I spent 13 summers working on the USFS Timber Crew and have answered these questions numerous times: “What is the orange paint for?” “Why can’t they just mark up the trees they are going to cut so the forest doesn’t look like such a disaster afterwards?” “How long will it take for the paint to go away?” “How do they know which trees to mark and what is the final goal of this whole thing?” In this article, I will try to answer those common questions and try to help everyone understand what is going on in Timber sale areas.

“What is the orange paint for?” The orange paint is used to mark those trees that are not to be cut during a sale. It is applied at “breast height” or 4.5 feet, so that the individuals operating the cutting machinery can see the marks easily as they move through the cutting area. The marks are put on at least two sides of the trees -- and sometimes all the way around -- to be sure they are visible from different angles. My crew usually put the marks on the sides of the trees parallel to the direction of crew movement so that each member could see where the other’s mark was. Two marks, called butt marks, are put at the base of each tree so that if a tree is accidentally cut, USFS observers can tell that unwanted trees were cut and correct the cutting crew accordingly. Orange paint is used for “cut” trees and blue is used for “cull” trees in our area. Yellow usually indicates protected waterways and drainages and other colors are used to indicate other special features in the cutting area.

“Why do they have to mark all the nice trees? It looks like a wreck with that sea of orange stripes! Why can’t they just mark up the trees to get cut so the paint is gone afterwards?” Great questions! It all comes down to dollars and efficiency. There are usually way more trees needing to be culled than trees needing to be saved. The trees in our forests are way too crowded due to poor management in the past and need to be thinned for tree/forest health and fire safety. The paint used is very expensive because it has a special tracer element in it to verify that the marks are official USFS marks. Time is also expensive and it takes time for a crew member to mark each tree. These considerations dictate which group of trees will be painted. In an area like a thinning unit, it is much more cost-effective regarding expense of materials and manpower to mark the save trees. In an area like a campground where crews will go in to cut a few danger trees, it is more effective to just mark the trees to be cut. There are some units where virtual marking is being experimented with and time will tell if this will be an effective way to thin our forests in a reasonable and healthy way.

“How long will it take for the paint to go away? It looks terrible!” In the long-term view of the forest, the paint is very temporary, usually lasting less than 5 years. The effects of wind, rain and snow -- as well as the tree’s natural shedding of the bark -- will fade and eventually remove most of the paint relatively quickly. In fact, markers often have to go in and touch up projects that have been delayed for some reason because the paint gets too faded for cutters to see and it isn’t fair for them to have to struggle to see the marks while operating their cutting machinery. Imagine how difficult it would be to try to pinpoint which trees are marked to save while operating a piece of very large and cumbersome machinery through a grove of trees across rock-strewn ground! Overall, as the forest heals itself from the cutting operation, by the time the grass and undergrowth has grown back, the paint will have faded to give you the nice forest views you want to see during your outdoor excursions.

“How do they know which trees to mark?” Markers are given a prescription plan made by the forest Silvaculturist and this plan details the goals and methods desired: spacing, types of groups of trees to be left and sizes of trees to be left. Normally the large old growth trees are left alone and stunted, crowded or poorly spaced trees are targeted. Trees that are growing in natural clumps are usually left in their clumps for wildlife cover. Especially healthy trees are marked to leave alone and especially twisted or stunted ones are not. It is a personal decision for each marker and I took the responsibility very seriously as a marking crew member.

“What are they trying to accomplish out there with all of this?” There are numerous goals for cutting projects. Sometimes, the goal is to thin the forest for Wildland Urban Interface (WUI); this is to decrease the chances for destructive wildfires around inhabited areas. Sometimes the forest is just being thinned with the goal of taking it back to the original “presettlement” state of significantly fewer, but larger trees per acre. Sometimes the goal is to remove unwanted invasive juniper trees and sometimes it is to protect certain species like aspens or white pines. Spacing for marking is defined for the markers and the crew moves as a team through the forest, communicating with one another to try to make the Silvaculturist’s dream a reality. It is a difficult job, covering hundreds of acres at a time but there is a feeling of satisfaction to see the job done correctly and efficiently.

When answering questions from the public, the answer I gave most often to the question “What are you guys doing out here?” was that we are creating the forest of the future. The forest you see now is very dissimilar from the forests the natives inhabited; the forests the early settlers came into and the forests after they were originally logged (which is an incredibly interesting story in itself). Over-logging, over enthusiastic fire suppression and overcrowding of small non-commercial trees has led to a need to better manage our forests. A thick forest is not usually a healthy forest. Trees need space to live and grow. You have probably noticed how wide and healthy the meadow trees look compared to those crowed into “doghair” thickets-- tall and thin with little crown spread and sparse needles. We need to help our forests go back to where they were before man came into the picture and Timber Beasts are part of this process.

The USFS accepts public comment and you are more than welcome to become part of the solution in your public forest. Take an interest in upcoming projects and educate yourself; report tree poachers and people littering. The more caring eyes there are out there, the better! Have great adventures out there and keep safe.