Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Page A-3
local arborists say winter is the time to get work done
Annette McGee Rasch
IVN Senior Contributing Writer
With substantial wildfire season pretty
much a sure bet each year, it’s the winter
months that provide property owners the
opportunity to remove hazard or dead trees,
prune live trees and clear brush to minimize
threats to their homes and lands. And, last
winter clearly reminded residents of another
potential hazard, after snow-weighted trees
and branches fell onto buildings after several
early January storms.
While many people like to save a few
bucks by hiring friends or amateurs, when it
comes to projects that can cost thousands in
damages - or worse, end someone’s life - it’s
advisable to hire licensed, insured and bonded
professionals to take those risks.
“The concept of dropping a tree is very
easy, but the reality is that it can go very good
or very bad,” said Sam Beeler of Beeler’s Tree
Service. “The difference between a complete
win or an epic fail is in a half-inch of hinge
wood and it all happens extremely fast. Once
it starts to go, that’s all your eggs in one
basket, especially if you’re falling dead trees.”
“We specialize in hazard tree removal,”
added Beeler’s wife, Erika, who helps in the
business. “We have the experience to get the
job done right, quickly, and most importantly,
safe. With uninsured individuals if there’s
an accident, they can walk away and leave
you with the damages. You’ll be hoping your
personal homeowner’s insurance will cover
the incident. And that deductible could be
pretty high.”
Beeler’s Tree Service has operated
locally for over two years, though he’s worked
in the industry much longer, initially gaining
“great experience” working at his father’s
Grants Pass excavating company: Beeler’s
Small Tractor Works.
“We did a lot of right-of-way clearing
for the gas company, so I got my base
there,” Beeler said. “I also trained with other
arborists, including Heath Spangler. That
was a huge benefit - an invaluable resource.
Heath taught me to do things from the stump
- specialty techniques to get the tree down
without climbing it, which saves time and
money.”
A professional climbing arborist, Beeler
also does work with “heavy rigging” and has
even shimmied up over 100 feet to rescue cats
stuck in trees!
Sometimes Beeler, and Spangler, who
owns and operates Spangler Tree LLC, work
together. They once utilized a 160-ton crane to
remove a 12-foot diameter multi-stem oak tree
(with a rotten central cavity) near buildings
and power lines.
They also did substantial tree work at the
Siskiyou Community Health Center - after the
buildings were constructed and the parking lot
and landscaping were finished. And even with
removal of numerous large dead trees, the
work was accomplished without any damages.
(Courtesy photo for the Illinois Valley News)
Heath Spangler works to fall a tree.
With live trees, Beeler does “shaping
and health restoration. I also deal with a lot
of leaners. Sometimes we can hook one tree
to another to re-stabilize. There’s a lot of
factors, like where is the branch weight? Is
the root system stable? Does it have support
from other trees? We like to save the trees, but
sometimes you have a really good tree in a
really bad location.”
Beeler also does large-scale pruning
to remove fire hazards and preserve the
integrity of buildings. “With large trees next
to the house, a good rule-of-thumb is to keep
branches at least 10-15 feet from your roof.
And we shape the tree the best way for the
long term. Many problems can be avoided by
proper pruning, but you must understand the
right technique for the right species to prevent
trees from getting stuck growing the wrong
way.”
Beeler said people can check out www.
beelerstreeservice.com to watch videos that
demonstrate “exactly what we can do.” He
also provides tree health advice and tips on his
site and on Facebook.
“Call us for free estimates and tree
inspections,” he said. “Dying trees are dry
trees that become fire hazards and they can
transfer bugs to healthy trees nearby. We’re
available 24/7 for storm damage and other
emergencies. We have the skills, equipment,
and personnel to conquer all obstacles and to
clean up all the debris.” He also works with
people with varying budgets - and said prices
come down when clients handle their own
debris. Reach Beeler at 541-660-5963.
Beeler’s mentor, Heath Spangler, has
operated in the Illinois Valley for many years.
In addition to providing the same full range
of hazard tree removal, pruning and other
arborist-related services as Beeler does,
Spangler also specializes in selective logging.
“We can look at what timber you have,
create a plan and give an approximate price
according to the market,” he said. “We can
clear land, say for a home site.”
Spangler also has a 13,000 pound
excavator that can accomplish a wide range
of projects, including clearing brush out of
ditches. “And we have a mower head so we
can also recover fields from blackberries and
remove other brush to help people with their
wildland urban interface areas,” he said.
At 14, Spangler began learning his
trade from his father, Julius Spangler, an
experienced logger who still falls trees. And
now, during wildfires, Spangler is one of those
daring timber fallers who goes in ahead of fire
crews to create safety zones. He’ll often cut
large trees on slopes, dropping them back onto
burnt areas, to ensure safety for crews who
(Courtesy photo for the Illinois Valley News)
Sam Beeler working on a very tall tree.
then go in and create a fire line.
You can see a startling photo of Spangler
on his website, www.trippingtrees.com, with
saw in hand, carefully jogging away from the
huge burning tree that he’d just cut - as it was
starting to fall. It’s all in a day’s work.
Spangler’s wife, Tonya Spangler, who
assists him on jobs, said, “He has an intuition
about trees that’s just incredible to see. He got
that from his dad. He’s done some amazing
stuff.”
“For many people I know that money is
tight and that sometimes we do things only
when we have to,” Spangler said. “However
emergency tree service is a lot more expensive
than getting ahead of the trouble. We give free
estimates and if there’s a threat to your house,
and it’s more than you can afford, we’re going
to look for solutions. We try to work with
people according to their circumstances, to
make everyone safe.”
Spangler is also well-insured, both for
arborist work like hazardous tree removal,
and he has “Loggers Broad Form” insurance
for his logging operation. Contact Spangler at
541-659-8789.
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