Chainsaw Safety Class - SAWW Level 101

Name: Chainsaw Safety Class - SAWW Level 101
Start: 2025-11-01T08:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-02T17:30:00-05:00
Location: Lussier Family Heritage Center

Schedule

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025 at 08:00 am to Sun, 02 Nov, 2025 at 05:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Lussier Family Heritage Center | Madison, WI

Join Dane County Parks and Luke Saunders of Blue Heron Stewardship for a FISTA-approved course providing certification through the Safety and Woods Working (SAWW) training program. Participants must 18 years of age or older by the class date in order to register.
*** Meeting Location: IMPORTANT NOTE - this class has two locations! ***
-- Participants will FIRST meet at the Lussier Family Heritage Center, located at: 3101 Lake Farm Rd, Madison, WI 53711
-- The field portion will be held at W.G. Lunney Lake Farm County Park. It may be necessary to drive/carpool to the cutting location.

The certification for SAWW Level 101 is equivalent to SAWW Level 1. Level 101 is geared toward participants with little or no experience running a chainsaw, covering Level 1 material at a more deliberate pace over two full training days, in a supportive and dynamic setting.
Topics covered include:
-- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
-- Chainsaw safety features
-- Parts of the cutter tooth, and reactive forces
-- Body mechanics and situational awareness
-- Starting, operating and moving with a chainsaw
-- Planning, executing tree felling: intro to the Felling Five plan
-- Planning, executing limbing and bucking: understanding Compression & Tension
-- Basic chainsaw maintenance
Level 101 introduces the participant to bore cutting and open face felling and develops the mechanics to execute these techniques. Hands-on training gives participants the opportunity to run the saw in various scenarios and observe others as we get comfortable with this powerful tool. Each participant must wear a safety helmet, and participants are encouraged to bring all PPE (helmet, eye protection, ear protection, chainsaw protective chaps, suitable footwear and gloves), chainsaw and any tools used to maintain the saw and sharpen chain. (BHS will have limited extra helmets, chaps and other PPE to share)
Registration required. For details on cost and to sign up, click the "Get Tickets" button. (You can also see a variety of other chainsaw classes offered for a range of experience levels.)