Preserving contours when clearing trees of new build

[Tim Gallant]

I saw some photos of the tree clearing of 7 Mile Beach, and the place looks spectacular. I remember reading in Tom Doak's The Making of Pacific Dunes, how there was a lovely small feature in front of today's 11th green, and so they redirected traffic around so that they didn't mess it up.


Curious on a few things: is it impossible to save micro contours / features when you're clearing an entire forest? And if not, how does one go about protecting cool features? Rope it off / cones, etc?

[Tom_Doak]

I saw some photos of the tree clearing of 7 Mile Beach, and the place looks spectacular. I remember reading in Tom Doak's The Making of Pacific Dunes, how there was a lovely small feature in front of today's 11th green, and so they redirected traffic around so that they didn't mess it up.


Curious on a few things: is it impossible to save micro contours / features when you're clearing an entire forest? And if not, how does one go about protecting cool features? Rope it off / cones, etc?

One reason Pacific Dunes turned out so well was that the fire burned down the vegetation and we only had to clear small stumps. 


When you’ve got to get the root mat of a million pines, like Tara Iti, it’s way tougher.  You destroy the top 12 inches or so, and you just have to trust some good new wrinkles will emerge in that process.  You’ve also gotta find places to bury the debris that remains after burning, usually by digging a hole and then locating a new dune over the top of it.  That was one of Brian Slawnik’s big contributions to Tara Iti, being so good at it that I never had to worry much about that part.