Lean TRAINING & EDUCA TRAINING & EDUCATION
in Felling Operations Managing
By Michael "House" Tain A key component of the five-step felling plan is the lean of the
tree. Not only will a lean ignored likely make for a much longer day for a tree crew with possible property damage, it is often a cul- prit in injury accidents — and sadly even deaths — among tree crew members. Lean must always be evaluated when formulating the plan to get the tree on the ground.But then the crew must also have the skills, tools and techniques to manage the existing lean, or even overcome it, in order to get the tree safely and efficiently on the ground in the chosen landing zone. The Tree Felling Primer in this issue (see page 6) does an excellent job of introducing and explaining the basic components to getting a tree on the ground; and explains how to evaluate the lean and determine the "good" and "bad" side of the tree. This article will help tree care professionals understand some of their options in dealing with the lean they have just discovered in their evaluation of the targeted tree.
Directional felling and lean Directional felling is simply a fancy term for an activity that
most professional arborists are intimately familiar with — getting a tree,large piece of wood,or even top to fall in the direction desired in a fairly controlled manner.Obviously, the first step in direction- al felling is determining in which direction to fell the tree. Factors such as height, hazards, obstacles, chipper access and others will all play a role in figuring out where the crew wants the tree to end up on the ground, but lean of some sort will always be the most important part of this evaluation.
Side lean
This type of lean is the largest challenge that production tree crews face during felling operations.To ignore its existence, or not even
10 Arbor Age / November/December 2011 A tree with obvious side lean to the left side of the picture.
notice it, can only lead to bad things happening.A basic description of side lean would be that it is visible lean or canopy weight to one side or the other of the direction of fall. Side lean is so challenging to
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