November 2026 | White Elk Forestry, LLC
Some jobs end up meaning a little more than just the work you showed up to do.
This past October, White Elk Forestry had the opportunity to complete a hazard tree removal contract for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Albeni Falls Dam, working across several campgrounds and recreation areas around Oldtown, Idaho, and Newport, Washington.
The job involved 56 hazard tree removals, but what made this one particularly memorable for me was getting to bring along my very first Forest Service saw partner, Julian Gluck.
Back to Where It Started
Julian and I first met working as Type 2 Initial Attack wildland firefighters on Idaho City Crew 3, out of the Boise National Forest.
We were saw partners back then, learning how to fell trees together, working long days in the woods, and figuring things out as we went. Like a lot of people who come up through wildland fire, we learned a lot from the work, but probably just as much from the people we worked alongside.
Eventually, we went our separate ways.
Julian went on to become a squad boss with the Idaho City Hotshots and later started his own wildfire mitigation company, Gluck Wildfire Defense, back in Boise.
I continued my own journey through wildland fire, commercial fishing, ironworking and forestry, eventually finding my way to Colorado and starting White Elk Forestry.
Different paths, but still doing a lot of the same work that got us started in the first place.
A Few Years and a Few Chainsaws Later
Fast-forward a few years, and there we were again, running saws together in northern Idaho.
Only this time, we weren’t the same two guys learning how to fell trees on the Boise National Forest. We showed up with our own saws, our own businesses, and a whole lot more experience and life behind us.
It was pretty cool getting to work alongside Julian again.
Between felling, limbing, bucking, and cleaning up hazard trees, we got to catch up on everything that had happened over the years. Different crews, different fires, starting our businesses, the challenges that come with working for yourself, and just life in general.
And somewhere in between all of that, we were right back to doing what we used to do together.
Running saws in the woods.
Funny How Things Come Around
One thing I’ve always appreciated about working in wildland fire and forestry is the people you meet along the way.
You spend enough time working alongside someone in the woods, especially on a fire crew, and those experiences tend to stick with you.
It’s a pretty small community, too. People move around, take different jobs, end up on different forests, and sometimes you cross paths again years later.
Who would have thought that two guys who learned to fell trees together on a Forest Service crew in Idaho would eventually go on to start their own forestry businesses, and then find themselves back in northern Idaho working together on a federal contract.
Same kind of work. Different chapter of life.
I’m grateful we had the chance to reconnect, catch up, and put some trees on the ground together again.
Hopefully, it won’t be another several years before the next one.
Chris
Owner-Operator
White Elk Forestry, LLC
whiteelkforestry.com
(207) 441-8299
chris@whiteelkforestry.com
