{"id":13953,"date":"2025-03-05T15:15:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T22:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13953"},"modified":"2025-04-04T10:01:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T16:01:15","slug":"we-love-trees-and-we-live-with-their-bodies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13953","title":{"rendered":"We Love Trees, and We Live with Their Bodies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A forestry “masticator,” which mulches small trees and large branches, is here used to pull a ponderosa pine trunk off a hillside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, February 27th<\/sup>, M and I went on a city shopping trip, returning mid-afternoon. I heard a chainsaw running and thought it was a neighbor cutting road. Then another saw coughed to life, and another. Three sawyers in red hardhats were working in the pines between our house and the county road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They worked for the electric co-op whose lines cross our property on the way to the neighbors. Those power poles were erected in the mid-1960s, I assume, when this land changed from scrubby, low-value ranch land to exurban homesites. A photo from our porch taken in the 1970s gives a clear view of another neighboring home with just little pine trees coming up. Now they are not so little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pine fell. \u201cThose trees are living beings!\u201d M cried. And they are. But we were standing on wooden floors in a wooden house that is partly heated with wood, for all that I seek out dead trees (victims of mountain pine beetle + fungus<\/a>) whenever I can for firewood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew was back on Friday. M. took the dog on a longish walk in the national forest while I drove a temporarily incapacitated friend on a series of errands. When I came back the tracks of a masticator ran here and there, that being a machine that \u201ceats\u201d branches, small trees, and stumps and leaves behind a coarse shredded mulch. I know someone who operates a masticator for a private forestry outfit, quickly thinning dense conifers to reduce fire risk around ski areas and mountain mansions.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foreman knew that we burned wood\u2014almost everyone around here does\u2014and he had the sawyers cutting logs into rounds and leaving them piled here and there. So fewer trees, but probably three cords of wood, at least.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

M. went off Saturday to see a friend. I stayed home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those fresh-cut white stumps. I took some whiskey and honey around to the bigger ones, left offerings, and chatted a little with them. On Sunday I started consolidating some piles, just to keep track of them. The wood is wet and heavy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew returned on Monday, cut some more. On Tuesday a climber went up into the highest pine, probably more than 100 feet tall, with a hand saw to cut a \u201cwindow\u201d through the limbs. That tree is not<\/em> coming down, I told the foreman. He agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

How do I react? Which \u201cme\u201d is reacting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The forester\u2019s son?.<\/strong> He automatically wants to thin the pines and to select the straightest, strongest trees for survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sometime wildland firefighter? <\/strong>He\u2019s happy to see fewer trees within 40 yards of the house and is also happy with the thinning. He wants to get cut out yet more small stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exurban homeowner? <\/strong>He is OK with some thinning, but hates to lose any visual barrier around between house and road and house and neighbors. He wants to sit on the porch and see nothing but green, which is his wife\u2019s feeling too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pagan-animist?<\/strong> Just thanking the trees. The oldest were probably from around 1940. Most of this forest is post-1960s, produced by taking off the cows and keeping wildfire out of a foothills subdivision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This land then has not always looked this way. In the future it may well look different too. Right now, I step outside grateful to be here on this day.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. They also can “treat” the debris left from clear-cutting, instead of building labor-intensive “slash piles” and then burning them when the weather is right. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. A “cord” is a stack of firewood 4 x 4 x 8 feet. Some firewood sellers may not live up to that though. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A forestry “masticator,” which mulches small trees and large branches, is here used to pull a ponderosa pine trunk off a hillside. On Thursday, February 27th, M and I went on a city shopping trip, returning mid-afternoon. I heard a chainsaw running and thought it was a neighbor cutting road. Then another saw coughed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"They also can \\\"treat\\\" the debris left from clear-cutting, instead of building labor-intensive \\\"slash piles\\\" and then burning them when the weather is right.\",\"id\":\"9563f9e8-36fb-4429-841f-8c175db6d693\"},{\"content\":\"A \\\"cord\\\" is a stack of firewood 4 x 4 x 8 feet. Some firewood sellers may not live up to that though.\",\"id\":\"f9bea51d-de6b-469f-a413-a18b3a58f866\"}]"},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,23,154,228],"class_list":["post-13953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-animism","tag-colorado","tag-forestry","tag-trees"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-3D3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":931,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=931","url_meta":{"origin":13953,"position":0},"title":"Feral Apples","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The equinox is for apples. First M. and walk the small ravine that cuts through our land--that is where the feral apple trees grow. I think of them as growing from apple cores tossed from someone's pickup window 50 years ago, but really I have no idea. As Sally the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10758,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10758","url_meta":{"origin":13953,"position":1},"title":"Getting Lost among the Mushrooms","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"There are at least five stages to mushroom-hunting. You walk in the woods but do not see the mushrooms. You begin to see mushrooms here and there. Your unconscious is seeing mushrooms. For example, every reddish-tan thing on the forest floor that approximates the cap of a bolete will jump\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animism\"","block_context":{"text":"animism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bolete-fb.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bolete-fb.jpeg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bolete-fb.jpeg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bolete-fb.jpeg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4984,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4984","url_meta":{"origin":13953,"position":2},"title":"Pentagram Pizza with the Inner Bark of Pine Trees","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022 At Wytch of the North, a lengthy blog post on being a godspouse. \u2022 A small publisher seeks submissions for a volume on \"transgressive rites and rituals.\" We are looking primarily for practical articles describing new and original rites and rituals that cross barriers and challenge social norms. Although\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"pentagrampizza","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/pentagrampizza.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9005,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9005","url_meta":{"origin":13953,"position":3},"title":"A View of Hardscrabble Creek","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last summer, when we had some flooding on Hardscrabble Creek, I sent a video to a friend in England, who replied that he had assumed that \"Hardscrabble Creek\" was a literary invention. Not so. I have a simple and literal mind, I will admit that. The green trees are ponderosa\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"The real Hardscrabble Creek","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/creek-at-64-gate2-FB.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/creek-at-64-gate2-FB.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/creek-at-64-gate2-FB.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6566,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6566","url_meta":{"origin":13953,"position":4},"title":"How the Neighborhood Has Changed","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hardscrabble Creek is a real place, and every now and then, I like to post a photo or two from home. I found the first photo while researching something else, and I took the second one today. In both of these photos, Hardscrabble Creek runs behind the buildings farthest from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"greenwood_road_1887","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/greenwood_road_1887-300x245.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6209,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6209","url_meta":{"origin":13953,"position":5},"title":"Trees, Animism, and Yuletide","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to use the photo of the dumped Christmas tree with two different posts. Then I decided to combine them, so keep reading. 1. \"Trees\" is the theme of this month's Animist Blog Carnival, hosted by Australian blogger Jay at naturebum. Tree totems, forest fires, Indo-European cosmology, and more!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animism\"","block_context":{"text":"animism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animism"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas tree discarded on public land in southern Colorado. 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