Innovations in Conservation: Electric Chainsaws

By Jay Snowdon

In 2023, Tucson Audubon is highlighting how our conservation activities intersect with addressing climate change. Project Drawdown has compiled a list of the 100 most impactful activities to reduce atmospheric carbon. #10 on that list is distributed (aka rooftop) solar. Our offices at the Historic Y have large solar arrays on the roof providing most, if not all, of the power used by tenants. With this resource, it made sense to begin electrifying much of our ecosystem conservation equipment, including chainsaws. Happily, using electric chainsaws, instead of gas, has numerous ancillary benefits, including some peace and quiet and ability to hear nature while protecting it!
-- Jonathan Horst, Director of Conservation & Research

Listen to the new quiet in the field! WATCH the VIDEO

Tucson Audubon Society recently purchased a small fleet of electric chainsaws to aid in our work of revitalizing critical bird habitat throughout Southeast Arizona. I have been operating gas-powered two-stroke chainsaws to complete high-priority conservation projects around the US for over a decade, and after operating these new electric chainsaws for weeks, I am rapidly being convinced that our fellow conservation organizations should also seriously consider going electric. If any shop managers read this post, go ahead and reach out to me to pick my brain about the operational challenges and successes we have had so far (battery operating temperature thresholds, power, cutting efficiency, compatibility with existing tools and hardware, support services, etc). For now though, let me speak to our conservation readers and bird enthusiasts: this is by far the most sustainable and least ecologically damaging method of landscape-scale habitat restoration that I have been a part of.

Loftin Cudney, Joey Abercrombie, and Megan Ewbank of the Strike Team pose at the worksite with one of the new electric chainsaws.

The first thing you’ll notice, if you go out to one of our Invasive Plants Strike Team woody-invasives worksites, is how quiet it is (again, WATCH the VIDEO). On a typical gas powered chainsaw crew, the only thing you hear would be the 100+ dB whine of operating chainsaws and nominally quieter drone of idling chainsaws disrupting the peace of the surrounding habitat. In truth, with the proliferation of computerized automatic carburetors in most professional series chainsaws, many operators generally don’t turn the machine off if they are simply setting it down to prepare their site for more cutting operations because these newer saws have a tendency to not want to start again if they are even the slightest bit uncomfortable in their environment (too hot, too cold), to mildly anthropomorphize these little beasties. This results in a forest full of idling chainsaws, which is not only taxing to the operators’ senses, but is also one of the largest contributing factors to many land managers restricting chainsaw operations during bird migration seasons, which in turn results in shorter saw seasons and fewer opportunities for habitat restoration.

Quieter chainsaws mean that not only can the birds hear each other, but the sawyers can also better hear the birds and have a deeper appreciation for the habitat in which they are working. Because there is no idling for an electric machine, as soon as a cut is made, the chainsaw essentially turns off and you can instantly hear everything around you, from our beautiful Vermilion Flycatchers to the wing beats of a flock of doves as they get chased by a Cooper’s Hawk (albeit a bit muffled, since we still wear ear protection rated to at least 26dB NRR).

Staff Member Joey Abercrombie bucking a recently felled invasive Tamarisk tree.

From the operator’s perspective, one of the other noticeable characteristics that I have found quite entertaining is being able to better understand the trees I am felling. For any given tree that must be removed, I must understand a variety of different forces, characteristics, and hazards. Before I even begin cutting, I have an intimate understanding of the wood quality, moisture content, bind potential, and to use a frequent birder’s term, the gestalt of the tree. With the electric chainsaws, I am not only able to be a safer operator because I can better hear my surroundings and what the tree (and surrounding trees) is doing, but what I have found most interesting is that I can also smell my environment and the cutting wood because of the lack of exhaust fumes, and this can give more clues as to the wood quality and tree behavior as I continue cutting the tree.

These benefits of noise reduction and chemical exposure reduction (gasoline is one of the most toxic chemicals humans are regularly exposed to) greatly improve the health and safety of the operations of our conservation crews, as well as the native plants and animals that call those habitats home. On a larger scale, we are also able to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and help be a part of the solution to the global climate crisis. In fact, with the purchase of a 2000Wh battery pack to charge the smaller chainsaw batteries, and charging that battery pack mainly off of the solar panels at our offices in the Historic Y in downtown Tucson, we have significantly reduced the carbon output of our conservation programming by eliminating the need for gasoline to power our chainsaws.

I am personally very excited to be a part of such a forward-thinking initiative and look forward to the next innovation in conservation and how Tucson Audubon can help lead the way.

One of Tucson Audubon's new electric chainsaws with solar-charged battery pack charging a couple saw batteries at a project site.

Banks of photovoltaic solar panels atop the Tucson Audubon Nature Shop and offices at the Historic Y building in downtown Tucson.

Jay Snowdon is Tucson Audubon's Invasive Plants Project Manager.