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This is a photo of a poison ivy vine that was chainsawed along with the tree that it was climbing upon.

I had a conversation with the fellow who runs one of America's leading poison ivy control services.

He grew up very much an outdoor kid, had constant contact with poison ivy, while hunting, fishing and just generally being an All-American kid.

It has been an absolute rule for over a century: "Leaves of three, let them be." 

Poison ivy has only three leaves (actually leaflets) in a group. And that is still true about 99.9999% of the time.

When you cut down a tree, the sudden presence of sunlight encourages poison ivy vines to grow into the gap.

Here is a stump where the  white snow highlights how the vines, with nowhere to climb, start reaching in all directions, looking for something else to climb up.