On 12/06/2015 04:15 PM, Don Y wrote:
My FinL used to dig trenches with the stuff. Apparently a real labor
saver -- just lay sticks along the soil where you'd like the trench...

Back when mountain bikes were just catching on, the assistant ranger
wanted to build some bike trails. I scouted out his suggested path, a
lot of which incorporated old logging roads or well trodden game trails
and wouldn't be much work. However one section dropped off a road down
to a little creek before a short climb up to another road. It was rocky
and looked like a real project.

The smoke jumpers to the rescue! It was a slow fire season and they were
bored enough to see it as a fun opportunity. Part of their bag of tricks
are fireline explosives:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvdQBACVwHQ

Instant bike trail.

We also built a nature trail where one of the informative stops was
illustrating pond succession:

http://crescentok.com/staff/jaskew/isr/biology/a5g.htm

The problem was the pond was pretty far along in the process. More FLE
set in back about 25 years. That wasn't the only little adjustment. I'm
not a real fan of hawthorn so when I was brushing out the route and came
across a hawthorn I sawed it down the ground level and gingerly threw it
on a burn pile. Things were good until the ranger showed me her list of
the stops along the trail. 'Er, Annie, about that hawthorn at stop 3..."