Initial June storm damage mitigation

Storm mitigation update

Recovery Crew:

  • Tyler Michalewicz
  • Ferris Calderon
  • Rob Regan
  • Kris Kasper
  • Carl Schmidt

Monday June 12, 2023

Collaboration

            The call for assistance went out with immediate response from refuges with a team of experienced sawyers/foresters/equipment operators mobilized to address fallen and compromised trees from hatchery storm damage

Tuesday June 13 Schedule:

            The travel and equipment transport begins in the morning tomorrow with initial evaluation, planning and equipment offloading likely on day 1.

  • 4 hours of travel
  • 2 hours for equipment load/unload
  • 2 hours for site evaluation, planning and hotel check-in
  • Some comp/ot is possible at the mitigation team’s discretion, but with no emergency conditions work is likely to begin in earnest on Wednesday

DAILY SUMMARY/NOTES

  • Electrical investigation work for the BTM building started with neutral return line repairs implemented by the local power company, but no confirmation on the source of power surges detected. The next steps are to replace the compromised pumps and get a local electrician to trace and repair the building electrical.
  • Another tree fell overnight on the southern hatchery fence-line with no injuries or significant damage beyond the already compromised perimeter fencing
  • Along with the partial tree that fell on the fence by the hatchery residence 4, a nearby full tree fell on the shed by the same fence line increasing some chain-link fence crumpling
  • The hatchery creek is backed up from some of the trees that fell, and water has risen up to the top of the creek banks
  • The meeting with US Army Corps of Engineers was delayed, their staff are focused on initial storm mitigation around the lake and campground but they have been informed of hatchery mitigation measures

Tuesday June 13, 2023

Arrival

  • Tyler and Ferris must have hit the road before dawn because they arrived early ~9:30. We did a run through of the facility/damage and they set about using the bobcat, chainsaw, and chains to begin clearing downed trees.
  • Kris, Carl, and Rob arrived not long after ~10 and joined the first two

Accomplishment

  • After preparations, travel, evaluating and setting up, I thought it would be a short first workday…I was wrong
  • The guys all wanted to make a lot of progress and worked a full day on top of their travel citing a lot of projects on the chopping block
    • A dozen or so 12-26” diameter trees were drug out of the creek, bucked, chopped into moveable lengths and/or hauled to the removal destination near the tree-line by the hatchery bush-hog field
    • The creek has been mostly cleared to free flowing and safe for visitor conditions (just not during clearing operations)
    • Cleared all of the trees from the trail all the way from the far side of the creek to the edge of the hatchery boundary
    • Sunbelt rentals is provided us with a dump trailer, hauling trailer, skidsteer and grapple for a considerable discount from their initial quote. Final cost for 2 days will be around $1340 total

Tomorrow’s schedule

  • Move the piles of debris and stacked lumber using the grapple and forks
  • Continue clearing the creek and larger downed limbs/trees
  • Start felling the 20+ dead, dying, and compromised trees throughout the creek area and down the trail
  • Clear the accumulated downed trees along the trail and add to the inner tree-line pile
  • Continue the heavy work Rob was doing with the large trail trees
  • Both skid steers and 3-4 chainsaws will be running tomorrow and if the creek/trail are cleared – work may begin on the dispersed tree damage and southern fence area were the 20ish trees came down in a line
  • Didn’t get to it today, so test the voltage on the BTM outlets, replace the inline pump that’s barely hanging on, and hire a local electrician to investigate the building power issues

Coordination

  • The mitigation crew all found housing at the motel right downtown (5-10mins from the hatchery)
  • The second skid steer, grapple, trailers are already on station ready for use
  • We are hoping to get some definitive information from the US Army Corps of Engineers regarding collaboration for the removal of the trees that decimated the southern fence and repair plans. The Corps maxxed out a $2500 service call to remove some trees from the campground and submitted a $9500 service order against their standing contract with their contracted groundkeeper staff.
  • I am hopeful that we can offer to help with sawyer knowledge, southern tree removal, and maybe some high priority tree assistance in exchange for the ability to add some of our accumulated trees/debris to their disposal piles – otherwise we’ll stack up the trees and deal with them at a later date.
  • We have progress pictures we’ll send tomorrow

Remaining timeline

            The team did a lot more today than we expected, but the amazingly cleared up creek will backslide in condition when the rest of the concern trees are brought down, so that area is currently at or below halfway done. There is more work than can be done in a normal day, even with the experienced 5 man mitigation team so the extent of tomorrow’s progress will depend on how long the crew decides to push forward.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Making a mess to make it safe

            The first goal of the day was to mess up all the areas cleaned up yesterday by felling a bunch of the high risk trees. The crew divided into two felling teams and a hauling team. Every move between tress was a group effort to buck and pile limbs to keep safety lanes clear. With over 40 trees to process just in the primary damage/safety area, finishing was not part of the agenda, but the crew transformed the hazardous area into a safe area for staff and visitors.

  • Ten more trees at ~16-20” diameters were felled. The 50+ year old Virginia Pines were either broken in half from the storm or barely holding on with a few green needles atop 40ft+ pines
  • 85%+ of the originally downed trees were bucked, processed and hauled to the hatchery inner tree-line
  • 60% of the newly felled trees and limbs where hauled to the tree-line piles after being bucked and segmented
  • Overall status of the trail and creek fishing area at the end of the day is around 75% complete not including the remaining trees that will need to be brought down when possible.

Status

  • Today’s accomplishments matched with scheduled activities, but after an early morning 10min strategy session – the crew focused on the highest priority objectives of making the hatchery safe for staff and visitors
  • We have a bunch of debris piles left to move in the visitor area, but we have a plan in place already for the hatchery staff to accomplish this
  • We have not touched the southern fence with dozens of down trees (USACE will act as primary for much of that labor)
  • There are still a couple weeks of hatchery staff labor to clear more of the widespread wind damage at the facility
  • The BTM electrical repairs are 25% complete.
    • 2 pumps need replacement still
    • At least 3 of the aerators aren’t working the same and should be replaced
    • The building needs piped standing oxygen tanks (2) for emergency backup
    • The building needs a portable generator, cables, propane, and a supply connection wired into the breaker panel
  • Staff will also work with Forest to log the RPI damage and evaluate some further planning.
  • While there is a lot to do still, I think we are stable thanks to the response team mobilized less than 24 hours after the damage occurred.

Remaining recovery tasks

  • After meeting with the US Army Corps of Engineers, we focused recovery efforts on the creek and trail because the USACE is going to try to provide the bulk of the tree removal along the southern hatchery fence.
  • There are eight more significant partial trees and large limbs around the rest of the hatchery still to be dealt with as a priority
  • There are at least 15 more of those large 50yr old Virginia pines with barely any green that we will plan to fell
  • The USACE pulled out the hatchery trees that fell near the residences and remaining damage on the fence is about 20’ of toprail, 20 or so feet of chainlink fence, and a few of the poles
  • 1200’ of linear chain-link fence will require replacement after trees are cleared on the southern fence
  • There are 6-7 1-3’ holes in the net to patch
  • The BTM building electrical ground was found damaged which means the whole building has been grounding to the shell, we were lucky only a few of the pumps got destroyed and the shocks on staff caused minor pain with no damage. A new ground was installed at the building. The wires from pole to building will need a new ground wire too, after which the A/J Electrical will double check to make sure the rest of the electrical is undamaged. The current NTE electrical service labor is requested at $650. We will obtain a detailed quote for any recommended services in excess of the NTE.
  • Sunbelt Rentals is donating a lot of help to the hatchery by letting us keep using the rented equipment until Friday – free of charge! So qualified hatchery crew will continue putting in some extra time to moving the remaining downed trees and debris piles at the storm damage centers.

Gratitude

            The hatchery would have taken months and spent thousands to do what the response crew did in a day and a half. We have a lot of work to do still, but without this assistance, we were looking at an impossible task with an unacceptable level of risk to staff and visitors. The response crew may have a lot of skill and dedication, but it was the common sense and chill/capable hard work and great attitude that really impressed me – their stations are lucky to have them, and I am going to try to find more excuses to collaborate . . hopefully without the Tornado-type damage.

            Thank you to the smart folks that help make this response happen and the skilled crew that did all the real work.

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