The DR Mower is a big 400lb machine. From what I'm told, it's like a large lawn mower with a snowblower's front end and using it is very physical. But I've been told that the 200ft gain/ loss on either side of the Little Muskingum River flats is just too much for it. And I should look for some kind of way to ford it when the river is real low. The problem is that I can't guarantee that we can do that while we have access to federal property on both sides.
But I just got help from a colleague who lined me up two possibilities today. One is somebody in the area who owns a weed whacker and the other unit is in Michigan now and won't be back for a week. The problem with the weed whacker is that the flats are 1.1 miles long and the brush that has to get cut three feet wide is three feet tall itself. The only thing that we have going for it them is the fact that I can still see the forest floor though them, so it's not very thick. But I imagine that with two of us, it would probably take an hour and 20 minutes just to reach it on either end and an additional hour between the two of us to cleaning.
But it might be easier to ford the weed whackers across the Little Muskingum River from NFS property on Alexander Road in Lawrence Township of Washington County? When I was considering how the DR's might do it, the TMT and I discussed using a couple creek mouths that terminate into the river, but gradually incline from it back to the embankment. Maybe this is back on for the weed whackers and I need to go do some more in-person research?
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