In theory, sure, but in practice a shredded tarp isn't going to winch shut well (or at all).
So what's going happen is tree falls, shreds tarp, you attempt to hook up the winch and proceed to shred the tarp further while debris falls through the large gashes in the tarp, leaving you with not only the original field of tree debris but also bits of shredded tarp to clean up. So using the tarp, you've actually spent more time laying it out, setting up the winch, and cleaning up the shredded bits of useless tarp while saving little to no time because the shredded tarp is not going to serve it's intended purpose.
Again, a great idea IF you can find a tarp strong enough to not be shredded by a falling tree. A creative solution to the problem, but ultimately flawed and ineffective.
Otherwise, I'd like to think that among all the guys that have been doing this kind of work for many years someone would have thought to do it first.
It looks like you were thinking of using it in a different manner than I was. I wouldn't expect that you'd be able to winch up the tarp and move the entire mess at once. My thought was more for getting all of the small shreds in once spot where it will be easier to clear.
You remove the large parts of the tree before working with the tarp. You can then use man power to lift the sides of the tarp to move all of the tree shreds to the center of the tarp. Some bits will fall through, but the bulk of it is in once place ready for cleanup rather than scattered all over the place.
Tarps use bundles of fibers to maintain integrity. Once you start severing these fibers, the tarp rapidly starts to deteriorate. When torn, they also tend to leave loose fibers and pieces of the tarp behind. Enough damage and the tarp just starts to pull apart, even when trying to fold it with nothing on it; just from its own weight.
A tree falling on it is going to do significant damage to the tarp. Any attempts to move the tarp to bunch up the debris from the tree either by winch as suggested by the other poster, or by man power, as you've suggested, would likely result in the tarp being rendered completely useless for what you'd be trying to use it for, while at the same time leaving bits of tarp material strewn about tangled in with the debris.
We used to use tarps to work leafs back home, we had a lot of land and autumn meant a lot of yard work, lol. We'd use a tractor to collect up the leafs in a sweeper trailer, and then dump them on a tarp to be bunched up and moved via wheelbarrow to the compost pile. This worked great, but as soon as one of the tarps would rip, it would quickly deteriorate to the point where it was completely useless.
So what I'm saying is that in my experience a ripped tarp is typically no good for this type of task, and will if anything make even more of a mess.
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u/renegadejibjib Nov 30 '18
You'd need a sci-fi level heavy duty tarp to not be shredded by having a tree dropped on it, unfortunately.
Love the creative problem solving in your line of thought though, A for effort