Texas A&M Forest Service is bringing a tree-pruning machine into the woods next month, and anyone who wants to see it work can do so for free.
The first of two field demonstrations runs 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Nov. 17, at I.D. Fairchild State Forest, 2028 US Highway 84 West in Rusk. A second one follows 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Nov. 19, at Fouke School Forest, 1000 Main St., Fouke, Ark. The announcement includes GPS coordinates for both sites — 31.781896, -95.365355 for Fairchild and 33.258287, -93.872921 for Fouke — which helps, since neither one is a street address you can trust a map app to find.
The equipment on display is the Advaligno PATAS standing tree pruning system. Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Research are hosting the demonstrations with Baker Forestry & Contracting Ltd. The Forest Service describes the PATAS system as a new approach to pruning standing trees, with possible applications in the efficiency and economics of forest management and wood utilization. There’s video of the machine in action linked from the announcement.
Pruning standing timber is slow, expensive handwork, which is why most landowners skip it. A machine that can do it changes that math, and the point of a field day is to let the people who would pay for the work see it run before they decide anything.
There’s no cost to attend, but registration is required. The form is at forms.cloud.microsoft/r/S2aidhBfS8. Questions go to Eric Taylor at etaylor@tfs.tamu.edu.
