Look at the size of that Cottonwood tree James cut down. It made such a thunderous noise that several neighbors checked in on them to find out what had happened. James called Heidi immediately just to let her know he was OK. He wanted to open up the canopy so his freshly planted Cedar trees would thrive. Check out the moss on the trees in the background. This is certainly a rain forest.
I'm not sure if the dark wood at the center of the log is a problem. The lumber companies call this "Poplar" and it's commonly used for making drawers, at least the parts that don't show from the outside. We counted the growth rings. There were only thirty rings, spaced about a half inch apart. So the diameter of this tree grew by one inch each year, for a total of 30 inches diameter.
Check out the rectangular black marks on edge of the stump. That's where he drove iron wedges in to force the tree to fall to the right. It fell to the left anyway.
