A bout 20 men, 10 youth and 2-3 women gathered at Camp Michigamme on the weekend of April 28-29 for the second annual "Hazard Tree Removal" work bee. I selected and marked the trees for removal on Friday. Many arrived Friday night for a hot dog roast at the fire pit and stayed in cabins on-site; others joined us Saturday morning for a long day of hard work. Mike Trevarthan from Iron Mountain First is a butcher and provided the hot dogs for the Friday night crew.

There were five or so present from Iron Mountain First; 5 or 6 from Iron Mountain Trinity; two from Manistique; two from Gladstone and several from Marquette with a group of Boy Scouts. There may have been a couple later arrivals from other nearby UMC's that I was unaware of. Terry and Sue Alexander run a tree trimming and removal business out of Rapid River and brought heavy equipment without which we absolutely could not have done the job: two high-lift bucket trucks (what a trip operating the bucket and working in the tree-tops!), a tracked bucket lift and chippers. Bill Westphal and his wife, from Manistique UMC, brought a wood splitter. Paul Poulson from Iron Mountain First brought a four-wheeler for skidding logs to the fire ring and to the splitter. Many brought personal chain saws and hand tools.

We spent the day felling dead, dying or diseased trees and moving those suitable for burning to the fire ring for bonfire use. We did the very same last spring, largely completing the task on the east end of the camp; this year we treated the west end of the camp up to Hilltop Chapel.

Debbie Gransinger was our cook and hostess - and did a wonderful job for the crew! We were very well fed.

It was an absolutely awesome time - to see our men “heave to" and work so eagerly and hard. We'd sure like to make this an annual project and maybe even expand it to a joint UMM-UMW opportunity to come serve at Camp Michigamme as couples.