Cedar bark harvesters tore long ribbons by backing downhill away from the tree

Evidence

A long scar runs up the tree across the way, a dull gray arrow of missing bark tapering off among the first branches, thirty feet up. The one who took this strip would have backed away, up the hill behind her, with the bark ribbon grasped in her hands, pulling until it tore loose. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1016

Categorization

• QUESTION: This bark-harvest technique needs verification and elaboration—how did stripping a running ribbon up 30 feet not kill the tree, and what did the cedar bark become?