to the water from their logs ran all the
way to a sawmill
downriver
fuel on project took to the water
carrying a PB
basically a stick with local they were signed included frequent logjam
hopping from one slick rolling log to another
they would hunt for the key log blocking the floor timber
the Lumberjacks water rapture they had a lot of different name
form would have to go out there picked the key logger get outta there
release a log so they can't really flows downstream
they might flow 200 George I might float 10 miles
but there were many power
work
if men using PB's good and free the logjam
explosives would be use
we had powder mojesh man who had handle the dynamite and sometimes you get a
logjam assault-type original key log
and the powder marking goes out put
on to love dynamite sticks into it hopefully as long enough fuchsia
he makes it back sure before blows and
you'll see log school sky high
these roukema projects coming up wood to build the first houses
make the first downs and laid the railroad ties the PE
the migration West ok
they helped build America which turned out to build the strongest country in
the world
and over the last couple hundred years we've been able to do that the
Lumberjacks trailblazing moved to the Pacific Northwest
would back in the scene at the timber industry
the log the giant embers and survive the Lumberjacks would have to convert
dangerous conditions in deadly challenge
by the nineteen hundred the Lumberjacks begin to my green West
year in the magnificent forests of the Pacific Northwest
the loggers face massive spruce Douglas Spurs
and red ones these tall trees toward
anything they had seen or log in the east they were five times as tall
and five times around at the base or buts well
they also have another tough challenge
these giants grew one steeped with slopes
undaunted the resilient lager created new ways to harvest the told brought in
heavy Jim
one of the things that they had to do for example
was to climb higher above the butts well if these trees
so they would use the springboard to climb up the tree and get above the but
well
so they could operate to cut the tree down with their crosscut saws an
accident
the old lumberjack who stood up there with the score
boots aren't balancing shelf on a springboard
tipping over a two hundred-foot Douglas fir treated
that were the
wagons pool by powerful
oxen were brought in to move a huge fight on logged
to support the enormous loads the build special ruled
logs were have buried in the mud blogs regularly Greece the wood for a smooth
run
the skin roads as they were called
man all the way to the mills of anatomic grow around the middle
and it spurs road was always known as SKIDROW
up
the turn of the 20th century ushered in a new era for the fledgling timber
industry
steam power arrived in the woods at the Northwest
and revolutionized production special logging trains hauled timber to the
sawmill here logs were turned into lumber
first
a mechanical Green Bay early to be huge loss up with you
and into the mill been
a steam-powered bandsaw would cut the lock into usable boards
up brave loggers inches from the deadly bleed
rolled on the saw carriage their job with the lineup along
FB Cup next a steam-driven machine
revolving bleed Paul the plane cut measured
and smooth the surface in the balls the newly carved lumber we've been ready to
be transported
up we had faster cutting
techniques and technologies we're able to transform these log
into units are size that could be moved
and that meant that everything speeded-up from the day is a
for logging with an axe saw
and a horse or not world
in the nineteen twenties another steam-powered invention
Dolby a donkey added to the loggers productivity this stationary and
modified train engine soon became a regular fixture
on the loggers landings on good its power was used to pool which is that
whole cables attached to fill temp
it'll all the Lumberjacks to move logs faster and for
with the loggers on the ground giant logs
moving swinging in flying increase the threat to their lives
the young longer known as a whistle Park
with stand by the steam donkey watch lines
and warn workers have hazards ok
former governor of Idaho season Andrews started as a lager
in world war two his first job was as ok whistle
every fiber in your body
was aware that you had the lives of other workers in your hair
hand that you had to pay close attention
to everything checked the great the wrong signal
from the commercial the wrong move on
the mainline on the donkey a
could inch by his life just like that the arrival of steam power radically
transform the industry
however not all for the best that
the basic production increased the number of bloggers hit maimed and killed
by the fast-moving temple also rules
in Oregon Washington would say at least maybe 300 or 350 man
might die in a single year and this was the
probably the most dangerous period had going to log in the nineteen twenties
and thirties
to depression times and it was just difficult work
people could find a job or taking risks anything
keep a job in logging you run in for your job
and you run out of your life do overcome the steep and rugged terrain
the Lumberjacks devised a new technique called high leading
up greed is longer call the hike Weimer
would scale a tall tree and put a reading on the top
head the most hazardous part of the high crime which job
is topping the treated he must cut the crown of the tree
to make room for the hymie Rick that's something I'll never forget.
a three-tier and Starz a golden
get that that rocking motion and their
it's a little scary the first time but it's a little addictive to
I took pride in doing it light on the planet
this intricate begins his stomach believe in cables with harness to the
pulling power up the steam donkey
up begin with logs of the steepest slopes
it
steel towers have mostly
replace trees as the pivot for this type timber pulling operation up
but sometimes towers are not available for the work site is too steep for
machines in CVB board
in these special cases hi climbers are still called upon to risk their lives to
scale in top tall trees
up
the first time I climb a tree with climbing gear I was petrified
you don't think I've 30-40 feet off the ground as being that high
and tell your suspended by pair climbing Spurs in a climbing film
and it ends up and I had it been back on the rope and just
stretch my hands a few times because I was just so tense
I'll
by the 1950s the labor-intensive crosscut saw
was replaced by the gas powered chainsaw but I magnin starting we have been Canon
Powershot powers are still intact
you could barely carry in some time to talk to people
by immigration was terrible noise you military man you and you know to get him
home after a long break it pretty hard here
there are now but they did beat deal hanta
with the advent at the chainsaw timber production
again increased however using a chainsaw can be hazardous
the biggest risk is known as a kickback if this happens the chainsaw can rip
through flesh
in a split sec it takes a heartbeat
for chainsaw to kick back and cut somebody seriously
it happens that fast a chains like kurt is a lot different than you can cut with
a knife
it's a wide open it's good
dirty when as a lot of times I'm gonna second that's what happening
Randy while thirty was filling a tree with a chainsaw kicked back
and sliced into easily to minimize
injuries today loggers were specially reinforced paint
to help walk on slick logs
they still wear corks old and steel spike boots
like their predecessors they take great pride in their ability to cut a tree
cleanly
can drop it with pinpoint accuracy they call it
hitting a good shock with the Amber Room
tight shot the Jap deal with the real nice trini headed
it's kinda like winning a game bird or hit the real good shot golfer
some like that it it makes you feel real good timber Qatar must make precision
cuts on both sides agree to be filled we start
with that but what we call a face on it kinda bevel outta
and when we saw in the back in the face allows the tree
time enough to come down without barber chair in which would be split in half
it's dangerous
they can either break of the stock go appeal downhill
backwards its it's bad when barber chair on
once filled
the Qatar measures betrayed
he will been cut it to the exact link requested by the sawmill that is buying
the Lombard
the Qatar is on the front line of the logging operations well chains all means
a serious and can be lethal
most deaths in logging happen when trees fall then they have the potential to
drop in crush a worker to death
I don't wanna see my son out here
there's always a chance human its Nana
matter if it's your lap and it's just when and where
benefits to YouTube have had some really close call
lot
the
gone this contemporary logging site in Oregon
money put steel tower stands in the place once occupied by behind me treat
this mighty machine
is the cable yard it is anchored by its own week
and a spider's web guy lines a standard piece of equipment on a modern logging
site the order has drums on the side
that dispense high-tensile steel cables ok
on a given signal the skewl your order operator will all the logs to the
landing zone
art awesome feels like you can pull the world over
your room you can feel the weight on the whole machine they have your the term
the hard drive for machine actually troubles
hill trying to give you the same thrill of driving a race car sometime
loggers called chasers in Trowbridge centers are in the war zone
and one in they were jokers on the logs to be dry
the your inner walls the logs down the slope to the landings
chasers most unshackled and make sure they don't get hit by flying logs
movies dangers and you know people do get
heard out here and get killed I
it's hard to work you know if you lose a man out here you know
try to get through the day cuz rock and the team
once on the landing zone loggers go in with chain saws
and cut branches and limbs of the law known as Bucky
they prepare the logs furloughed
next the loader operator voice the book logs
of the deck and onto a truck
good day 15 to 20 trucks are loaded on this job the logs are unusually large
the bigger ones you can definitely tell because it'll pick
the back into the machine up on the big one from when you have to get a ride in
close TN
sometimes one and a mother you know we've had view them appear that we've
had but one on
one end at a time echoing the early glory days of blogging
these modern Lumberjacks are especially proud of the huge logs they have been
harvesting
there some real satisfaction
and getting a big log to the lani
and then getting on the truck its the all-tournament
and logging is his logging big word so there's a lot of pride
a new by logging operation the yarder and its lines have been rigged to fly
logs across a steep-sided valley
this skyline operation which logs 500 feet into the year
and runs them a mile across to a landing zone perched on one side
this is abundant
streamlining I think you're gonna the anymore gonna
the have pursued slow haven't pulled
been across neither here Creek in the bottom
in and have to run a call back together carry
back you say this is about her though
cover shows that that we've seen
position
jokers centers
working in legal conditions scrambling scale the difficult terrain
the torrential rain makes the ground especially slick and their task even
more treacherous
main thing
call hold on that ground
gonna be rare very aware my anything as far as any loose logs and bomb bomb bomb
worry rock crawling
and i also align part believe a line break in an online come down on
it could be devastating curators have a favorite if you're here
loggers no that when they enter this back-breaking profession
the risk fatal injury however
losing a friend a fellow worker is something no one can truly prepare for
a friend of mine on timber
on a Saturday and we laughed finish with what we're doing on
and the two cutters camp work and before we got home we heard
on the radio that they needed help that one was seriously injured
to a turnaround came back up the hill and a cot there in
and a good friend mine died that day
and I i miss him applaud
ok a huge tree fell on Randy's friend
and he died from the internal injuries sustained with many logging sites in
remote and mountainous areas
getting help to be injured workers becomes a race against time
on these extreme situations helicopters are used to evacuate victims
the even minor injuries here in turn Facebook
working in the wiles also exposes Lumberjacks to external and natural
hazards
the most terrifying
is the possibility of a while by they can be pretty dangerous give the bank
doesn't
know what they're doing get caught up in a top to more have fire all around
for you really don't have an understanding
upper forest fire until your sounds
crackling
word
fire burning win that's created something and amaze me was how trees
would go up so quickly
Douglas fir tree is useful Green Gables
but if they're exposed to enough heat
those needles dry out want markets that religious
explode ships like like this offer match
wild wild fires remain a constant threat it was a political firestorm that nearly
killed the lumberjack in his way aboard
in less than a century innovations and inventions
like Steam the chainsaw hi leading in people you already
revolutionized timber production
with new methods and machines made it possible to cut bass
23 would very quickly some experts as to me
that by nineteen eighty nearly two-thirds of the original American
ports
nearly $500 million acres have been cut
the economic boom that began with the in the world war two
and continued for decades vastly increase the public's demand for lump
by the late 1980s the controversial clear-cutting methanol production
was in full swing good
forests were systematically cleared a paltry up
the public with out-reached and the locker demonized
way first let me point out to you it's not
lumberjack that was demon it was
society and the demands and the methodology that were used
the lumberjack pushing employees who was working
to sustain himself and his family he was doing what the foreman told him he was
doing
watch society demanded that he do
he's a family man he's a regular guys said get up in the morning
operate a piece of equipment fall trees
to go home at night that's how they they support their families
at at a limited
the controversy has led to major changes in the way timber is cut
by the early 1990s pressure from government agencies a new legislation
transform logging practices today
the majority of timber cutting is done by small family-run companies
they have new techniques
use radical regime
and get the job done safely and responsibly these 21st century
lumberjack see themselves as
the woods at the poorest resourced in the process
that much risk their lives to achieve their extreme and select
timber cutting mission did
the Pew family in Northern California is cutting a few selected trees in this
along
good this timber cutting technique is called thinning
using chainsaws and timber cutting machines
they select input the smaller trees in this course like surgeons are the woods
they take special care not to break restore the aspen trees the game to
protected
this innovative practice allows two days to would lumberjacks
to promote tree growth save wildlife
and prevent forest fires the
environmental community and the timber industry come together
and we believe the only way to save the forced is the Benedum
understanding operation the Pew family is working to return this stand of trees
to its former glory
research in 1945 up
this is a picture quite like what we're looking at a brothers here on a hillside
is a what it looks like now obviously the trees are different size
we worked all the superior trees the best growing
the tallest the dominant trees now with this
release name given at the sunlight the water this will take off
the pews task year is critical they are cutting the smaller trees to prevent the
deadly force for
the small trees underneath the larger trees are just the latter for the party
come from the ground right on up into the victories
also this particular project here is located near
the town to Portola and lotsa houses and so
part in this project is to protect wild
renny pew is a second-generation logger
and continue the family tradition of innovation his father Carl
followed a selective practice known as salvage logging I always wish in this
army strong measures
taking on child entertainer again pastor
which dead or dying and we always had a real small operation where anti-japanese
we only salvage logging and I was very proud of that
like we're proud other thing work we're doing now because we utilize something
was dead and dying and
go to waste also we reduce the fuel on the word so it wasn't so much that I
don't get the victory
now it's more radio utilization and doing the right thing the words
up
at the few families landings old big is logged mission to the Middle
while the smaller trees and branches of it into a machine called a chip
valuable would shift its bits of people to uphold
fear they will be used as fuel to generate the electricity
up
Randy son Jerry is that third-generation abuse to work in the woods
yeah it's in my blood I like to honor learn everything I like being out the
words i win
traded for nothin third-generation
at I've been around in my entire life need a spill
you feel big you feel call you at the chains on your hand
no cuffin just wanna go do it again logging is a family business is very
common in the timber industry
particularly in the pacific northwest
however this rich tradition has pinball drawbacks
in a Northwest their fathers taught sons and nephews to log
and they enter them in the business but they're also exposed to the hazard
and I've known loggers whose sons have been in the business and were vibrant
young man
and suffered an action in our fatality that changes the way people look at life
because
very difficult to bury a nephew or Sun
in recent years fatalities and injuries in the industry have been dramatically
reduced
this is largely due to the mechanization at the login process
but getting as many men on the ground
and into protected cabs is the key to work sites it deems
understanding operation in Oregon there are no longer is on the ground
two min into machines cut
collect and move the temple safety
as paramount in our company safety comes first always
and production come second if I was producing the same volume
work a decade ago I would have at least seven people on the ground while having
a seven people on the ground they would be exposed to all kinds of Hazare's that
we are not exposed to the day
this is plexiglas expand
about 916 tunics thicken it
is made to take the head off a log sliding off the back in there
and I've had 'em slide right down and hit this window before
it gives you quite a thrill for more worker
years a mean cutting machine known as a single gripper mister
plods through the woods the operator uses
King Kong like poor to grip the tree
you been lower simply and rips through the tree selected for harvesting
and during that process it will paltry di Lam
character exact planks and diameters and never turn loose the tree and tell us
completely processed hence the word
single grape harvester once the harvester has cut
booked and slice the trees a machine called of order roles in
he will pick up blogs
sort them to their destinations bring them to a landing area
and unload their mind a waiting Crocker
set out trailer and those will be shipped to me on the process
I'm just finishing up by enemies down hand
you put about three more logs on me to bring my weight up
so I have a full load on the non really go to town
on a nearby logging site who walked all family has largely mechanized their
operation this allows them to minimize dangers
and maximize production on this job the law does use the latest and greatest the
all cutting machines this 300-horsepower
half-million-dollar monster is known as a feller buncher
it cuts and collects trees swiftly Andy Fisher
don't want your with the hot sauna
billion hearts all the cuts a free in about two to three seconds to cut
approved I am about 20 to 30
huge tree
when the filler buncher finishes cutting in moving timber
loggers go to work on this site
Joker centers are still needed on the ground to shackle logs for the York
up
replacing the man in the chainsaw a lager in a cab operates a process
it takes the film logs can be learned men with savage
speed
echoing the family logging tradition
Babu octal son Kirk is joining the Tea the most maturities
gonna be the fourth generation water was gonna come into view
a business and I was with my dad my dad was his dad should see it it's a good
feeling
it's something I've always wanted to do all my life I'm
ever since I was a little kid I'm always gonna be out in the woods my dad
just learn what he knows phone in his footsteps
to satisfy demand and meet environmental standards
today's lumberjack must be willing to go farther higher
and steeper to cut temp
when planning is needed in treacherous conditions the helicopter is the weapon
officials
however
the world the helicopter logging is fast
furious and fraught with danger
on
high above the glorious woods at the Pacific Northwest
a helicopter pilot carefully positions is shipped
on he is preparing to airlift
timber of the forest floor up
in a perilous operation known as helicopter logging a pilot dangles a 200
foot long line
down into the been standing trees
like a fisherman reports the weeds anxiously for a bike comment
Bob Graham is director of operations on this show
the pilot has a lot of different concerns while he's
performing the tasks here involved with logging
he has a two hundred-foot long line attached to the bottom the helicopter
which expands his hazard zone well beyond the helicopter itself he has to
make sure that that the long line under him as well as the helicopter is clear
have any obstructions
there's a number of different houses connected with flying with a long
on the ground a longer has the task of cooking the chamber to the long long
he has only seconds to get out of harm's way when hooked
the pilot voice his load through the crowded forest canopy
welcome no one in the world first job
mechanical failure more drastic weather changes
can also prove deadly put the pipe
it's always been a dangerous job looking out over the forest if anything goes
wrong with the helicopter there's no place to go but down in there are no
landing zones are any safe places
for the helicopter pilot percent down way free of the forest and the trees
the pilot balances implies the sternum logs to the landings on
in the aircraft every law little thing you talk to her every little
move the log make because we're just suspended in midair I've
you feel at all on
this pilot and Chopper are used to the pressure both
are vietnam veterans
the helicopter is a UH one you with a powerful
thirteen hundred horsepower engine it can hold
load is heavy a sport thousand-pound will actually start around 30 to 100
pounds
and then as he burns fuel of we can pick up more material
the way it replaces the way to fuel its been burnt airlifting logs is not new
is early as the nineteen fifties surplus world war two barrage balloons were used
begin with trees weighing up to eat tons hard
in the nineteen sixties hot air balloons were used to live all group members
bigger hole massive 25,000 pound low
but they lack maneuverability soon meet them obsolete
in
by the nineteen seventies helicopters began to be used in Long
the pilot's ability to move his craft on a dime
clock selected trees made this an important practice
their speed was also an advantage helicopters are very fast
are cycle pine can be anywhere from a minute and a half to
two minutes typically around two minutes about the only have what goes on on
landing those logs also have to be picked up by other
loading became and sat around so you have constant
amount of motion and their get itself
why someone danger helicopter log on the landing zone it takes but a second to
get her
election keep your eyes on the helicopter and alert
same time
additional
sure jobs
this is to watch out for yourself
same thing
here in the logging trenches
the Joker centers clear in Coral Gables with the rookie logger
life-threatening danger is everywhere drop logs can rolled in crushed
flying hopson cables can smash in slash work
when I first that I was scared I scared her I would run run run
I spent more time running away from everything and then I got you know it I
wasn't scared anymore
but I was scared at first I got clearance but an all-time
that's why rent out a lot I'm ready on once the pilot has landed the turn a
blog's
he rotates out to get another look
he will continue to fly turns into his fuel runs up
typically that means he will be in the air for an hour and a tank
with safety a major concern the pilot flies a maximum ABI
hours a day ignored
routine is fast and simple but still lives on the line
a pilot must prepare for the unexpected
you know ninety-nine percent the time you're bored the other
percent of the time it's sheer terror bit it its side it's something you learn
to live with
and if we did a lot but we probably wouldn't do it
ecological concerns in the loggers desire to better manage the porous
resource
makes helicopter thinning a valuable practice it allows modern Lumberjacks to
conserve the temper stock
and still make a living up it is in the vanguard have been burned mentally
responsible logging techniques
today's airborne lumberjacks take great pride in their 21st century rule
we feel that we are stewards of the land
that were actually part of display we care deeply about what goes on on our
for us and we want to see in the best job possible then
while still providing raw material for the rest of the nation
want to be able to come in and take you some material out of this for us
and leave behind the healthy for us for the next generation to work and I'm
and for a people come out recreation and and enjoy
while browsing the Lumberjacks use innovative practices and savage machines
to get the job done
the still need brute strength in raw courage to hook
cut and book treat they belong to a long proud and top lineage that stretches
back centuries
over 200 years now
noble Lumberjacks have arranged the Great Falls
on their unbending backs my the nation's will build
in the process thousands keep your labor
their passion
and their loss you take some pride in
being able to do and dangerous job do it well
and do it safely
Powershot awesome when you get a a massive turn a log you out there in your
fight need and it makes it messy stuff
bass standard fly and swept porn
school
I think me on you know it right up there with a fast motorcycle it its
I can imagine doing anything else