Chainsaw Recertification Training and Big Happenings in Chassell
Last Thursday would start out by running the kids up to the Houghton County airport for the early flight to Chicago as the first leg on their journey homeward. Needing to pick up contact lenses from my optometrist’s office at 9:00 in nearby Calumet, it was early enough for us to make a stop for coffee at Keweenaw Coffee Works. Getting back to Chassell, I would cut the grass and edge the sidewalks ahead of our next guests coming in before making final preparations for that evening’s Chassell Recreation Committee and Chassell Planning Commission meetings.
There is a lot going on right now in Chassell, so here is a rundown on some of the things we covered. On the Chassell Mercantile project, the site clean-up was slated to begin the following Monday. After all of the commission’s efforts to deal with this property over the course of the last seven years, this step toward the property’s redevelopment represents a huge milestone. On the former Holy Trinity Lutheran Church demolition, mobilization was reported to begin the following Tuesday. This clean-up has been made possible by the Round 3 Blight Elimination Program through the State Land Bank Authority using federal Recovery Act funding which the Houghton County Land Bank Authority has put into five priority demolitions in the county including this one. This building has also consumed a good deal of the commission’s time. I reported on recent additional information I provided to the Environment, Great Lakes, & Energy agency on our dredging permit application to address the silt accumulation in the Sturgeon River kayak launch caused by the log jam in the north channel under the US 41 bridge. I reported on the Keweenaw Invasive Species Management Area (KISMA) coming out the following Monday under Sigrid Resh’s supervision to trim back the sprigs on the previously cut trees and that we would seek volunteers to help through the Chassell Township Facebook page. I briefed the commission on our May 13th meeting with Kris Nault from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Casey Hutchins from Michigan Technological University and the proposed concept to direct Hamar Creek back to its original channel downstream from the rail-trail. I would also discuss my conversation with Carly Graff from the MDNR regarding the potential decking and railing of the Pike River Bridge on the rail-trail. Carly worked with Ron Yesney to get this project added to the agency’s master project list. I also discussed her proposed approach that would have the township address the funding needed for the project’s engineering. We would also discuss DP Construction’s recent completion of the pavilion restrooms renovation project. I would recap the May 22nd pre-application meeting with Mat Lubejko from the EGLE on the marina development and that we expected a letter from Mat about any time. I would also discuss my correspondence with EGLE representatives in Lansing about our concept for a proposed splash pad at Centennial Park that envisions supplying water from the lake which would make this project a possibility, but the next step will be to discuss the matter with the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department. I would also brief the commission on my Redevelopment Ready Community check-in meeting with Pablo Majano from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the deliverables I will draft for the commission’s review at our next meeting.
Friday would start with a 3,000-yard swim at MTU and then I would focus on completing the presentation I will be giving on our Finland trip at a Chassell Heritage Center Thursday night program in August and at a potluck at our friend Beth’s place later this month. I would also receive Matt Lubejko’s follow up letter to our pre-application meeting on the marina development. The letter was consistent with our discussion and will now be the focus of next steps at our upcoming Chassell Recreation Committee meeting.
Saturday morning, I would head down to Kenton with our friends John Diebel and Jennifer Strand to attend the classroom portion of a two-day chainsaw recertification class which is required for us to do chainsaw work on the North Country Trail. On the way down, we would stop at this lake in the Ottawa National Forest to the south of M-38.
After a full eight hours in the classroom, we would drive back home by way of the area near Silver Mountain in the Ottawa National Forest where a couple of trees had fallen on the North Country Trail.
John made quick work of these fallen trees with his chainsaw.
We would drive back by way of Baraga where we would grab dinner at the Lakeside Inn.
Sunday, we would drive southward to meet up with the chainsaw class at the Settlers Co-op in Bruce Crossing. On our way there, we would stop at the roadside park at the Ontonagon River at the bottom of the Military Hill. Looking upstream from this point you can see the confluence of the East and Middle Branches as they form the Ontonagon River.
As we got back onto US 45 heading south, the rain started to fall. After meeting up with the rest of the class at the Co-op, we continued southward beyond Paulding and then eastward to a whitetail deer habitat project area to the south of Bond Falls Flowage where we would spend the day doing our field work and being evaluated by the instructors. The rain would continue well into the first hour and the mosquitoes were plentiful.
Each participant was required to fell and buck a tree. This required following and explaining to the evaluator the OHLEC steps: objective, hazards, lean/bind, escape routes, and cutting plan.
We learned a really cool way to determine how far a tree will fall in the classroom which involves cutting a stick that would reach from your hand to your cheek, holding the stick at arm’s length straight up-and-down, and then walking away from the tree until your line of sight intersected both the top of the stick and the top of the tree. Using a plumbline, we would determine the tree’s lean and adjust the direction of our cut appropriately. I would then notch 80% of the face of the tree aiming at the spot I had determined from the stick and the plumbline. After making my cuts, I would end up leaving a nice hinge and dropping my tree almost right on the spot I determined!
After a long day in the field, we were ready to get on the road!
We would loop around the east side of Bond Falls Flowage and make a stop at Bond Falls on the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon River.
You can see a short video of our stop on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
Monday, after I put in a 3,000-yard swim at MTU, Brian Waters and I would meet up on the Chassell Historic Trail with Sigrid Resh and her KISMA volunteers to cut the new growth from the buckthorn that had been cut previously.
It rained for the entire two hours we were there, but excellent progress was made with the buckthorn trimming and another trailer load of buckthorn was cut by the volunteers. Sigrid also collected data from tagged trees that had been previously cut. Interestingly enough, many of the previously cut buckthorn in wetter places had died. While most in the upland locations were still hanging in there, the native and invasive grasses were impeding the germination of seeds that had been dropped which resulted in not as much new growth as Sigrid was seeing at other locations.
While we were doing the buckthorn remediation, the abatement perimeter was being established for the clean-up of the Chassell Mercantile site. It was really cool seeing this day unfold after what we went through with the previous owner and years of having this eyesore in the community. You can see a video of some of the first material being staged for transfer into plastic-lined trucks at this link to the Chassell Township Facebook page. By the end of the day, most of the debris from the collapsed building would be removed from the basement and hauled to the dump at Greenland.
Tuesday would bring even more progress to Chassell, but more about that next time!
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