Elias Drops a White Pine

Camp Deerpark is a summer camp/retreat center in the Catskills operated by the Mennonite Church.  For about 10 years now, I have been collaborating with the camp to develop a management plan for their forest.  Much of the success of this forestry work is due to the efforts of Elias Ebert, the local logger who fells the trees, skids them out of the forest, and finds the best buyers for the logs.  Elias is quite gifted with a chainsaw. After the pine starts to go down, he quickly puts down his saw and gets out of the way.  Seconds later, a large branch falls right on the spot where he was standing. [NOTE:  The man indicating where the tree is going to land at the beginning of the clip is Ken Bontrager, the director of Camp Deerpark].