Ingersoll Al01

Waupaca County Post

Prime Time

September 15, 2005

Young Logger Has Respect for Old-Timers

By Sharon Van Ryzin, Post Staff Writer

“If you tell someone you’re a logger, you’re likely tog et a raised eyebrow,” Al Ingersoll said. “They think you’re a tree killer.”

He began his career 12 years ago, when he was only 20, and has been on his own with Arbor Eagle Tree Service for the past five years, doing residential tree service and logging.

“It’s a common misconception some people have that logging is a bad thing,” he said, “What they don’t realize is, unless trees are thinned out, you won’t have a nice woods with healthy growing trees.

“There are a lot of us loggers who really care about the woods. We love trees. That’s why we do this for a living. We love being in the woods. It’s a passion.

“I’m not sure people realize how important logging is. Look around in the world you live in – all the wood and paper products. Forests are one of the few renewable resources we have. There is no reason why we can’t improve the forests while still harvesting logs.”

Ingersoll said many of the devastating forest fires in Western states could have been avoided with good logging practices.

“Woods that aren’t thinned have dead trees and thick piles of needles on the ground with nothing green growing – the perfect fire-starting situation,” he said. “You look at woods that are thinned and the trees are bigger and healthier. They’re spaced out and there is living stuff growing on the floor.

“Logging is a lot like farming. In your garden, if you grow a row of carrots, and they get way too tight, you’ll have stubby little carrots. If you thin some out, the ones that are left can be big and beautiful and they taste better. And, like farming, it’s something you do because you love it, or you wouldn’t do it. It’s definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme.”

The trees Ingersoll takes out of a forest might be overly mature or smaller and growing crooked under healthy trees.

“You assess everything as you walk through – why one should stay and another should go,” he said. “You take suppressed, damaged and stunted trees. People would be surprised at how many hours loggers spend to do the right thing.”

With his fondness for forests, Ingersoll is appalled at how Wisconsin was logged in the early days.

“The state was predominantly humungous, white pine,” he said. “They strip-logged this state. We have more wooded land here now than there was 60 years ago.”

Arbor Eagle’s residential tree services include trimming, tree removal because of potential danger, clearing for building projects and removal of dead and diseased trees.

“We have a lot of oak wilt around here,” Ingersoll said. “It’s becoming a serious problem. It kills oak trees. You’ll see patches of dead oak trees when you drive around. That’s oak wilt. Oaks should not be trimmed between April 15 and September 15. Before you do anything with an oak tree, you should talk to a professional tree service or forester.”

Oak wilt is caused by a fungus that invades water-conducting vessels. As water movement within the tree is slowed, the leaves wilt and drop off the tree. Most oak wilt moves from diseased trees to healthy trees through roots that have become inter-connected. The fungus also produces a sweet odor that attracts sap-feeding beetles that move on to otherwise healthy trees with fresh wounds.

“If you break a branch or even bend a branch on another oak tree when you’re cutting a diseased one, the next thing you now your 80-to-100-year-old tree is dead,” Ingersoll said.

His tone becomes almost reverent when talking about the large, old, slow-growing oak trees.

“Ly Long Lake in Waushara County, there are some oak trees with branches that are bent funny,” he said. “People have told me they were trail markers for old Indian trails.”

Not too long after Ingersoll went out on his own a violent windstorm hit Waupaca. Ingersoll was called upon to do some cleanup from storm damage.

“There was a bunch of uprooted trees out in the woods still hanging by the roots – big trees,” he said. “It was a wet day, so the ground was soft. I was down there cutting a tree, and I looked up just in time to see another one coming at me.”

The result of that mishap was the loss of a borne in his left arm, now replaced by two plates, and a separated elbow.

“If it would have gotten me on top of the head, well, that’s pretty self-explanatory,” he said. “That’s part of the life of a logger. It can be dangerous.”

Ingersoll expressed concern that good loggers might not get he appreciation they deserve.

“A lot of loggers are truly intelligent,” he said. “I watched a show on TV about the history of logging. They described the old-timer loggers as geniuses with callouses on their hands. They innovated logging, improved it and made it better.

“My old partner, Tom Simpson, has dedicated his entire life to doing a really good job,” he said. “He has always put the emphasis on quality – making sure to rake up that last little pile and get that last limb. He reads forestry manuals to stay on top of new developments and do things properly.”

He applauds his former partner for teaching him good logging techniques and helping him achieve an appreciation for the work.

“I had the benefit of learning from someone who had been doing it for a long time, someone who did really care,” he said.

According to Ingersoll, good loggers share a mutual respect.

“You don’t look at them as competition,” he said. “It’s like a local farmer doesn’t look at another farmer down the road as competition.”

Even though he learned from one of the best, he admits logging can be a frightening experience for a novice, especially that first time as a climber.

“I was scared,” he said, “I hugged the tree instead of leaning back. I was so scared but I made myself do it because I had to. It got easier every time after that.”

A good climber needs to be on the small side and strong for their size.

“You have to be fit like a gymnast,” Ingersoll said. “Climbing trees for a living is like being an athlete. You need to rest and watch what you eat. You can literally burn so many calories out in the cold, you waste away. I’ll sometimes go from 175 pounds down to 150. It’s extremely physically demanding.

“I’ve seen so many crippled up old loggers who literally have to hobble into the woods when they get out of the truck in the morning. Their bodies are broken down and they have health problems from so many years of brutal labor. They didn’t have processors and things back in their day. Everything was done by hand.

“They make probably less than they would working at a hardware store, but you’re not going to tell a logger to go do something else.

“I’ve seen a lot of old-time loggers out there still pounding it. It’s the only way they can make a living. Some of them have done well and had crews work for them, but not everybody’s life works out that well. Two guys can have the same intelligence and skill, but one just had more bad things happen.

“Some of the older guys are pretty stubborn and hard-willed. They became that way because that’s what it took. Like an old farmer – not every old farmer you meet is a friendly old guy. Some are onery old things because they had to be.

“I’ve been around a lot of them, and I understand them. They grew up in a generation if you didn’t work hard, you were going to starve. They’re handy and they know how to think on their feet.”

Ingersoll expressed a concern about the future of the independent loggers. He said more are leaving he business than are coming in.

“At first it’s neat for the young guys to see big trees crashing,” he said. “We go out of town, so it’s kind of an adventure. After about six months of coming home really sore and hurting with bruises and scrapes and cuts, it’s usually the cut-off point.

“Most of the hardest working loggers I’ve known, who put in the most hours and accomplish the most work, are older generation guys. They’ll put in a harder, longer day than a 20-year-old kid. That’s all they’ve ever known is hard work.”

Ingersoll told a story about how such a character once handled the situation when some rookie loggers bent the fore plate on their skidder.

“Those kids just stood there and moped,” he said. “The skidder operator, a little old Irish guy, took a ballpeen hammer and started beating on it. He jumped up and down on it and bent it back and said, ‘There. Now get back to work.’

“That’s logging. You do what you have to do, improvise. When you’re out in the middle of nowhere and something breaks, you can’t call somebody to come out and fix it for you.”

From his experience of logging in other counties, Ingersoll is sure that Waupaca County has one of the best forestry programs.

“We have good foresters,” he said. “They are reasonable foresters who care. I think we are really lucky to live in Waupaca County.”

“Some people don’t like it that the DNR is so strict on the lakes here, but the Chain o’ Lakes are still clean and beautiful. The regulations are there for a reason.”

Ingersoll considers himself an old-fashioned guy.

“I like to keep tings simple, “ he said. “The only reason I have a cell phone is because I have to. I work alone in the woods. My favorite thing to do is take the kids fishing.”

He’s positive he will always have some role in the logging business.

“I love to work hard,” he said. “If I don’t work hard during he day, I can’t relax at night.”