UF students volunteer to help clear fallen trees in Tallahassee area after Hurricane Michael

Calvin Carlson wasn’t surprised when he got the call.

After Hurricane Michael, his parents told him a 85-foot loblolly pine tree had fallen in his backyard.

The 21-year-old said his Tallahassee backyard was overtaken by the tree, which was about the same height as half of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Carlson, a UF forest resources and conservation junior, and five UF students drove to his house from Gainesville to remove the debris.

Although the loblolly pine was the biggest tree the group tackled, it was only one of seven the group removed in the capital Saturday, Carlson said.

In the span of over eight hours, UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation students cleaned up trees that had fallen on driveways, backyards and roofs in the area, Carlson said.

“It made me feel really good,” Carlson said. “It was nice to be able to get out and clean up my hometown.”

The students volunteered to do work that would have cost about $4,500, said Ryan Krammes, a 28-year-old UF forest resources and conservation junior.

Krammes said one of his favorite memories from the day was watching the rootball, the main mass of shrubs and roots, and base of a tree, fly up from the ground after cutting the base of a tree in a neighbor’s yard.

“Watching everybody work and everybody working together — it was really fun,” Krammes said.

Contact Dana Cassidy at dcassidy@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @danacassidy_

 

Ryan Krammes, a 28-year-old UF forest resources and conservation junior, used a chainsaw to separate a trunk in three parts, helping remove fallen trees in Tallahassee, Florida.