We are the Art of Felling Timber
Our Team
What started out as a vision, to create an advanced tree felling course, has grown over the years into a nationally recognized training program. Additional course options have allowed us to bring more people into our program. Not only through advanced courses, but also providing to our new and less experienced sawyers with beginner courses as well.
Of course this wouldn’t be possible without an amazing team that shares a passion for teaching others.
Qualifications: Class C’ (FAL1)
The author, Roy Hauser, has decades of experience in the field of hazardous timber felling. He works to educate for the safety of Timber Fellers by designing new course materials.
Roy wrote The Art of Felling Timber to teach Fellers what to expect before facing dangerous and complex felling scenarios, having over 30 years of experience in all aspects of timber felling. Roy was a co-author of the S-212 chainsaw course in 1992 in a segment called Fire Weakened Timber.
He was a saw boss for the Zig Zag Interagency Type 1 Hotshot crew based out of Mount Hood Oregon, under the supervision of Paul Gleason.
The author has worked in the logging and forest industry for over 20 years, managing private timberlands for wildland fire prevention. Roy Hauser has also worked as a contract timber feller on many wildland forest fires all over the Pacific Northwest. He has trained, what he considers to be, some of the finest Timber Fellers in the field today, using the techniques in his book.
Roy is currently a Region 6 consultant for the USFS and consults the BLM in Oregon. His message: “I hope that all who study The Art of Felling Timber, will share in the safety, mechanical application, teamwork, and discipline that this guidebook has to offer.”
Qualifications: Class B’ (FAL2)
Victoria Hauser is the youngest team member that works with The Art of Felling Timber. Currently, Victoria helps out with the classroom training guiding, our visual PowerPoint, she also videos students while engaged in tree felling and bucking scenarios during the field class training.
As a type 2 chainsaw operator, Victoria Assisting with the classroom Instruction on timber felling Also, documenting students while engaged in tree felling and bucking situations during the field portion of class training. She is always advancing her knowledge and will continue to refine her skills.
Qualifications: Class C’ (FAL1)
Forest Manager of Grants Pass Resource Area, BLM Medford District.
Vince Randall began working for the USFS on the Galice RD of the Siskiyou NF in 1987. Vince became a ‘C’ class sawyer in 1991. Vince went to the BLM, Medford District in 1999 and has been in charge of the timber and engineering programs on the Glendale and Grants Pass RA’s since 2000.
Vince has assisted Roy Hauser in his timber falling classes since its inception in 2015.
Qualifications: TBD
I’ve always had an urge to be in the woods, and always was drawn to logging, and timber falling. I started like every man of the woods by setting chokers. 2 summers of that and I had an opportunity to cut for a few days and I was hooked. From then on I cut part-time and worked as a line worker for 8 years, I was doing hazard tree mitigation, small scale removals, small commercial thinning and modified clear cuts, every other week. Eventually, work slowed down and I went and cut full-time commercial timber cutting. From there, I really learned the art of felling from a stellar faller who was meticulous and precise. Invaluable lessons learned and 1 smashed saw,I decided to cash in my retirement and go all in to start Coast Range Tree Service Inc., 3 years later I’m going strong and haven’t looked back. 15 years behind the saw and Timber cutting and tree work is the most rewarding work I’ve done, and I’m proud every day I get to impart some of my wisdom and experience to the fallers coming up in the ranks. I’m glad to be part of Roy’s team, and looking forward to working with his program!
Qualifications: TBD
I grew up in Colorado where I began my career as a climbing arborist. I spent several years there gaining a foundation in urban tree work. After falling in love with the work, industry, and lifestyle of being a treeman I decided to move to California in 2013 to chase bigger trees and bigger work. Since then I have been blessed with a lot of great opportunities that have allowed me to work in some really amazing places with some really amazing people. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to come to my first Art of Felling Timber seminar with a few close buddies with similar urban backgrounds. It was an inspiring and eye opening few days. I wondered why it had taken me so long to get my butt in the forest to experience this type of work. With an exceptional amount of experience to be had in a short few days of any seminar, anyone, regardless of knowledge and experience, is sure to walk away a more competent, confident, and safe cutter. Experiencing a hands-on approach from the size-up to the stump analysis, everyone has the opportunity to be both a student and a teacher receiving constructive criticism so that we all learn and improve together. Roy Hauser’s wealth of knowledge and experience, along with his big energy and awesome character create an atmosphere that will have you feeling like family before the course is over. The experience and opportunities that have followed my initial experience with the Art of Felling Timber had led to about 50% of my work. From the experience, opportunities, and lifelong friends, to the excitement of continuing to grow alongside other world-class fallers, I am proud to be a part of the Art of Felling Timber.
Qualifications: TBD
Patrick Purdy is the owner and operator of Tarzan the Treeman in Asheville, NC. He has been making a living in and around trees since 2009. A passion for honing his craft in tree work led him to the Art of Felling Timber a year ago. No other training experience has shaped his career more.
Being primarily a tree removal company, Patrick saw early on the importance of controlled precision felling. These seminars are attractive to private sector arborists because a small crew with these skills can even the playing field considerably in an industry that is otherwise dominated by multiple crews and heavy mechanization. Those willing to learn will benefit even more from the free exchange of wisdom from cutters with decades of field experience. Once a person attends one of these seminars, they size up trees more diligently and their cutting accuracy greatly improves.
Before landing in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Patrick originally hailed from St. Croix, USVI. His love of freediving and sustainable hunting has culminated in a healthy spearfishing obsession. His mountain hobbies include bow-hunting and fly-fishing. His wife and three children (more on the way) are the bright spot in his life. They are the driving force that keeps his eyes and saw sharp at all times.
” Roy does a great job of teaching safe and proper cutting techniques of large trees, to both beginner and advanced Sawyer’s. “
” They explain clearly and their experience shows. “
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A One-of-a-Kind Course on Timber
In recent history, huge fires have devastated the West Coast. In California there was the Carr Fire of 2018, the Paradise/Camp Fire of 2018, the Tubbs Fire of 2017.
A Course Like No Other
Cutting down hazardous trees is a dangerous profession. Our saw training aims to give crucial first-hand experience that crews can take back with them all over the country. Safty, mechanical application, teamwork, and discipline are just some of the valuable assets to be learned.