Team Rubicon Volunteers Cutting Assignment on Rocky Point Pine Barrens State Forest
Team Rubicon, a nationwide volunteer organization comprised primarily of retired military, police department and fire department personnel, recently returned to Rocky Point Pine Barrens State Forest for their fourth cutting assignment.
Previous volunteer assignments from this group focused on cutting standing trees that have been marked on this property as part of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s southern pine beetle control effort. Last weekend’s effort focused on clearing downed trees adjacent to a bulldozed DEC wildfire control line. The line was put in along the Whiskey Road area of this property to allow for fire department brush trucks to be able to pass side by side and to build a defensible area in case a wildfire impacted this area. Control line is along Whiskey Road and is near homes that could be impacted by a fire that was being pushed by northwest winds.
This was a beginning saw class and consisted of seven new sawyers. Sawyers came from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Virginia. A retired U.S. Army colonel who now operates a POW-MIA search organization also participated. Instructors were retired Coast Guard and Vietnam veterans. Team Rubicon hopes to come back for future work at this site as the downed trees in this area are similar to trees they encounter when they go on hurricane relief assignments.