Big machines called feller bunchers can do most of the falling faster and more economically and they don't lose limbs or lives. But hand fallers are still used for places where accessibility warrants it like on steep hillsides and for smaller spot jobs.

Although strict standards and safety rules are in place within the industry, people like Roger Harris, local Liberal MLA for the northern coastal riding of the Skeena area, almost sliced his right hand off when his chainsaw kicked out of a cedar he was falling years ago on the Queen Charlotte Islands. He admits in the January 19, 2004 issue of Maclean's magazine to having attended too many funerals of friends that weren't as fortunate as himself to have survived this career.

When I caught up to Doug Hamblin's brothers, John and Bob, they told me "It's like the bush said, 'Hey, you got enough of us, now we're takin' you." Their brother Doug died in 1988 because he turned his back. (Although this "domino" style of cutting is banned by safety regulations, fallers still try to get away with it when they can)