Tree Damage

[swankfly]

We can't think of our impact on tree bark and cambium as "just one night". How many trails have you seen that were ruts worn down to bedrock. One footfall might not have done visible damage.

Amen, brother. It's not the individual damage, it's the cumulative wave.

LNT always, not sometimes or when it is convenient.

[bigevilgrape]

There are areas I won't climb at anymore because of the damage done to trees. They are so over used and the land is paying for it. I know that once I start talking about climbing the forces involved go way up. Some of the trees have rope scars in the bark from the constant use for anchoring.

I also think about the cambium layer and how delicate these trees really are. These giant plants that have the potential to live for hundreds of years will die if they are girdled.

My biggest issue is how would you know that you are the only person who will ever hang on those trees? I think everyone who uses the outdoors has an obligation to protect the woods and do as little damage as possible.

[Loki]

doc, I am in the process of switching from zing-it to 3/4 inch nylon strapping on my tarps just for that reason.

+1 Canobie. Also, I sometimes wrap my tarp suspension on top of my hammock's tree straps - even if the height is not exactly what i wanted.

Anyone got skills to comment on whether 1/2 inch Tree-straps would be "ok" for attaching tarp ridge lines?

[swankfly]

+1 Canobie. Also, I sometimes wrap my tarp suspension on top of my hammock's tree straps - even if the height is not exactly what i wanted.

Anyone got skills to comment on whether 1/2 inch Tree-straps would be "ok" for attaching tarp ridge lines?

I made some out of mule tape...

[MDSH]

Thanks, Clauwitz, you have explaind it better than me, a poor preacher and philosophy professor. Yes, the line could never make the tree a column, you are correct, But I thought the load on the bark became dynamic because there was no load before and a human being attached via hammock afterward -- like the live load that is calculated in architectural specs. Merely attaching a line or straps causes breakage, sound, and heat. There is movmeent while we are in the hammock. A good portion of hat energy is transferred to the trees.

A tensioned line closer to 90* will transfer the load on bark more horizontally, where the bark will have the greatest protective effect than if it had a stripping motion with a downward pull. That was my thinking anyway. A cut heals faster than a tear, right?

Mike

[Detail Man]

All depends on the species of tree.

In the simplest of terms, Cannibal got it right. Thin skinned trees are more susceptable than trees with thicker bark. It seems like I notice my zing-it leaving a slight mark on dogwood and spruce. I have thought about using a short piece of webbing for the tarp, at least on some species of tree.

[Cannibal]

In the simplest of terms, Cannibal got it right.

Mama told me to be a simple kind of man.

[IRONFISH45]

This is a very intersting thread, one we all need to think about. So many places are over used now days. I hate seeing all the abuse people heap on our forests, they leave their junk, their human waste, abused trees, trampled plants, disturbed environments.

The abuse makes me so sad. Most of it is just ignorance.

[willhang1]

In one word.... NO..... If trees were that fragile we'd have none to hang from. I have a tree farm and have been around them all my life. But being cognisent of what you are doing and using 1" webbing is always helpful.

[ibgary]

Simple solution.
If you put 3-4 sticks vertically under the woopie,it will distribute the load, vertically.