Rather you are working with a brand new tree, or an old one hauled one you hauled out of storage, the approach is the same.

Start out by inspecting the tree to make sure all of the parts are there and nothing is broken.

If it is a pre-lit tree take the time to plug the sections together and plug them in before you start. This way, if there is a problem with the lights, you can trouble shoot it before you are facing a fully fluffed and decorated tree.

Make sure that you have enough room in the chosen place for the tree. Both people and pets will need to be able to move freely around the tree, and there should be room for children to spread out, unwrap and pile presents.

Make sure the tree will be safe. Keep it well away from any possible danger areas such as too close to stairs or too close to a fireplace. Position it close enough to an outlet that you do not need to run an extension cord across a traffic path.

Plug any surge protector or extension cords you will need into wall outlets that might end up inconveniently located behind the tree when it is set up.

The first step is determine if you will need to lay out a floor cover. You will want to place something on the floor if you have wood flooring or are worried about possible floor damage from the tree stand. Once that is done situate your tree’s base and get the first section of the tree (if it is a multi-part tree) settled into the stand.

Now the fluffing and posing begins.

Take your time at this stage, think about how a real tree looks when you see it growing in the woods. Think of the kind of tree you would pick out on a tree lot. The wonderful thing about fake trees is that you can make them into any kind of tree you want to, and the more time you spend at this stage to perfect how the tree looks, the more impressive it will be when you add lights and decorations. The goal is for guests to question rather you have a real tree or a fake tree.

If your tree has layers of branches that fold up, then you want to fold up and secure all but the lowest level. You will work your way up the tree one level at a time. You also want to work on just one branch at a time.

Start at the back of the branch and shape so the small branch sections all spread out. For a real look refer to images of similar trees, for a custom look follow your imagination. If you want a fuller tree, and to hide the trunk area, you will want to lift and lower the back most pieces of the branch to fill in the center. This will help to make the tree look fuller and can hide a lot of sins in an imperfect tree core. With the back-most section arranged, arrange the branches out through the center of the branch in a scattered pattern, giving a fullness, while still looking like it was a random growth pattern. and then finish with the tops straight out for hanging garland and ornaments on.

Do not be in a hurry, particularly if this is the first time you have set up a fake tree. It is well worth the effort to take your time with each piece to get it positioned how you want it. Also, be sure that you step back away from the tree and look at it from different areas in the room on occasion. This will help you see where you need to make small adjustments that are easier to make as you are working on an area than to try to fill in the area later on.

Now is also a good time to consider if there are any special ornaments that need a specific size area for display. One year I made little burrow areas back into the tree and placed birds and squirrel figurines into ‘nests’. Do you want to put presents on the tree? Will you need to craft “shelves” for them to be set on?

Work around the tree branch by branch, then move to the next layer up and work your way around it in the same manner. Keep adjusting until the first section is finished, then add the next section to the tree and repeat the process with it. One layer at a time, one branch at a time.

If your tree has a small top section, do not put it on the tree. Hold it and adjust the branches. Near the very top you should work with an eye toward what kind of tree topper you are going to put on the top of the tree. Position the top branch pieces to best suit the tree topper. If you do not use a tree topper, then arrange the top to resemble the top of a natural tree. When it is properly fluffed and posed, place the top section on the tree and check the area where the branches meet the branches of the tree below it. Make any needed adjustments to best join the top to the tree so it looks natural.

Step back to several points in the room, both standing and seated, and examine the tree. Be critical of it and make any adjustments that are needed to finish the posing of the branches for the best effect.

You should now have a lovely tree ready to adorn with decorations.

Remember:

• Plug in any scooters or extension cords before you start setting up the tree
• Test the lights on pre-lit trees before you assemble the tree
• Work in layers – bottom to top
• Go slow
• Try to simulate the growth of a real tree
• Fluff and pose the top before you put it on the tree
• Step back occasionally to see it from other viewpoints

So, I have got the tree out of the basement and cleared an area in the living room where it will go. Unfortunately, a few years back one of the rows of lights on the tree stopped working. It is a pre-lit tree that has colorful lights already woven in to the branches. I know a lot of people that would get rid of the tree and buy a new one to replace it, however, this tree is one that me and my mom purchased to be the family Christmas Tree down through the years to come. The tree is in very good condition for its age, aside from the row of broken lights, so I have decided to transform it into an unlit tree so that it can serve its purpose as my tree for the years to come.

Throughout the night I have spent several minutes at a time carefully unwinding the lights from each of the branches of the tree. It is not an easy task, but once you understand how they were put on the tree, it is easier to take them back off. This particular tree, purchased I’m no longer sure how many years ago at Sears, has lights wrapped around the branches. Once you locate the end of the strand – the only one held in place by a clip, itis easy to simply untwist the lights.

When I finish I will see if I can repair the damaged lights,but I am not sure I will be able to, since I have tried to sort out how to fix them for the past 4 or so years. That was on the tree, however, so we’ll see once they are off of it if they are easier to trouble shoot.

Fracking

Fracking is the process of injecting highly pressurized fluids into a wellbore to fracture deep shale and release natural gas. In this process a wellbore is drilled into reservoir rock formations and highly pressurized fluids are injected into the reservoir, this creates new channels in the rock which increases the extraction rate of fossil fuels.

Widespread in the United States, there is some controversy about the process of hydraulic fracking. Questions about potential harmful side effects to the environment have raised concerns about the process and the possibility that fracking may cause contamination of waterways and groundwater tables.

The process begins with well construction. A well is drilled down vertically to the shale reservoir, then horizontally across the layer. Water, sand and chemicals are then pumped into the well to fracture the shale and release the fossil fuels. The well is constructed using a concrete casing to help contain both the fluids used in fracturing and the oil or gas from entering fresh water aquifer layers.

A “perforating gun” is used to inject the fracking fluids into the rock layer, the high pressures can cause fractures that can extend for up to several hundred feet through the shale. Between 15 and 80 percent of the fluids are extracted back out of the well and, in some cases, may be used on additional wells in the area.

Ban on Fracking

There is concern about the environmental impact of fracking, and these concerns have lead to a ban on the process in France until proof has been provided that the process will not damage the environment.

An article on Bloomberg early last month about the French ban on fracking quoted French President Nicolas Sarkozy as having stated, “This won’t be done until it has been shown that technologies used for development respect the environment, the complex nature of soil and water networks.”

Is fracking coming to Alaska?

While fracking is viewed with concern by places such as France, it is widespread in the United States. It may even be used on the North Slope in Alaska soon. In March of this year an article in the Alaska Dispatch revealed that a small Texas oil company might bring fracking to Alaska.

Great Bear Petroleum LLC, based out of Austin, Texas, seeks to use fracking on the North Slope to help boost the oil flow in Alaska. The company speculated that if Alaskan investors were to assist in financing more wells than the company could afford on their own, that there could be an estimate of up to 1 million barrels a day of oil flowing through the Alaska Pipeline.

A tempting prospect for the Alaskan economy, but would fracking be a good idea in Alaska when the latest concern about the process centers around the theory that fracking might be connected to earthquake activity?

Does fracking cause earthquakes?

Based on 2006 data from the Alaska Earthquake Information Center, Alaska has between 50 and 100 earthquakes every day. In an average year there are roughly 2,400 earthquakes in Alaska that range in magnitude from 2 to 8. Recent activity can be seen on the AEIC website for recent earthquakes in Alaska.

With so many naturally occurring earthquakes, should Alaska be quick to introduce processes that might trigger man-made earthquakes, even small ones?

It must be noted that fracking is not currently known to cause large scale earthquakes. In a Department of the Interior live chat about the East Coast earthquakes, Dr. Michael Blanpied, Associate Coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, explained that while fracking can cause very small earthquakes, it is not believed to cause larger earthquakes.

“The thing that can induce large earthquakes is the high pressure fluid injection, waste fluid injection, that’s done in some places,” said Blanpied. He went on to say, “And just to be clear, the connection between fracking and fluid injection and earthquakes is an area of active research and really we’re only starting to learn about how those things are connected.”

In a recent article in the New York Times on the earthquakes in England, Stephen Horton, a seismologist at the University of Memphis, said, “Generally speaking, fracking doesn’t create earthquakes that are large enough to be felt.” An article at Technorati about the earthquakes in Oklahoma quotes the Oklahoma Geological Survey’s statement on the possibility of recent earthquakes in the area of Garvin County, OK being connected to a nearby deep hydro-fracturing project: “…The strong correlation in time and space as well as a reasonable fit to a physical model suggest that there is a possibility these earthquakes were induced by hydraulic-fracturing.”

How strong are fracking induced earthquakes?

Connections between earthquakes and hydraulic fracking are still a new area of research, however, there is some evidence that the earthquakes produced by fracking are quite small. In the The SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee Ninety-Day Report of August 11, 2011 the subcommittee made note of several areas that could contribute to understanding the safety and risk of shale gas operations to the environment. Included in those projects was a need to understand the induced seismic activity that could be triggered by hydraulic fracturing and injection well disposal. A note connected to this point states:

“Extremely small microearthquakes are triggered as an integral part of shale gas development.
While essentially all of these earthquakes are so small as to pose no hazard to the public or
facilities (they release energy roughly equivalent to a gallon of milk falling of a kitchen counter),
earthquakes of larger (but still small) magnitude have been triggered during hydraulic fracturing
operations and by the injection of flow-back water after hydraulic fracturing. It is important to
develop a hazard assessment and remediation protocol for triggered earthquakes to allow
operators and regulators to know what steps need to be taken to assess risk and modify, as
required, planned field operations.”

What might the side effects of fracking be in Alaska?

Questions should be asked about the possible environmental impact of hydraulic fracking in the North Slope and the possible risks weighed against the potential benefits.

Earthjustice has a map of what it refers to as “Fraccidents” that have occurred in the United States. Their map lists incidents reported near an area where fracking is being used.

Earth Times brings up a subject that is of concern to all Alaskans, the possible impact of hydraulic fracturing on fish.

For those wanting to know more about risks of volatile organic compound (VOC) emission and hydraulic fracking, the EPA addresses the use of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, and VOC emissions in their 207 page technical support document on limiting VOC emissions in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector.

The SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee Ninety-Day Report of August 11, 2011 lists the four major areas of concern for the subcommittee as being:

1. Possible pollution of drinking water from methane and chemicals used in fracturing fluids
2. Air pollution
3. Community disruption during shale gas production
4. Cumulative adverse impacts that intensive shale production can have on communities and ecosystems

The SEAB report also notes: “Many in the concerned public use the word “fracking” to describe all activities associated with shale gas development, rather than just the hydraulic fracturing process itself. Public concerns extend to accidents and failures associated with poor well construction and operation, surface spills, leaks at pits and impoundments, truck traffic, and the cumulative impacts of air pollution, land disturbance and community disruption.”

Is fracking on the North Slope right for Alaska?

There is a balance that needs to be considered carefully in the introduction of hydraulic fracturing on the North Slope. Potential gains that will need to be measured against possible impacts to the environment.  Is a good idea for Alaska, or is fracturing something that Alaska should avoid until we have more information on the side effects to the environment in areas where fracturing is used?

Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments.