# How to identify dead Western Larch?



## turn_n_burn (Sep 4, 2015)

Hey all. I've been wanting to find myself a dead Tamarack up here in Idaho, but need a little help. I'm very adamant about following forest service rules about not cutting live larch, which I can spot from a mile away based on the needles (leaves, technically) and branch sweep, but I can't seem to tell a dead fir from a dead pine from my posterior and a hole in the ground. I've tried googling the bark to see pictures, but they all look different. Do the branches have any particular kind of curl or does the tree have any readily identifiable characteristic that would make it easy to spot, from say, 100 yards away? Anything close to any road has already been cut anywhere I go. It's super popular here. Anything with good pictures would be a huge help!


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## Seanm (Sep 4, 2015)

If you are looking at the larch they are all still green needles. Around here there are a few that have the tops of the trees just starting to yellow. If you wait another month or so they will have turned and the needles will start falling off. I could go out and find dead Larch right now as they are easy to spot and would have no needles. Keep in mind that once winter comes the ones without needles will likely be live trees (but it sounds like you know this part).  Many mature larch die from getting snapped off higher up due to wind storms but be careful some of these will survive if they have branches below the break.


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## Seanm (Sep 4, 2015)

Ill see if I have some dead larch pics I can post.


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## Seanm (Sep 4, 2015)

Take an area close to a road that is out of the way. Park the truck and walk parallel to the road just inside the trees about 50 feet. Do this for half an hour or so. You will be amazed what others have missed. You can then drop them towards the road making it easier to get to the truck.


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## turn_n_burn (Sep 4, 2015)

I never thought of doing that. That going to be really helpful. Most of the areas where I can cut in Central Idaho are pretty steep, so that would be doubly helpful to be able to drop and roll them to the truck. Guess I'm getting tired of cutting Lodgepole and having it all burn up in half an hour. I'm still learning the ins and outs of tree ID. Lodgies and Ponderosa (gasp) and Doug Fir are pretty easy, but the Tamarack is hard to find in plain view. Hell, you can't drive half an hour around here without finding something named Tamarack, whether it's a road, canal, creek, sawmill, apartment complex, or ski resort. If I had a choice, I'd live where you are, getting tired of the BS politics down here in the states. Thanks man! By the way, you spell your first name the right way. Just like mine.


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## Seanm (Sep 4, 2015)

The picture on the left shows some bark that has come off with time. The last one was taken last fall and doesnt show you anything except how pretty the tree is!! You can see the top of the tree lit up with sunshine as the sun was setting.


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## turn_n_burn (Sep 5, 2015)

Thanks for the pics. Looks like the branches still keep their upsweep. I've seen a bunch of pines or firs I thought might have been larch at a distance, but the branches had a downward curl that seemed to develop, probably some kind of fir. IT looks like the larch has redder bark too. The light balance in that last picture was pure Ansel Adams. That's now my background on the laptop. Thanks again!


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## Seanm (Sep 5, 2015)

turn_n_burn said:


> Thanks for the pics. Looks like the branches still keep their upsweep. I've seen a bunch of pines or firs I thought might have been larch at a distance, but the branches had a downward curl that seemed to develop, probably some kind of fir. IT looks like the larch has redder bark too. The light balance in that last picture was pure Ansel Adams. That's now my background on the laptop. Thanks again!


Yeah it was a neat picture to capture. That wasnt the way my camera took it either, it actually looked like that with the naked eye. Yes I would agree with you that the bark seems to be be redder. Of course those yellow trees are all still alive. We get quite a few city folks coming into the valley during Christmas and it seems like theres always one that drops a green larch thinking its dead. It would be neat to be a fly on the wall when they try to burn it! I have a neat spot that I walk the dog that has a doug fir, a larch and a lodgepole all side by side. I should post it on your thread next time im over there.


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## turn_n_burn (Sep 6, 2015)

I actually found a good stand of Tamarack myself a couple days ago whilst out piddling around, didn't have the saw, though. 6 or 7 good dead ones all in about a 100 yard circle just off a little used old logging road (ironically about 5 miles as the crow flies from Tamarack Ski Resort), so I'm gonna bust out the Stihl and go to town on those bad boys. Needles and cones everywhere, finally an easy score. I should have my pile full for the first time in a while. I'll post the pics to this thread too. One of 'em is damn near 2 feet at the base. Gonna have to take my files for that one.


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## Seanm (Sep 6, 2015)

Nice I look forward to seeing the pics. Were the tops snapped off?


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## turn_n_burn (Sep 6, 2015)

One of the smaller ones, but they are all definitely dead, bark was loose on all of 'em.


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## turn_n_burn (Sep 6, 2015)

Thanks for the advice.


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## turn_n_burn (Sep 13, 2015)

Well, I finally got around to gettin' me some Tamarack. Went up on Mill Creek by Cambridge (I found another good stand 50 miles closer to home) and brought down a good 80 footer, got most of it before the saw crapped out on me, good half cord, so it was a good afternoon. Just got home with it, I'll post some pics when we get some light in the morning. Straightest grain wood I've ever seen, and God I could roll around in the sawdust it smells so good. I tried your walking 50 yards off the road trick, landed me a good one in 10 minutes' time, but the sonofabitch got hung up on a Doug fir at a 45 degree angle, and it took me a few minutes to put a couple good notches in the trunk so the blade didn't stick, and on the 3rd section I was able to push it in fall and it unstuck. Scary.


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## Seanm (Sep 14, 2015)

Good to hear you got into a few good uns. Glad it came down with nothing more than a few nerves frayed! A larch and a fir is a good day in my books! Look forward to seeing some pics! No doubt youre cooling off a bit like me.... I started a fire tonight. Looks like shoulder season burning is here.


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## Little Digger (Sep 14, 2015)

turn_n_burn said:


> got hung up on a Doug fir at a 45 degree angle, and it took me a few minutes to put a couple good notches in the trunk so the blade didn't stick, and on the 3rd section I was able to push it in fall and it unstuck. Scary.



Next time you get a tree hung up like that, try a plunged vertical snap cut. It should help keep your bar and chain from getting stuck. 

Nice score on the Larch!

Here's an example of that cut from YouTube


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