permaculture

[Steve Diver <steved@ncatark.uark.edu>]

Toby Hemenway wrote:

> I saw some work in Northern California last week that might interest this
> list. I was in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Sacramento, which is
> predominantly a mixed conifer forest.         [stuff deleted]

> A fellow there has been working with BLM to imitate fire patterns in the
> forest. They brought in an enormous rubber-tired machine from Idaho that's
> essentially a giant chipper: a huge grinding wheel in front  grabs whole
> shrubs (manzanita trunks can be 8-10 inches diameter) and spews out small
> sticks and chips. They cleared the understory of several hundred acres this
> way, leaving small and large trees intact, and creating a mulch layer 3-6
> inches deep.

Last summer a lady called from an island on the East Coast where
she purchased one of these tree-eating machines for ecological
restoration.  She owns one of the few remaining farms on the island,
she is organic, and she was concerned about rampant overgrowth
of exotic trees and shrubs.  So she sprung for one of these
tree shredding and mulching machines, and is now making wood
chip mulch for use on the farm and knocking back overgrowth
without herbicides.

The mulch part pricked my ears, since wood chip mulch mimics
the forest floor and fosters soil biology in addition to weed
control.  We talked about the Ramial wood chip work at
Laval University.  The lady found the RCW work very interesting
and it added another dimension to her restoration project.

Going back through my notes just now, I found the name of that
machine, The Bull Hog.

Here are some quick web links that point to this equipment.
The primary end user seems to be timber companies, forest
managers, municipalities, and government land managers.
For farmers and landowners, the smallest models fit to tractors
ranging in size from of 55 to 80-HP.

Steve Diver

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Fecon, Incorporated
10350 Evendale Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45241
513-956-5700
fecon@fuse.net
http://www.fecon.com/productshome.htm

Fecon BullHog
http://www.fecon.com/bull_main.htm
http://www.fecon.com/bull_attach.htm
http://www.fecon.com/hydraul_pto.htm
http://www.fecon.com/track_carrier.htm
http://www.fecon.com/rubber_carrier.htm

PTO or Hydraulic mounts
Smallest models attach to 55-80 HP tractors
Largest models attach to 400-500 HP track carriers
Tractors must have creeper gear or hydrostatic drive

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Logging & Sawmilling Jounal || November 2001
http://www.forestnet.com/archives/Nov_2001/supplier_newsline.htm

Mechanical mounts are now available to match the Bull Hog wood
shredder from Fecon Inc to rubber-tired or tracked carriers from
55 to 350 hp, including excavators and tractors. Capable of
shredding dense brush, standing or fallen trees, stumps, root balls,
yard waste and logging slash to any texture from coarse to fine.

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TimberLineMag.com
http://www.timberlinemag.com/articledatabase/view.asp?articleID=482

The durable, versatile Bull Hog enables excavators to mulch
standing or fallen trees, brush, shrubs and stumps up to 24 inches
in diameter. It quickly grinds wood and vegetation. Applications
include land clearing, right-of-way construction and maintenance,
storm water drainage area maintenance, forestry, and reducing
wildfire risk near urban areas.

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RayMax Equipment Sales, Ltd.
http://www.raymaxequipment.com/environment.html

Agricultural
The Bull Hog is so quick and so efficient, that it offers farmers a
greater opportunity to generate income. Great for orchard pruning,
tree removal, stump grinding, fence rows, and pasture restoration, the
Bull Hog literally pays for itself. It can even be contracted out to
municipalities for brush grinding and commercial land clearing.

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