Heavy duty forestry mulchers can clear up to fifteen acres of vegetation a day depending on terrain, density, and type of material. Forestry mulchers are often used for land clearing, right-of-way, pipeline/power line, and wildfire prevention and management, vegetation management, invasive species control, and wildlife restoration...More at the Wikipedia page.
Forestry mulchers and forestry mowers are often used for removing underbrush and invasive species, such as buckthorn and multiflora rose, in order to allow the rejuvenation of grasses and other food sources... Invasive insects such as pine beetles can also devastate forests, leaving behind rotting trees with diminishing timber value and that may become falling hazards if they lose their ability to stand up against wind...
Related: shredding a Volkswagen Beetle.
Via The Presurfer.
When I saw this on another site (probably Presurfer) at first I thought it would be a solution for our home. We have a small woods at the back of our property of mainly oak trees that are approximately 130-feet tall. Unfortunately when our home was built the trees were not cleared close enough to our house and so I tremble with worry when we get thunderstorms and tornado warnings because the trees could easily fall onto our house. Unbeknownst to us when we bought the house, that scenario had already happened once, but luckily the damage was not too great, but no one told us about this until we had already had the property for several years. And, still, no one took out the closest trees.
ReplyDeleteWell, we have not taken out all the trees that pose a threat either -- we did have a few taken out, but at over $1000 cost per tree removed, we just can't afford the expense.
Then I watched the video again, this time with my husband, and we both remarked that the trees were demolished and rendered unusable. The wood is just shredded, not even usable for firewood, let alone building material. What a shame... At least our trees went to a sawmill and were turned into beautiful boards for furniture or mantles. It's still a shame that old trees are harvested, but when the wood is recycled into something useful I feel a little better about it.
As I understand from my reading on the subject, the land on which the rainforests grow is not really suitable for farming and that the value lies in the existence of the rainforests themselves as climate controllers, carbon decreasers, wildlife habitat, etc. On the other hand, I look at what the U.S. has done to its forests and wonder why we think we have the right to tell other countries what they can do with their resources...
I believe these shredders will also take out wildlife hiding in the bushes or unable to move. I saw this news story about Germans using drones to save deer and other wildlife from hay shredders. I would like it if the company using these mulchers might consider using drones to protect wildlife. http://www.thelocal.de/20140426/german-mini-drones-saves-bambis-from-hay-shredders
ReplyDelete