Parkway Cycle Report
Rode the Gatineau Parkway Wednesday to P8 before deeking in to Old Chelsea. I passed work crews removing the fallen winter brush from the sides of the Parkway and feeding the branches into a chipping machine that fired the sawdust into the woods.
Most of it anyway. A few pieces flew into my eye.
Some more of it fell onto the road.
But nomatter, a gigantic tractor-powered vacuum cleaner growled down the parkway after the work crews and sucked the errant chips off the pavement and fired them after their fellows into the surrounding forest.
I don't know about the chipper but one wonders if a broom might have left a smaller carbon footprint for the task of cleaning up the small leavings on the road.
A few piles of firewood appeared due to all this activity, once again I imagine headed eventually for Keogan or Huron or some such shelter.
April 15th, 2010 - 12:54
Last I heard they dispose of the logs to compost naturally in the forest as they order all their hardwood from outside sources
April 15th, 2010 - 13:31
Well, the logs were cut into firewood length and piled in little stacks separate from the stuff to be chipped, so I just assumed.
April 16th, 2010 - 09:33
Well, I don’t know about the carbon footprint thing. According to the heavily flawed “people-are-the-enemy” Gatineau Park Segregation Plan, air pollution levels have declined in recent years … (p. 22).
But who am I to blow against the wind?
April 17th, 2010 - 12:51
Charles, I hope you are right and that they use the wood as best possible. The only wood I have handled at the winter chalets is prime large hardwood and not the alders and populars that are typically pushed down from snow and ice storms. As these types of wood do not burn well, maybe fodder for the forest is the best use.
April 17th, 2010 - 15:28
Poplar, when properly cured, burns very well.
In fact, it has great properties as a lighter hardwood. Makes good floors, shakers used it a lot…