Part of the job of keeping our woods healthy is to thin out the standing dead trees. This not only allows sunlight to reach the small spruce growing underneath, but eliminates the hazard of falling limbs, or the wind downing trees onto the house. We found some great tree jockeys at Brandlen Tree Care, a Matanuska Valley owned and operated business, who climbed these big, dead Cottonwoods with chainsaws and carefully cut them down, section by section. Now our woods are safe and look beautiful. I can’t wait for the trees to turn green in May.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
