Morbark chipper ‘Beevers’ its way through diseased and dying trees

Municipalities need to monitor the health of their urban forests and maintain them.

A healthy and sustainable urban forest is supported through a number of tree protection and preservation initiatives, including programs to manage pests and diseases, which can threaten the city’s tree canopy.

The Emerald Ash Borer, for example, is a non-native beetle that lives in ash trees and lays eggs on the bark and crevices that has been attacking trees in the city of Burlington, Ont. since 2010. The larvae then tunnel beneath the bark and feed on the layer of live cells and the sapwood, cutting off nutrients and water to the upper portions of the tree. The beetle has now been identified in pockets throughout the city, putting the population of ash trees, which make up about 13 per cent of the urban forest, at risk. Burlington will remove more than 3,000 trees this year.

To remove the trees, the city has contracted Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada, Limited, which is the Canadian branch of Davey Resource Group, a U.S.-based tree services company that was founded in 1880. Davey Tree Expert Co. of Canada has been serving residences and businesses in Canada since 1930. The company employs ISA Certified Arborists.

To grind up the infected trees, the company uses a Morbark Beever M12D. This chipper is ideal for municipalities, residential tree services, rental yards and utility line clearing, says Morbark’s Casey Gross, director of tree care products.

“The M12D is the backbone of 12-inch chippers here at Morbark,” says Gross. “This is the original Beever 12 that was started almost 40 years ago, so it was designed for the residential and municipal markets, handling typical green waste reduction with the ability to go up to 12 inches in diameter when needed.”

Though small, the machine is designed for durability and power; its chipper disc, for example, is 37 inches in diameter and the chipper disc material is two inches thick, Gross describes. It is ultrasonically tested and certified free of material defects. Four full-length, removeable paddles increase chip throwing velocity.

Adding to the machine’s durability is the machine’s channel frame. At six inches and eight pounds (15 centimetres and 17.6 kilograms), it extends beneath the infeed to provide support.

The Beever M12D’s folding infeed tray with single (top) feed wheel and straight, flowthrough infeed design increases material feed speed. Morbark’s TorqMax Top Feed Wheel Compression system with spring assisted down pressure generates more than 3,200 lb/ft of material pulling force.

“As well, the machine’s lift cylinder for the feed wheel helps give the feed system more crushing power for the wide crotches that need to be chipped without chainsaw trimming,” says Gross. “One last feature that makes this unit a market leader is the fact that we can go from an 89-hp gas engine all the way up to a 122-hp diesel to fit almost any application that a customer may have.”