The U.S. Forest Service released a longawaited proposal to update the landmark Northwest Forest Plan, but many groups are unsure of its future with a new administration coming to power in 2025.
The document lays out four alternatives for future management of national forests in Washington, Oregon and California by updating a 1994 law crafted by the Clinton administration. Timber harvests dropped dramatically in subsequent years, spurring political backlash.
A 120-day public comment has begun that the agency says will help shape a final plan, anticipated for 2025.
While each alternative aims to reduce wildfires, address climate change and work more closely with tribes — elements that were not part of the original plan — there are differences among the alternatives in terms of how much logging or forest management is allowed on the 24.5 million acres of federally managed forest.
Environmental groups, some of whom helped drive creation of the original plan in response to the loss of old-growth forest and decline of the spotted owl, expressed concern given a second Trump administration likely would seek a more aggressive approach toward timber harvest.
The American Forest Resource Council, a trade group for timber producers that worked on an advisory panel for creation of the proposal, said the process represented a careful negotiation
“Ultimately, we want to see a modern approach to federal forest stewardship that protects us from catastrophic wildfires, reduces toxic smoke, meaningfully engages Tribes, and delivers for our rural communities and workers,” said AFRC president Travis Joseph.
One alternative would leave the national forest plans essentially as they are now.
A second alternative is based on the recommendations of the advisory panel The plan is viewed as a compromise between groups calling for more active forest management and those wanting to maintain current levels of protection on Northwest forests.
It would alter the original Northwest Forest Plan in a few ways. For one, it would give Tribes a greater role. It also would seek to conserve and recruit mature and oldgrowth forest conditions, restore ecosystem resilience to wildfire made worse by climate change and provide a predictable supply of timber to “support community sustainability.” the plan said. It also would prioritize reducing wildfire risk in areas that affect
communities and infrastructure and improve the consistency and reliability of timber harvests to support communities..
A third alternative calls for less forest management and logging, and a fourth alternative supports greater forest management in order to increase timber production and reduce wildfires.
During former President Donald Trump’s first term, administration officials sought to open millions of acres of West Coast forest to new logging by stripping habitat protections for the spotted owl. The move was opposed by government biologists and reversed under President Joe Biden.
Timber Group Sees Opportunity with Trump
The timber industry views the incoming administration of former President Donald Trump as an opportunity. Nick Smith, a spokesman for American Forest Resource Council, a group that represents logging interests, anticipates renewed emphasis on active forest management on federal lands.
“The first Trump Administration struggled to organize itself and to implement its land management and natural resource policies,” observed Smith. “They won’t make the same mistakes in pursuing their regulatory agenda.”
Smith expects reversals of Biden administration political initiatives such as the National Old Growth Amendment and the Bureau of Land Management Public Lands Rule, regulations that prioritize forest health for wildlife and carbon capture.
He also anticipates amendments to the “Eastside Screens,” a regulation that limits the logging of old-growth and large trees in six national forests in Oregon and Washington.
A greater emphasis will be placed on wildfire suppression and forest thinning, including more initial attack rather than managed fires that allow wildfires to burn, said Smith.
Calif. Monument Would Hinder Wildfire Mitigation
California forest sector leaders today cautioned President Joe Biden that using Antiquities Act authorities to create a new Sáttítla National Monument will significantly complicate efforts to mitigate severe wildfires, protect communities, and restore forest health in northern California.
The monument proposal spans over 200,000 acres of federal land within the
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Editor: Tim Cox, tim@forestnet.com
Contributing Editors: Dawn Killough, Mary Bullwinkel, Sydney Gleason
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Klamath, Modoc, and Shasta-Trinity National Forests
The proposed monument area includes, or is adjacent to, more than a dozen highrisk “firesheds” that have been targeted for accelerated forest health treatments under President Biden’s own Wildfire Strategy.
Adding more restrictions to managing this landscape through a monument designation will place tribal, cultural, and environmental values and communities at risk, according to a letter sent to President Biden from American Forest Resource Council (AFRC) president Travis Joseph and California Forestry Association (Calforests) president/CEO Matt Dias.
The organizations raised concerns about how the national monument designation could overlap and thwart current Biden Administration initiatives, including the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, the National Old Growth Amendment, and the Northwest Forest Plan Amendment.
“While we share the values of clean air, water, and healthy ecosystems, we believe that addressing wildfire risks requires intentional, science-based, proactive actions on the ground,” Joseph and Dias wrote. “Yet, we cannot identify a successful example of a national monument created by a presidential proclamation at this scale that has resulted in focused, accelerated, timely, proactive action on the ground to address our wildfire and forest health crises.
“In fact, quite the opposite. Examples include the Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument that was severely burned in the August Complex Wildfire (2020) and the lengthy list of wildfires in the Sequoia National Monument.”
Oregon Judge Tosses School District Lawsuit
A circuit court judge in northwest Oregon dismissed a tiny school district’s case against the state over new limits on logging that could lead to reduced funding for the district.
The Jewell School District, a single school serving 124 students in Clatsop County, funds its current $4.3 million budget entirely with timber revenue from state forest harvests. Clatsop County is one of 13 Forest Trust Land Counties that has, for about the last 80 years, gotten a portion of revenue from timber harvests on state forests within the counties.
District leaders argued that the Oregon Department of Forestry will cause it and the forestry department serious financial harm
by allowing a habitat conservation plan to move forward that would reduce logging about 35 percent in the Clatsop State Forest.
The Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan, approved in March, will scale back logging an average of 20 percent on 630,000 thousand acres of western state forests for the next 70 years to protect 17 threatened or endangered species.
In their lawsuit, district leaders argued that the Oregon Department of Forestry would renege on its legal duty to adequately fund itself. About 98 percent of operating and administrative costs for managing state forests is paid for with timber revenue from logging on those forests. A 2010 administrative rule mandates that the Oregon Department of Forestry harvest enough timber from state forests to fulfill its obligations to manage the forests. The suit alleged that the harvest levels proposed in the habitat conservation plan fail to do that.
Clatsop County Circuit Court Judge Beau Peterson ruled that there was not enough evidence that the forestry department couldn’t find other cost-saving or revenue-generating activities to make up for any lost revenue from the habitat plan.
Timberlab Plans New Plant, Acquires Mill
Portland-based Timberlab announced its planned construction of a new crosslaminated timber (CLT) plant, located in Millersburg, Oregon. Timberlab, a maker of mass timber systems, also acquired the former Interfor sawmill in Philomath to support its new plant.
The new plant is expected to produce 100,000 cubic meters of CLT products each year. With cutting-edge automation and an efficient design, the plant is projected to create 100 manufacturing jobs at peak operation, positioning it as one of the largest CLT producers in the U.S. It is expected to be
operational in early 2027
Swinerton Inc. launched Timberlab in 2021 to be a provider of mass timber systems with in-house timber engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation services for construction projects across the U.S. Timberlab was reorganized this year, allowing for an expansion and creation of Timberlab Laminators to focus on manufacturing operations while Timberlab continues to provide in-house engineering, procurement, and installation services.
Timberlab plans to tap into the local talent pool, collaborate with the research activities at nearby Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, and work
with the region’s forestry growers, harvesters, mills, transportation networks, and community members.
Montana Governor Blasts Forest Service over Fires
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte blasted the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in a letter for mismanagement and an unwillingness to aggressively fight fires on federal land.
“The State of Montana is committed, and will continue, to show up and fight fire aggressively and safely within its wildfire protection,” the governor wrote. “It is my expectation that the USFS meet that same commitment within its jurisdiction and responsibility as well. However, as we discussed, I have concerns about several fires this season where USFS is not being honest with the public and partners about its suppression strategies.”
In the letter to Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, the governor criticized the agency for not honoring longstanding cost share agreements, a lack of transparency, and for not aggressively attacking fires under its jurisdiction.
Under a new interpretation of cost share agreements, the agency proposed that Montana pay for a third of the firefighting costs on the recent Horse Gulch fire, even though less than 1 percent of the fire burned on lands under state protection. The Horse Gulch fire near Helena burned more than 15,000 acres in August and is estimated to cost $25 million.
The governor also raised concerns about the leadership and effectiveness of Regional Forester Leanne Marten. Specifically, he pointed to instances where Marten framed fire monitoring as full suppression.
Montana Mill Closures To Trim Timber Harvest
The closure of mills in Montana –Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula and Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake – put 250 workers out of a job this year.
Samuel Scott, a forest economist with the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, says the mill closures could lead to a 20 percent reduction in Montana’s timber harvest if the forest products industry isn’t able to add processing capacity.
Scott said a reduction in harvest would impact industry and government’s ability to manage forests for fuel reduction and wildfire risk
“That’s not saying this is going to happen immediately. This is sort of a worst case
scenario of where we could be headed if nothing changes,” said Scott.
Scott said the total economic benefit of the former mills, which included business supported by the mills and workers’ spending, was over 900 jobs and more than $40 million a year to the Montana economy.
Pyramid Mountain began auctioning off its machinery and equipment recently. The company says the mill is working with a potential buyer and that they would likely bring in all new equipment if they complete the purchase.
Forest Service Awards Grants for Hauling Fuels
The U.S. Forest Service awarded $20 million to transport hazardous fuels from forests to facilities for processing into wood products or energy sources. The awards fund 66 projects in 13 states and increase the pace and scale of Wildfire Crisis Strategy while providing economic benefits to local communities and businesses.
“We are working to proactively improve the health and resiliency and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire on national forests by removing woody debris that can easily fuel large fires near communities,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “The additional benefit is supporting wood product industries and rural economies by transporting the wood to a facility where it will be used to benefit communities.”
These selected projects will help support critical wood products industries and underserved communities by providing jobs – especially in rural areas that may be impacted by mill closures. In addition, some of these projects provide firewood which many tribal communities need to heat their homes during the winter months.
In 2023, transportation assistance grants helped move almost 250,000 tons of hazardous fuels from nine national forests to facilities that produced lumber, energy, peeled poles, firewood and animal bedding.
Environmentalists Oppose Plan to Kill Barred Owls
Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit to stop a plan to kill barred owls, which is part of a federal plan to save endangered spotted owls.
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington state challenging a plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to kill a maximum of 450,000 barred owls over the next 30 years.
Northern spotted owl populations
have been rapidly declining due in part to competition from invasive barred owls, which originate in the eastern U.S. Northern spotted owls are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
“This inhumane, unworkable barred owl kill-plan is the largest-ever scheme to slaughter raptors in any nation by a country mile,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the two Washington, D.C.-based environmental groups. “It has a zero percent chance of
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success, but it will produce an unheard-of body count of a long-protected owl species native only to North America.”
The Fish & Wildlife Service has worked for years on a plan that would remove less than one-half of 1 percent of the North American barred owl population. It said the barred owls were one of the main factors driving the rapid decline of northern and California spotted owls.
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New Arizona Mill Starts Operations
Plant for Restoration Forest Products Is Largest Sawmill Ever Built in the State
By Tim Cox, Editor
BELLEMONT, Arizona
– Restoration Forest Products Group is ramping up production of a new sawmill in Arizona, an ambitious undertaking linked directly to restoring the health of national forest lands in the region. The mill is also notable for
its centerpiece machine centers supplied by Wood-Mizer.
“As Arizona’s largest forest restoration organization, we operate the largest single sawmill ever constructed in the state of Arizona,” said Tony Flagor, CEO of Restoration Forest Products. “Our goal is to build an organization that efficiently utilizes fiber from the world’s largest contiguous
ponderosa pine forest – 2.4 million acres – in a way that adds value to the communities, state, and the organization.”
The road to where it is now had some bumps and hurdles. Restoration Forest Products Group was founded in 2008 as a sustainable forestry and wood products manufacturing company. It has undergone many iterations to become what it is now. In January this year the company initiated a consensual prepackaged court-supervised process under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code; it emerged from Chapter 11 in April. Now the company has a “much
Centerpiece of the Restoration Forest Products sawmill is the Wood-Mizer TV6000 – the mill has two of them for primary and secondary breakdown. Twin band saws remove a flitch on each side after chip heads open two faces.
stronger balance sheet to ensure this important work continues,” said Flagor, who joined the company in January.
Bellemont is located in north-central Arizona, about 13 miles west of Flagstaff. The mill – real estate and mill equipment –represents a capital investment in excess of $300 million. The company had developed a temporary mill before committing to one site and pooling resources to equip one facility for all its sawmill and remanufacturing operations.
The company purchased a vacant building that was previously used as an
The Restoration Forest Products mill will aid the Four Forest Restoration Initiative of the U.S. Forest Service, a landscape-scale effort to restore four national forests spanning 2.4 million acres.
industrial paper products finishing plant.
The 425,000-square-foot plant is located on 35 acres, and the company leases 40 adjoining acres for its log yard.
The last major piece of equipment – a debarker — was installed in September. “We have been operating the facility as a complete operation for just a few weeks,” Flagor said when he talked with TimberWest in early November, “making incredible improvements in safety, production, quality, and product value.” When operating a peak capacity, the plant is expected to process about 120 million board feet of ponderosa pine annually. The equipment is designed to operate two shifts in the sawmill, planer mill, and the engineered wood products facility.
Restoration Forest Products, a member of the Western Wood Products Association, has about 170 employees but expects to employ just over 200 when the mill is
operating at full capacity; about 140 people work in the mill facilities, and the other 30 are employed in the logging and trucking operations.
“Our company’s mission was to establish an operation that enhances forest restoration capacity within the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) footprint, contributing to the cumulative industry capacity needed to achieve the initial 4FRI goal of treating 50,000 acres per year,” said Flagor.
The 4FRI is an initiative of the U.S. Forest Service. Four national forests spanning 2.4 million acres – the Kaibab, Coconino, Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto – are engaged in a collaborative, landscapescale effort designed to restore fire-adapted ecosystems. The forests have been degraded by unsustainable historical land uses and fire
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exclusion. The result is overgrown forests with thin, unhealthy trees and the threat of unnaturally severe wildfires, which have burned over a quarter million acres in surrounding Coconino County since 2010.
Through ongoing cooperation with a diverse group of stakeholders, the four forests are working to plan and carry out landscape-scale restoration of the ponderosa pine forests in northern Arizona. Appropriatelyscaled business and industry will play a key role in this effort by harvesting, processing, and selling wood products. This will reduce treatment costs and provide restoration-based work opportunities that will create jobs.
lands. “Our relationships with Region 3 of the U.S. Forest Service, other Forest Service personnel, and the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management are incredible,” said Flagor. “They have been better partners than I ever imagined. We fully understand that as partners, we share the
‘Our goal is to build an organization that efficiently utilizes fiber from the world’s largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest –2.4 million acres – in a way that adds value to the communities, state, and the organization.’
Tony
Flagor,
CEO Restoration Forest Products
“Our build was extremely unique in nature,” said Flagor. The company turned to Wood-Mizer for new equipment for primary breakdown, edging, and gang sawing, and invested in a new planer from Gilbert, a Canadian manufacturer. Most of the remaining equipment was purchased in used condition and refurbished prior to installation. “We partnered with a variety of sub-contractors,” said Flagor. A company employee oversaw the project and installation.
The plant is dedicated exclusively to processing ponderosa pine. Log specs are 5-20 inches in diameter and up to 16 feet in length. “The mill was specifically designed with the forest’s tree stand profiles in mind, enabling us to best serve our mission of restoration,” said Flagor.
Logs are sourced 100 percent from the U.S. Forest Service and the national forest
same mission: solving the wildfire crises in Arizona, protecting the state’s watersheds, and safeguarding our communities.”
Besides harvesting timber on national forest lands, the company also buys gate logs from independent logging contractors. Flagor refers to them as “Restoration” contractors. “Our logging ‘Restoration Partners’ and contracting partners are essential to this critical journey.”
Wood-Mizer built its reputation on portable band sawmills but has moved into the arena of manufacturing industrial sawmill equipment. The decision to invest in Wood-Mizer equipment, made before Flagor joined the company, “was unique in nature,” he noted. “It posed an opportunity with innovation to handle the diameter distribution and length structure that we required.” With two primary breakdown systems, two gang saws and two board edgers, the company can simultaneously cut a range of different thickness material. “It gives us that flexibility.”
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Two-sided cant travels along waterfall material handling system en route to scanner. Machine centers are optimized with Joe Scan scanners and Nelson Brothers optimization.
•
• Flexible Control Modes
• Integrated Energy Management System
• Retrofitted to Any Kiln Regardless of Manufacturer
•
Material exiting the Wood-Mizer MR6000 gang saw.
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Wood-Mizer industrial products are heavy-duty solutions for high-throughput sawmill applications. They are designed to operate as standalone units that can be used in existing saw lines or form an entire line that can be customized.
The Wood-Mizer TV6000 – the mill has two of them – features heavy duty, automated
infeed and outfeed systems. It can handle small to medium diameter logs with a maximum length of nearly 22 feet. The twin band mills achieve equal open face cutting using a fast, accurate log loading system coupled with pressurized hold-down rollers and a sharp feed chain.
The mill is currently taking cut-to-length 16-foot logs, so no log merchandiser is needed.
Logs being processed first go through a
Nicholson A5 debarker. From the debarker, logs are fed to one of the two Wood-Mizer TV6000 systems for primary and secondary breakdown. Lindex chip heads from Lindsay Forest Products open two faces on the log, and Wood-Mizer vertical twin band mills remove a flitch on each side. The side boards are routed to a Wood-Mizer EA6000 edger.
The two-sided cants produced from each line are turned onto a side merge onto the
Two-sided cant is fed into one of the two Wood-Mizer ‘bull’ edgers.
same cant deck and are conveyed on a single belt line. They are fed to one of two WoodMizer ‘bull’ edgers that squares the cant and feeds it inline to a Wood-Mizer MR6000 gang saw.
The lumber travels to a tong loader and trimmer before it is collected in a 32-bin sorter. Packets of lumber are dropped and transferred to a sticker-stacker in preparation for kiln-drying.
All the lumber production processes are optimized with Joe Scan scanners and Nelson Brothers optimization.
All lumber production is kiln-dried in the company’s 12 new Nyle front-loading kilns, which are heated with gas. Drying cycles range from three to five days. The 12 kilns have a combined annual drying capacity of 120 million board feet.
Kiln-dried lumber is fed to a tilt-hoist to remove stickers and then a Gilbert highspeed planer for surfacing. The surfaced lumber is read by a Comact scanner before a drag-chain bin sorter, and the finished lumber is eventually stacked, packaged, and banded.
The mill also has extensive equipment and remanufacturing operations to produce engineered wood products and pattern stock. Finished lumber is graded to optimize three chop lines cutting material to feed a 24-foot finger jointing line, and additional chop saw lines equipped with WEINIG and Paul Saws machine. Other equipment includes horizontal resaws for rough face and specialty cuts, multi-rips, two moulders, and edge gluing. The mill also has a paint line.
Target products include premium fascia, patterns, specialty cut stock, and boards. “We are exploring options to supply feed stock to large, established organizations,” said Flagor, “helping to leverage their success and build strong partnerships.”
The region’s ponderosa pine grows at elevations from 7-11,000 feet. “We offer a unique, tight grained, slow-grown product,” said Flagor. “Our vision is to focus on balanced boards and specialty products, leveraging a variety of avenues to market.”
Cut-to-length logging is done by logging contractors. Some Restoration Forest Products crews work behind company loggers or contract loggers to clean up sites and prepare them for replanting.
The company’s wood crews are equipped with a John Deere feller buncher, John Deere and Cat loaders, and three grinders: two CBI machines and a Vermeer grinder. The trucking operations have 14 semi-tractors and 23 trailers, an assortment of chip vans and log trailers.
The company’s mission statement calls for sustainably managing forests “to mitigate wildfires and protect watersheds, enhancing community safety and promoting economic growth.”
It has been a challenging project, observed Flagor. “Building a sawmill in a state that hasn’t had a facility of any scale since the early 1990s — with employees who have never worked in the industry, utilizing experimental sawmill equipment, and relying 100 percent on U.S. Forest Service timber supplies — has been a Herculean task. The incredible commitment, dedication, and clarity of vision by all stakeholders have led us to where we are today.”
Flagor has 25 years of experience in sawmill operations, including plant and
production management positions at Boise Cascade, Interfor, Roseburg Forest Products, Swanson Group and Potlatch. He previously worked as a region manager for Boise Cascade, responsible for operations across five mills in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
“As a restoration company, we are changing forest management with a first-of-itskind restoration scorecard that involves all partners, ensuring our restoration standards exceed all stakeholder expectations.”
‘Good Timing’ Leads Montana Trucker Back into Logging
By Dawn Killough
KALISPELL, Montana
– Adam Bishop wasn’t thinking about starting his own logging business when opportunity knocked. He owned a truck and contracted to haul
timber for loggers. In a slow market one of his customers mentioned that he wanted to sell his business and asked Bishop if he’d be interested in buying it. The sale included three pieces of equipment and two contracts. Bishop said yes and started Adam Bishop Logging a year ago.
Bishop, 44, currently has two employees, his son, Dawson, 19, and an uncle, Shawn Bishop, and was planning to hire another worker in the near future. He contracts another logger for timber felling services; Bishop and his small crew do the rest. Thad Jordt does the felling with a Timbco
Adam Bishop Logging is, from left, Adam Bishop, his son, Dawson, and Bishop’s uncle, Shawn Bruch, shown with company’s John Deere 748L-II skidder.
445EXL track feller buncher. Bishop’s son gets the wood to the landing with a John Deere 748L-II skidder. His uncle, Shawn Bruch, processes the trees with a John Deere 2154D swing machine paired with a 622B Waratah 622B attachment. Bishop sorts and stacks the logs and loads trucks with a Doosan DX225 track loader. The company also is equipped with a John Deere bulldozer for building roads. The three men have completed seven jobs this year, harvesting a mixture of Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, spruce, and cedar on state lands.
Bishop already had logging experience when he decided to buy out the contractor. He comes from a family of loggers. He
started working for his grandfather, Marlowe Bruch, when he was a teen. “My grandpa got into it in the seventies, and I jumped in with him in the mid-nineties, going up to help him out when I was a teenager. Right out of high school, I went full-time logging for him.”
After about six years his grandfather was bought out by Bishop’s uncles, shortly after he went into logging full-time, and he worked for them for almost 20 years, operating processors and loaders. He bought a processor in 1999 and ran that for his uncles as a subcontractor. In 2004 he purchased a logging truck. As the market began to soften, Bishop contracted to haul logs for other companies.
Then he got the offer to buy out an existing business. His main customer told him he was downsizing, so Bishop went looking for other work. “I ended up at another job and he brought it up to me. He said he was getting ready to sell out and asked if I’d be interested. And I was like, well, that’s actually kind of good timing.” His son had started working for him right out of high school, and he hired his uncle from the business he bought out.
Adam Bishop Logging works within a radius of about 100 miles from Kalispell. A typical job is about 250 acres, with the
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John Deere 748L-II skidder forms big pile of logging slash. The debris is piled and eventually burned.
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majority being flat ground. Species include western larch, Douglas fir, spruce, lodgepole pine, grand fir, and some cedar. Almost all the saw timber they harvest goes to a Weyerhaeuser mill in Evergreen. Pulp is delivered to a Weyerhaeuser pulp mill in Columbia Falls. The slash from logging jobs is piled on-site and eventually burned.
When Bishop talked to TimberWest, the crew was working on a 150-acre tract about 35 miles from Kalispell. They were selectively harvesting a mix of species over flat ground, producing 900-1,000 tons a week. About 80 percent of the wood was saw logs and the other 20 percent pulp.
Bishop likes the production efficiency and durability of the John Deere 748L-II skidder. “It’s got lots of power. It can move a lot of wood. It’s been very reliable and durable, and it’s comfortable to run.”
The John Deere 748L-II skidder boasts 263 horsepower. The continuously variable transmission automatically senses the load and adjusts the torque and tractive effort as needed to maintain the operator-set maximum speed. The feature reduces engine wear, optimizes fuel use, and eliminates the need for manual shifting, making operator training easier and quicker and speeding up production. The skidder has simplified
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John Deere 2154D swing machine paired with a 622B Waratah 622B attachment does the processing at the landing.
Working side by side at a landing are John Deere 2154D swing machine with a 622B Waratah 622B head processing the wood, and a Doosan DX225 track loader sorting and stacking logs.
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electrical and hydraulic system routing to make maintenance easier, as well as providing additional protection for these systems to minimize wear and tear.
John Deere includes additional technology in their base model, including telemetric tracking of equipment location, operational status, and efficiency metrics, and remote diagnostics and manufacturer support that can often warn of an issue before it becomes a problem.
Optional features are available to help loggers plan and track production. A maps feature gives operators real-time production views, optimizes routes, and connects equipment through wireless connections to coordinate operations. An additional webbased job management application includes remote equipment monitoring, progress tracking, real-time production data, maps, and tools for optimizing the efficiency of a fleet. Operators can mark hazards, obstacles, and challenging terrain for the whole crew to see. All of which helps loggers streamline communications and increase productivity.
One of the selling points that helped Bishop make the decision to buy the company was the fact that it came with two contracts already in place. “One was through Pyramid Timber down in Seeley Lake, that just closed, and the other piece was with Weyerhaeuser.”
Bishop has two log trucks, a Kenworth T800 and a Kenworth T800 lowboy. “I use trucking contractors now and then but try to do the majority of the hauling myself,” he said.
Bishop relies on John Deere dealer RDO Equipment for parts and service on his John Deere equipment. He also does business with Northwest Parts & Equipment and Western States Cat.
Most of the jobs Bishop has bid on since then have come with roads already constructed, so they’ve only had to do light maintenance on them. If they can’t handle the needed construction, they hire another contractor with a grader or whatever equipment is needed. They work through the snowy winter but shut down for a while in the spring when the ground is too wet and muddy.
Bishop has a 22-year-old daughter, Madeline, who recently gave birth to Bishop’s first grandchild and is getting married in the spring. Bishop’s mother, Rene, keeps the books for the business.
Bishop used to be into stock car racing, but now just enjoys riding side-by-side all terrain vehicles and boating in the summer at a local lake. He is also a member of the Montana Logging Association.
Another logger, Thad Jordt, does the felling with a Timbco 445EXL track feller buncher.
Heidi Schmidt Marks 20 Years at Opticom Tech
Opticom Tech announced the 20th anniversary of Heidi Schmidt, a leader in the video technology industry.
With two decades of expertise, Schmidt has made significant contributions to the fields of CCTV, industrial video applications, product development, and video network solutions.
As a sales leader at Opticom Tech, she has been instrumental in helping customers implement solution-driven video monitoring in some of the most unique and harsh industrial environments.
Schmidt has continuously pushed the boundaries regarding the different uses of video technology, staying ahead of trends and driving innovation in industrial monitoring. From designing custom systems to managing complex integration into existing systems, she has a deep understanding of the technical challenges and solutions that the industrial sector requires.
Weyerhaeuser Staff Honored
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte came to the Weyerhaeuser MDF plant in Columbia Falls to read a forest products week proclamation.
Then he gave his annual Forest Products Award to Shaney Neuharth, the area raw materials manager for the company.
“I’m so surprised,” said Neuharth, who has worked at the plant for 29 years, starting when it was owned earlier by Plum Creek. “Our whole team is recognized.”
The honorees of the award included Neuharth, Zack Miller, Milo Funk, and Jacob Parent.
Miller and Parent focus on sustainable forest management and raw material procurement to ensure non-sawlog materials are used productively.
Funk manages by-product procurement, handling over 400,000 tons annually, and Neuharth leads initiatives to utilize slash material for heating systems, reducing reliance on natural gas and lowering emissions.
Hampton Lumber Donates to Health Center, Pharmacy
Hampton Lumber has made an extraordinary contribution to
the new Nehalem Bay Health Center and Pharmacy by donating the lumber needed to construct the 16,000-square-foot facility in Wheeler, Oregon.
The new medical center and pharmacy is under construction and is scheduled to open in September 2025. The new health center will replace and dramatically upgrade a small, aging clinic.
The value of the donated material is in excess of $50,000.
“This is simply an extraordinary contribution from Hampton Lumber to our project and to the community,” said Marc C. Johnson, president of the Nehalem Bay Health District, the owner and developer of the new Health Center.
Hampton Lumber’s gift allows the health district to conserve some portion of the bond funds approved by voters in 2023 in order to facilitate other district priorities.
The lumber used on the project will be manufactured at Hampton Lumber’s mill in Warrenton, Oregon.
OTR Appoints Dembe VP of Construction OEM Sales
Michael Dembe has joined OTR Engineered Solutions (OTR) as vice president of OEM sales for the company’s construction segment.
“OTR is thrilled to have Michael join our sales team,” said Ben Brown, global vice president of OEM sales and marketing. “Michael’s industry and product knowledge and experience is an invaluable asset to help us achieve our goals and objectives moving forward.”
Dembe has worked in the off-road tire and track industry since 1995. He gained experience in various management and director roles for large companies, primarily within their off-road divisions. He has worked with OEM customers, as well as fleets and dealers, with proven success in sales, management, and strategic roles.
OTR Engineered Solutions is a market-leading global enterprise specializing in off-the-road tire, wheel, and track solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarkets.
Known for being an innovator in multiple off-the-road applications, OTR differentiates itself by providing value-added services such as warehousing, tire mounting, and sequencing, among other things.
Washington Tribe Starts Up Sawmill
TimberKing Portable Band Mill Is Workhorse of Unique Partnership
By Mary Bullwinkel
NEAH BAY,
Washington
–
A unique partnership between Washington’s Makah Tribe and the Composite Recycle Technology Center (CRTC) is boosting the economic vitality of the community by manufacturing dimensional lumber that is being used to produce a specialty wood product –and homes for members of the tribe.
The small mill is owned and operated by the Makah Tribe, which also owns the surrounding timberland on its nearly 47-square-mile reservation. The mill is located in Neah Bay, which is almost at the northernmost tip of the Olympic Peninsula.
The Makah sawmill was developed by CRTC under a partnership with the tribe. The parties secured a grant of more than $2 million from the Washington Department of Commerce to establish the partnership and the mill.
Jedediah Johnson, a member of the tribe, was hired to manage the mill in 2023. Most of the equipment had already been selected and was installed or being installed.
The mill began operating in January of this year and cuts mainly coastal western hemlock logs sourced from tribal lands. The tribe contracts out timber harvesting and trucking to a few logging companies.
The mill started producing dimensional lumber and received its first lumber order from CRTC. It also sells lumber to local customers, but CRTC is its primary customer. The mill has four employees, including Johnson, and produces about 8-10,000 board feet per month.
The mill is on a five-acre parcel of tribal land that includes a 3,600-square-foot SteelMaster quonset building. It is equipped with a TimberKing 2520 band sawmill with a 12-foot extension table. Other equipment includes a Cook’s Saw AE-4E edger and a Woodmaster W-4000 four-edge planer. Lumber is dried in two Nyle L200 Pro dehumidification kilns.
The TimberKing 2520 is an industrial model. It is powered by a Kubota 65 hp diesel engine. Features included solid-welded fourpost head, twin beam log deck, and big beam
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From left, mill manager Jedediah Johnson and fellow employees Devon Halttunen, Lloyd Engram, and Robert Whiteshield Jr.
Opening a face on a log with the TimberKing 2520 band sawmill at the Makah Tribe sawmill.
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cut core. Direction action hydraulics control log loaders, turners, stops, clamps, and toe boards. SuperSetworks provides computercontrolled cutting.
TimberKing, based in Kansas City, Missouri, says it is the oldest manufacturer of one-man sawmills in the U.S. It was founded in 1929 under the name Belsaw, with its original product being the Belsaw circular sawmill, which was in production until 1998. The company began manufacturing portable band sawmills in 1989.
(For more information, visit www.timberking.com.)
The TimberKing has performed pretty well, according to Johnson. “As far as the day-to-day stuff, it’s been working great,” he said. It runs seven to eight hours per day.
Each Nyle lumber kiln has a capacity of 2,000 board feet. It takes seven to nine days to dry the lumber to 12 percent moisture content before it is trucked to CRTC.
The Composite Recycling Technology Center was established by the Port of Port Angeles in 2015 with the help of local, state, and federal grant funding. It is a nonprofit design and manufacturing business that intercepts uncured carbon fiber surplus
Lumber is dried in two Nyle L200 Pro dehumidification kilns.
destined for landfills and remanufactures it into innovative new products.
At CRTC’s plant in Port Angeles, located on the coast about 70 miles east, the lumber undergoes thermal modification in a specialty kiln from WDE Maspell, an Italian manufacturer. (North Carolina-based SII Dry Kilns is the exclusive representative for WDE Maspell in North America.) Thermal modification is a process with some similarities to drying lumber, but it is more akin to ‘baking’ the wood. The kiln chamber is heated to 400 degrees in a vacuum. It is an environmentally friendly process that eliminates the need for chemicals yet produces a highly specialized lumber product, very much like treated wood.
Thermal modification stabilizes the cellular structure of the wood, enabling it to maintain its shape, even under exposure to moisture, leading to enhanced dimensional stability and minimizing the likelihood of warping or distortion. Decreasing the wood sugars enhances the resistance to decaying organisms and termites.
The result produces lumber known for its strength, durability, and usefulness for exterior applications. Thermally modified wood
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Feeding material to the Cook’s Saw AE-4E edger. The mill also is equipped with a Woodmaster W-4000 four-edge planer.
MillProfile
(continued from page 23)
can be used for siding, decking, and outdoor furniture, among others.
The CRTC is building housing units for the tribe utilizing the CRTC’s BOLEH brand of engineered homes (BOLEH stands for Built On Lot Engineered Home). The homes will incorporate the CRTC’s Advanced Cross Laminated Timber (ACLT) panel system, which uses the thermally modified lumber. The homes will be built as a complete kit at the CRTC factory in Port Angeles to be assembled on-site. The CRTC will train members of the tribe to install the homes.
The CRTC and the Makah Tribe collaborated on the design of the homes. The first units will be a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home consisting of about 900 square feet. A future four-bedroom, two-bathroom home also will be developed along with a onebedroom home of about 400 square feet.
Most of the lumber supplied to CRTC – 90 percent, Johnson estimated – is coastal western hemlock. It is abundant in the region although it is not widely used. It is known for strength and versatility and is favored for structural applications. However, when it dries naturally, it can twist and crack, making it a poor choice as a building material. With the tribe’s Nyle dry kilns and CRTC’s Maspell thermal modification
chamber, though, it can be processed into a useful wood product.
Johnson enlisted in the Marine Corps out of high school and served five years, learning metal smithing and other hands-on jobs, including carpentry, wood working, and plumbing. He moved back to Washington after his military service and worked at Westport Shipyard, which uses composite materials to build yachts and other commercial vessels. Johnson was a police officer for 12 years prior to taking the job as the mill manager.
“This just popped up unexpectedly,” said Johnson, “and I thought I’d just apply for it and see what happens, and I ended up getting it,” he said. Although he had no previous sawmill experience, his metalsmithing, carpentry, and plumbing skills have all proved very valuable in his current position.
The mill sells lumber and residuals to local customers. Lumber is used to build sheds and similar structures; residuals are used for firewood and smoke houses.
The tribe has other plans for residuals, too. “We are currently looking at some pellet machines,” said Johnson. “We want to start making our own pellets and/or compressed board for locals or whoever wants to purchase these products.” Establishing a pellet mill may also involve adding equipment to grind and dry residuals.
Johnson also is looking into adding
firewood production equipment and a kiln to dry firewood. “These projects would allow us to recycle our scrap and create new products,” he said.
Other expansion plans under consideration include increasing storage space for dry lumber.Johnson is weighing additional structures, such as another SteelMaster quonset building.
The Makah mill now has a Crown Royal wood-fired boiler that was expected to be operational in the near future. The mill’s wood waste will be used to fire the boiler. Plumbing was being installed so the boiler can supply hot water to heat the buildings and perhaps the kilns.
Johnson, whose mother is also a member of the Makah tribe, serves on the tribal hunting committee and is a member of the American Legion. He enjoys elk hunting, wood working, and tinkering with and fixing things.
Johnson is focused on growing the mill’s business, adding more jobs, and hiring more employees to support the community.
The Makah mill is a beacon for the area, he said. “I would say what makes us unique is we’re harvesting our own timber on our own land, and then our own community members working the mill and doing it, so it’s almost 100 percent within our community.”
The TimberKing 2520 is an industrial model, powered by a Kubota 65 hp diesel engine.
Woodsman Pro DFH1350 Felling Head
The Woodsman Pro range of tree harvesters and felling heads offers the ultimate blend of productivity-enhancing tech and brute strength. Designed and built in New Zealand with over 20 years of development in the harshest forestry conditions, Woodsman Pro is now available in the U.S. The Woodsman Pro DFH1350 hydraulic tree felling head is designed to be installed on a base machine of 55,000+ pounds. The large capacity main saw will single cut all but the biggest (≤36.6 in) stems, and the 3.7 cu in hydraulic saw motor delivers increased torque for fast, reliable cutting. With a tilt-angle lock feature, the operator can set and secure the head to any angle for effortless felling on any terrain. For more information, visit www. woodsmanpro.co.nz.
Tigercat 544 Harvester Head
Tigercat has introduced the new 544 harvester head attachment, its lowest weight class harvesting head for track harvesters. The 544 is a three-wheel drive head with triangulated wheel arm geometry. The chassis, covers and tilt frame are designed to handle the rigors of track carrier operating conditions. Four cast steel knife arms and
fixed front and back knives provide excellent delimbing quality. The 544 is designed for target trees 6-20 inches in diameter; it has a maximum cut capacity of 31 inches along with a 31-inch feed wheel opening and 30-inch maximum knife arm opening to handle the occasional larger tree. Available with an optional 22-inch cut capacity
Felling & Harvester Heads
top saw, the 544 is a great match for select cut applications in mixed diameter hardwood and conifer stands. For more information, visit www.tigercat.com.
Waratah 626HX Harvester Head
Waratah Forestry Equipment has launched an all-new HX line with its 624HX and 626HX harvester heads. The new extra-large harvester heads have been redesigned for extreme applications. The new 626HX has large (37.4 inches) sawing capacity to boost productivity. Both models boast a slew of beneficial HX-line features. The
main frame and tilt frame provide improved durability and are optimized for weight and strength. The heads feature stronger clamping force to provide better log grip at the deck and holding power. They feature improved log picking thanks to larger delimb openings. Feeding is improved by new diameter sensor technology, while arm design helps log transport. Larger saw capacities, improved saw control plus larger saw motors contribute more efficiency and power to the cut. For more information, visit www.Waratah.com.
Axis Forestry Rebel T22HD Processor
The Axis Forestry Rebel T22HD processor was developed from the company’s history and experience of rebuilding other brands of heads – the result of constant improvement to the craft of building
tough heads. The Rebel brand embodies a commitment to excellence evident in every component. With a robust high-strength frame and high performance measuring system, the Rebel redefines the standards of quality. The T22HD is designed for 3-30-inch trees. Features include high torque motor package, 360-degree continuous rotation, auto tension main saw, saw bar limiting, and one touch cut. The head has a 0.404-inch top saw, Cypress Robotics Measure system, contactless magnetic length encoder, and cast or fabricated limb arms. For more information, visit www.axisforestry.com.
Komatsu C144 Harvester Head
The Komatsu C144 is an all-around harvester head designed to perform in demanding and rough environments with four feed motors powering four driven feed rollers. It is perfectly matched to Komatsu 911, 931, 931XC and 951 wheeled harvesters, and is compatible with other brands. The C144 features a powerful feed motor and feed roller designs, rugged knives to handle crooked stems and tough limbs, and robust butt saws with Constant Cut system. Intelligent saw motor control delivers the right chainsaw speed to reduce splitting risk and provide short cutting times. The feed system provides multiple contact points for carrying the stem
and is designed to center the stem for efficient feeding; low clamping pressure delivers high feed force with low energy consumption. The C144 also features the programmable EcoOiler automatic chain lubrication system. For more information visit www.komatsu.com.
KETO 873 Processor
The KETO 873 processor is designed for larger trees in demanding conditions of North America and elsewhere. It is the latest model of the Keto product family. Maximum felling diameter is 40 inches, and maximum delimbing diameter is 33.8 inches. This 7,400-pound head can be installed on 30+-ton tracked base machines. KETO harvester heads are light in relation to their efficiency, and they are suited for both thinning and demanding final felling. Their strengths include ingenious hydraulics and a unique feed track drive that does not damage tree stems. Suitable KETO harvester heads are available for different base machines, from tractors to excavators. They are known for efficiency and reliability and are based on more than 30 years of product development and user feedback. For more information visit www.kone-ketonen.fi.
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KONRAD WOODY WH70-1
The WH70-1 is the biggest head in the KONRAD WOODY product family for heavy wood harvester heads. Maximum cutting di ameter is 29.5 inches. The proven hydraulic system as well as its technical features and power are unique. It is designed for carriers with a 22-ton operating weight. The 4-wheeldrive feed system with adaptive parallel bar on the feed roller arms de livers excellent traction, and the knife geometry delimbs carefully. The WH70-1 features au tomatic chain tensioner, KONRAD-endless rotator, photo sensor, automatic contact pressure of knives and rollers, and other innovations as standard. For more information visit www. forsttechnik.at.
Nisula 755X Harvester Head
The new Nisula 755X harvester head is purposebuilt for thinning dense forest and final felling. With its ingenious design and high-quality production materials, this harvester head is reliable, easy to service, and guaranteed to maximize uptime and productivity. All unnecessary extras have been
omitted. The new 755X exemplifies Nisula’s reputation for reliability. The Nisula 755X is powered by two 800 cc and two 500 cc traction motors. The grip force of the feed rollers and the delimbing knives is proportionally controlled so even the toughest tree stems are held firmly in place. Together with the powerful Nisula NSU saw, these features make handling tree stems easy. The 755X has a maximum cutting diameter of 30 inches and for delimbing, 19 inches. For more information visit www.nisulaforest.com.
Pierce Pacific PRO Series Grapple Processor
The Pierce Pacific PRO Series grapple processor is strong, fast, and accurate. It has a processing range of 3-28 inches with a maximum cutting diameter of 26 inches. These attachments introduce innovative new features that improve reliability and productivity, and they also boast several significant upgrades. The Pierce Pacific PRO Series processors have enhanced drive motor protection to defend
against limbs and incidental impacts, and a heavy-duty door, hinges and fixed bumper absorb heel rack impacts. Low friction delimbing provides superior delimbing, and a self-cleaning measuring wheel maintains consistent log engagement. A new and state-of-the-art wireless control system includes improved hardware and cable connections and the latest measuring technology. The complete bucking system handles measurement, control, monitoring and management of the entire production process. For more information visit www. piercepacific.com.
Ponsse New H8 Harvester Head
The Ponsse new H8 harvester head enables faster, more efficient, and comprehensively economical harvesting even when there are plenty of large-diameter trees to handle. Thanks to the robust structure and sawing power, excellent gripping geometry and uncontested
agility, the new H8 allows smooth proceeding without unnecessary interruptions. The new Ponsse H8, designed for 20-30-ton track harvesters, has a maximum opening of 29 inches. It features exceptional power and ability to perform yet is a compact size. Even though the head’s agility enables smooth operations in all types of forests, the new H8 maintains its stability well. This results in efficient feeding and fast yet flowing tilt function. The renewed saw box prevents snow from packing, and the completely new Active Speed function enables changing the feeding speed literally on the run. For more information, visit www.ponsse.com.
Southstar QS630 Harvester Head
The Southstar QS630 dangle harvester head is designed for the toughest harvesting environments and the largest stems. It is a heavy-duty processor with excellent speed and is packed full of design features that set it apart. The Southstar QS630 dangle harvester head has an optimum op erating size of 24-32 inches and is designed for carriers in the 25-30-ton range. Maximum drive roll open ing is 42 inches, and maxi mum delimb opening is 32 inches. It has 360-degree continuous rotation and features four drive rollers with a speed feed of 14-17 feet per second. For more information visit www.quadco.com.
saw, which saves time and fuel. The Active Friction Control system is a key technology that enables harvesting trees with high precision and minimal friction. The attachment operates on the Log Mate 510 Windows-based control system, developed specially for Log Max harvester heads. For more information visit www.logmax.com.
SP Maskiner SP 761 LF Harvester Head
The SP Maskiner SP 761 LF is a strong, fast, reliable high-performance harvester head designed for the heaviest jobs. It can be installed on both large, wheel-based harvesters as well as excavators in the 20-25 ton range. The SP 761 LF is compact yet heavy-duty, designed for minimum friction and maximum productivity. It is suited for a variety of demanding applications, including large diameter soft wood, crooked and limby hardwood, or dense mixed wood stands. (continue on page 30)
Log Max 12000XT Harvester Head
The Log Max 12000XT is an extreme duty head for big tree production, multi-stem processing of smaller softwoods, or processing crooked hardwoods. With over 5 tons of delimbing force, it is able to handle the most severe wood with ease. The Log Max 12000XT has a maximum cutting diameter of 40 inches and also is equipped with a top saw. Specially designed knives with compound curves and replaceable cutting edges produce clean delimbed wood at a low operating cost. A laser helps identify the root end without using the
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Equipped with specially designed processing knives and a topping saw, the SP 761 LF provides great performance processing decked wood out of a pile. The SP 761 LF reaches top performance in stands with a diameter of 8-22 and is also capable of efficiently working larger tree sizes. For more information visit www.spmaskiner.com.
SATCO 3 Series Processing Heads
SATCO offers three models in its 3 Series, three roller, large capacity processing heads: the SAT3L2T, 3L2 and 3L2SC. They feature twin tilt cylinders and 360-degree continuous rotation. All pivot pins feature the SATCO Dead-Lock pin retention system, a special clip system that strengthens the chassis with no added weight. Other features include extra ‘dead length’ in cylinders for superior seal life, well guarded hydraulic system, large (12-inch) measuring wheel, auto chain tensioner, saw limiter, and removable covers for easy servicing. SATCO’s ‘Hose Through Center System’ encases and protects hoses and also allows them to travel through the center line of the pins, which means connecting hoses can be made as short as possible; it also eliminates any possible over-bending and rubbing that can cause premature failure. For more information, visit www.satco.com.
AFM-Forest 85 Magnum TS Harvester Head
The AFM-Forest 85 Magnum TS is the company’s most powerful head. It is built for tough harvesting conditions. Applications included clearcut harvesting and processing. With its strong feeding force it can easily process big trees with heavy limbs. An extremely strong frame makes it a reliable harvester head for big
excavators and track-based harvesters. Maximum felling diameter is 39.4 inches while optimum tree diameter is 16-28 inches. Feed speed is up to 16 feet per second. The head is designed for carriers in the 30-40-ton range. Three-roller geometry ensures excellent grip even of stems with the largest diameters. Four movable knives ensure high delimbing quality. The shape of the knives facilitates picking up windfall trees and ensures high production. For more information visit www.afm-forest.fi.
Logset TH95 Harvester Head
The Logset TH95 is the largest harvester head in the TH series. It is a heavy-duty head for harvesting and processing large volumes. Its compact structure and versatility make it suitable for many kinds of logging operations. The Logset TH95 is primarily designed for
use with track-based machines with high lifting capacity and slewing power. Its strong chassis, tilt and rotator easily absorb the extreme stresses produced by these machines. The chassis and delimbing knives create minimal friction with the tree. Reduced stress during feeding reduces fuel consumption, and the engine and hydraulic components have a longer lifespan. The geometry of the feeding arms and delimbing knives is optimized for large, heavy timber for efficient feeding of even bent and heavily branched trees. Logset TH95 works seamlessly with the TOC-MD 2 measuring device. For more information visit www.logset.fi.
John Deere H425 Harvesting Head
John Deere offers a number of options for harvester heads to maximize production of cut-to-length logging operations. The precision, accuracy, and flexibility of its harvesting head attachments are designed to match the high production rates of John Deere track and wheel harvesters. The H425 harvester head is four wheel drive
and has a maximum cutting diameter of 29.5 inches. John Deere also distributes Waratah harvester heads and offers its own line of felling heads.
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Washington Loggers Set Safety Conference
The Washington Contract Loggers Association will hold its safety conference Jan. 25.
It will be held at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington.
Program topics include logger safety initiative update, logging safety hazards, rigging yarders, and more.
For more information or to register, visit the WCLA website at www.loggers.com.
Oregon Logging Conference Gears Up for Feb. 20-22
Planning is in full swing for the 87th annual Oregon Logging Conference and equipment show, to be held Feb. 20-22 at the Lane Events Center and Fairgrounds in Eugene, Oregon.
It is the largest show west of the Mississippi showcasing logging, construction, trucking, and heavy equipment. The Eugene Event Center and Fairgrounds will be covered with hundreds of outdoor and indoor vendors, equipment dealers, demonstrations, educational seminars, and social events for three days.
The event offers opportunities to network with industry professionals, learn about new products and technologies, and celebrate the logging, construction, trucking, and heavy equipment industries.
For more information, visit www.oregonloggingconference.com, email info@ oregonloggingconference.com, or call (541) 686-9191.
Associated Oregon Loggers Convention Set
Associated Oregon Loggers will hold its 55th annual convention Jan. 24-25.
The convention will be held at the Spirit Mountain Casino, Lodge and Event Center in Grand Ronde, Oregon.
The event will feature presentations and speakers, opportunities for networking, and fundraising with contractors and loggers from across Oregon.
For more information or to register, visit the AOL website at www.oregonloggers.org.
American Loggers to Partner On Transportation Issues
The American Loggers Council announced a collaboration with the American
Wood Council, Forest Resource Association, and National Alliance of Forest Owners to address the challenges related to logging and trucking capacity.
“We are united in addressing the challenges facing loggers and haulers, including workflow instability, rising costs, an aging workforce, and recruitment challenges,” the ALC said in a statement. “By aligning our efforts, we can secure future capacity and strengthen the entire supply chain.”
The groups will advocate for federal policies to support loggers and haulers while addressing regulatory burdens, said the ALC. “We support incentives for investments in equipment, vocational education, and technology that are critical to increasing capacity and attracting new talent to the profession.”
“As leaders in the forestry sector, we understand the vital role that logging and hauling play in sustaining the entire supply chain. Maintaining and increasing capacity is essential to our success, and we are committed to the long-term viability of this essential service.”
Paper Trade Group Seeks Penalties Against Importers
The Paper Receipts Converting Association (PRCA), the U.S. trade association representing manufacturers of paper receipts, is calling for stronger enforcement and penalties against importers evading duties on imported thermal paper, a persistent challenge that threatens the well-being of domestic manufacturers.
The association’s primary mission is to promote the value of paper receipts and ensure the industry operates using best manufacturing practices while protecting it from harmful external influences.
It has filed five successful cases under federal law targeting importers who have circumvented duties. However, the association says current statutes are insufficient to deter future evasion. The only remedy under current law is to collect duties that the importers should have paid in the first place, incentivizing further cheating with minimal risk.
PRCA’s ongoing advocacy aims to stop the cycle of new importers continually emerging to evade duties once federal investigations conclude. By pushing for legislative changes that include punitive actions beyond the repayment of duties, PRCA seeks to create a more level playing field for U.S. manufacturers.
STAND OUT IN 2025 OLC OFFICIAL SHOWGUIDE
Make sure industry professionals know that you’ll be at the Oregon Logging Conference. Help them find your exact location amongst 300+ exhibitors once they arrive.
Advertise in the 2025 Oregon Logging Conference OFFICIAL Showguide.
Packed with essential show information, including:
• Detailed indoor outdoor site maps cross referenced to the exhibitor listing
• Daily conference agenda
• Seminar schedules and more.
The 2025 OFFICIAL Oregon Logging Conference Showguide will be delivered to TimberWest’s 10,500 readers in early February, well in advance of the show.
Not only will every logger, log hauler and mill manager in the Northwest receive a copy, but we’ll print 3,000 extra copies for the attendee registration packages and show entrance area.
Advertising Deadline: January 14, 2025
February 20-22, 2025
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES:
Anthony Robinson
CEO, Advertising Mgr.
Tel: (778) 991-3500
arobinson@forestnet.com
Hannah Robinson Associate Publisher
Tel: (778) 991-3500
hannah@forestnet.com
Tigercat Launches Winch Assist
Tigercat has introduced a remote control winch assist, offering an end-to-end Tigercat steep slope harvesting solution.
The new Tigercat 120 cable assist is Tigercat’s second model in the cable systems product line. With the release of the 180 swing yarder and now the 120 winch assist, Tigercat is leveraging experience in steep slope harvesting systems to offer cable logging systems that complement ground-based machines.
The Tigerecat 120 winch assist is fully integrated with all the latest generation of Tigercat steep slope capable carriers, providing seamless communications and optimal hydraulic efficiency. It is also designed to work without travel signal integration. The basic installation, requiring only the in-cab control unit and antennas, allows the Tigerat 120 to be mated to any carrier.
The Tigercat 120 features a full forest duty F8 undercarriage for excellent durability and mobility. The upper assembly has a sloped tail for added maneuverability on narrow mountain roads. Access to daily service points and major components is convenient with large swing-out doors for the engine and pump enclosures and prop-up roof sections to access winch system components.
All machine functions are actuated with an ergonomic and intuitive remote control system. The powerful, heavy-duty boom system with choice of a bucket or other attachments firmly anchors the machine and can perform basic road building work. With ample below grade capability, the boom can extend over the road bank to firmly anchor the machine.
High capacity cooling combined with a secondary hydraulic braking circuit provides highly effective braking assistance and heat dissipation for higher-speed rubber tire machines such as skidders, forwarders and harvesters.
The relatively long distance between the boom-mounted sheave and the winch, and the powered cable tension system combine to provide neat and reliable rope spooling. With the boom anchor system planted firmly in the ground, the cable can be operated off to the side of the machine, thanks to the pivoting sheave.
For more information, visit www.tigercat.com.
Rotochopper Hosts Field Day Events with Demos
Rotochopper hosted two regional Field Day events recently, bringing together over 120 customers and prospects to witness equipment demonstrations and explore the latest in grinding and processing technology.
One event was held at Hansen’s Tree Service in Springfield,
while the other was
South Carolina. Both host companies are Rotochopper -
ing the 365 Stacking Conveyor paired with the MT 206 Trommel Screen to screen compost and stack fines. The 75DK shredder demonstrated processing materials like C&D waste while removing metal contaminants. The B-66L horizontal grinder, featured at both events, demonstrated its mobility with the track and dolly system and showcased the screen change process.
Other highlights included the Go-Bagger 250 for bagging mulch and the RotoLink® Remote Monitoring System, which provides real-time equipment tracking to enhance operational efficiency.
Both events provided opportunities for attendees to see Rotochopper’s technology in action, exchange ideas with industry peers, and discuss how Rotochopper equipment can elevate their operations.
Mecalac Compact Loaders Come with Folding Canopies
Mecalac, a manufacturer and distributor of compact construction equipment, offers a foldable-canopy version of the MCL2, MCL4, MCL6 and MCL8 – part of its MCL compact loader line.
The foldable-canopy MCL loaders offer the ideal solution in landscaping and especially agriculture applications. The quick-folding canopy allows operators to leverage the loaders’ benefits in areas with limited overhead clearance, making a spot once inaccessible to machines now a reality. This compactness is especially valuable on a farm, where operators are completing work in areas such as livestock stalls and milk parlors.
“Space can come at a premium in some work sites, but that doesn’t mean productivity must be sacrificed,” said Peter Bigwood,
Missouri,
held at GreenGo Recycling in Graniteville,
loaders with a folding canopy gives our customers an efficient option to thrive in areas not previously reachable with similar equipment.”
A folding canopy allows users to work in areas inaccessible by traditional, larger loaders. The loaders are equipped with hydraulic and maneuverability options, M-Drive and Speed Control. With M-Drive, the engine speed can be controlled independently of travel speed, allowing power and hydraulic flow to be adapted to best suit the job at hand. Speed Control allows operators to set the maximum travel speed from 1 mph to the top speed of 19 mph (MCL6 & MCL8 only).
Operators can easily fold down the canopy in seconds by removing a pin on each column and simply pushing the roof back. This reduces the machine’s height by as much as a foot to less than 6.6 feet, allowing them to drive in areas with limited clearance, operate seamlessly indoors, and navigate under carports and garage doors with swift, agile performance.
For more information, visit www.mecalac.com.
Pettibone Telehandler Offers
Pipe and Pole Attachment
Pettibone introduces the Extendo 1536X telehandler to its X-Series product lineup. In addition to providing heavy-duty material handling performance on construction jobsites, the 1536X is designed to operate with a baler attachment for industries that routinely move pipe or poles.
The Extendo 1536X features a 2-section boom composed of formed boom plates that offer greater strength while reducing weight. The boom design gives the telehandler an impressive maximum load
capacity of 16,000 pounds with standard fork frames. Even when extended to its maximum lift height of 36 feet, the machine can lift up to 13,000 pounds.
The 1536X is powered by a Deuts 120 hp Tier 4 Final diesel engine. Mounted onto a side pod, the engine offers easy accessibility to components and daily service checks, while still allowing for exceptional curbside visibility and a ground clearance of 20 inches. The telehandler has a 30-gallon fuel tank and comes standard with foam-filled tires.
The Extendo 1536X comes standard with X-Command ® , a Pettibone telematics program that offers real-time access to machine data, saving time and money for equipment owners and service technicians.
For more information, visit www.gopettibone.com.
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CBI Hosts Event, Debuts
New Grinder and Chipper
CBI®, a manufacturer of equipment for the composting, forestry, biomass recovery, and wood-waste processing industries, recently hosted its first Timberstock event.
The event highlighted CBI’s newest machinery and also fostered collaboration with attendees on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in the heavy-duty forestry equipment sector.
CBI introduced the 5900T horizontal grinder, a machine combining the best features of CBI’s renowned 6800 and 5800 models. With its industry-first 60-inch infeed and rotor, the 5900T handles wider material and boosts material flow compared to previous models. This powerful machine, featuring a 755 hp engine with a hydraulic clutch, is optimized for high-capacity forestry work. A redesigned dolly system and legal transport width allows for streamlined mobility and efficiency, making it ideal for projects requiring frequent relocation.
The ChipMax 364T chipper also made its debut. Available with either a 765 hp or 550 hp engine, the 364T chipper reduces total cost of ownership. The machine’s 36-inch drum rotor, staggered knife design, and refined chute geometry provide precision chipping and efficient trailer packing. With options for different chip sizes, including a chip accelerator, the 364T adapts to market demands, offering maintenance-friendly features such as a ground-level greasing panel and bolt-in pockets for quick configuration changes.
For more information, visit www.terex.com/cbi.
Tigercat Debuts 234C Loader
Tigercat introduced the 234C knuckleboom loader with operator enhancements and performance improvements.
Tigercat’s long-standing 234 series knuckleboom loader has been upgraded. The new 234C has a new boom system, a new cab, an improved hydraulic system, and more swing torque.
The Tigercat 234C boom system provides increased lift capacity and faster boom speeds. The boom cylinders are cushioned at the end of stroke for smoother operation. Through-tip hose routing is another new feature; hydraulic hoses to the grapple are now routed through the boom tip for increased hose protection.
The new operator’s station is more comfortable with 16 percent greater internal volume, increased width, and more leg room. Joysticks and switches are mounted on the armrests within comfortable reach. Improved A/C and heater controls allow the operator to
set the desired temperature for a more comfortable working environment. Storage areas include a space for a full size Tigercat insulated lunch box. Operator visibility also has been improved with larger front and side windows.
Hydraulic system improvements include a larger main pump and a new boom valve, providing smoother boom control and improved flow sharing. Finally, swing torque has been increased by 13 percent for improved pull-through delimbing performance.
For more information, visit www.tigercat.com.
Starrett Launches Blades with Exclusive Tooth Design
The L.S. Starrett Co. , a manufacturer of saw blades and more, has introduced XPW (Extreme Performance for Wood) technology to its Woodpecker™ Premium and Woodpecker™ PRO band saw blade Lines, to significantly increase cutting performance in a range of wood sawing applications.
“This new exclusive tooth design delivers top performance in wood cutting, aimed at fulfilling our customers’ needs in the wood processing industry,” said Charlie Starrett, product manager for saw blades.
The New XPW tooth design in the Woodpecker Premium and PRO blades, available in 1.3 and 1.1 tooth pitches in blades 1 inch and larger, feature a deeper gullet than previous Woodpecker blades. The new design enables higher fatigue resistance, longer lifespan and improved cutting performance, quality and finish.
Starrett Woodpecker Premium Band Saw Blades with XPW teeth feature a hardened spring-tempered carbon steel back and posi tive angle precision set teeth.
Blades for sawing applications such as lumber are compatible with all types of machines and a full range of softwoods and hard or exotic woods.
Woodpecker Premium blades for lumber sawing are available in widths and thicknesses from 1 inch x .035-inch to 2-9/16 inches x .042-inch with hook tooth shapes, with pitches in either 1.1 or 1.3 TPI.
For more information, visit www.starrett.com/xpw.
Waratah Launches HX Series
Waratah Forestry Equipment has launched an all-new HX line with its 624HX and 626HX harvester heads and purpose-built LPX loader-processor head. The new extra-large harvester and
loader-processor heads have been redesigned for extreme applications.
“All part of our new HX (harvester extreme) line, the 624HX, 626HX and new loader-processor LPX are more durable and higher performing than previous models,” said Brent Fisher, product marketing manager for Waratah.
The redesigned 624HX harvester head delivers impressive log picking, feeding and handling with unmatched uptime. This efficient 600-Series head provides the durability, reliability and speed loggers need to maximize every minute of work.
The new 626HX harvester head takes feeding and delimbing to the next level. Its large (37.4 inches) sawing capacity helps boost productivity.
The 624HX and the 626HX boast a slew of beneficial HX-line features. The main frame and tilt frame provide improved durability and are optimized for weight and strength. The heads feature stronger clamping force to provide better log grip at the deck and holding power.
With HD-swept profile delimb arms, the 624HX and 626HX feature improved log picking thanks to larger delimb openings. Feeding is improved by new diameter sensor technology, while arm design helps log transport. Larger saw capacities, improved saw control plus larger saw motors contribute more efficiency and power to the cut.
For more information, visit www.Waratah.com.
Brass Knuckle Offers Anti-Fog Safety Glasses
Brass Knuckle® Slingshot™ is a simple and effective way to fight back against fog, the foe of clear vision. With industry-leading BKAnti-FOG+, these protective glasses have the best fog protection you
can find in a stylish-yet-straightforward package.
The proprietary BK-Anti-FOG+ of Slingshot is fused directly to the lens, not sprayed on like cheaper alternatives. It delivers better and longer-lasting fog-free protection that is 40 times stronger than the toughest anti-fog standard in the world, EN 166/168.
Slingshot is precision engineered to be loaded with just the right amount of features to be both highly effective and exceedingly affordable. It’s fog-fighting eye protection that is wearable, looks great, and performs better than competing glasses at twice the price.
Shatterproof lenses offer all-over eye protection, extra-chunky molded nosepieces create added comfort, and earpieces fit snugly at the ears without putting the squeeze on temples.
For more information, visit www.brassknuckleprotection.com.
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Tigercat Introduces New Model Cable Skidder
Tigercat has introduced a new cable skidder, the 610H. It is a simple, lower cost addition to Tigercat’s H-series skidder line-up.
The 610H is powered by a Tigercat FPT N6.7 engine for 202 hp to the same hydrostatic driveline as the other H-series skidders. The skidder is equipped with 620H size axles for added durability.
The operator’s cabin is simplified compared with the other H-series machines. Rather than Tigercat’s signature turnaround seat, the 610H is fitted with a fixed position seat angled at 30 degrees.
The heavy-duty winch provides maximum line pull at any engine speed. The winch can drop loads and drive away and reel in a load while driving using a wet-disk dynamic clutch. It also has very low free spool resistance, which allows for easier cable extraction using a mechanical jaw clutch.
For more information, visit www.tigercat.com.
Yanmar Develops New ViO35-7 Mini Excavator
Yanmar Compact Equipment introduces the ViO35-7 mini excavator, featuring significant productivity, configuration and operator experience improvements.
The 24.4 hp true zero tail swing excavator includes leading 360degree visibility, a 25 percent increase in travel speed under load, and a 7 percent improvement in excavator efficiency.
It fits in job sites both big and small in construction, rental, utilities, landscaping and more. The ViO35-7 stands out as a flexible and robustly dependable model that provides an excellent power-to-size ratio and is easy to transport and simple to maintain, whether by an owner operator, contractor or rental fleet.
Operators will note numerous benefits from the new ViO357’s improved productivity and performance features. The 8,047pound model has increased excavation capabilities thanks to greater
breakout forces and improved cycle times under load. Plus, a higher torque swing motor boosts power for backfill work involving swinging and usability on slopes. This is all powered by the heartbeat of the ViO35-7, a highly efficient three-pump hydraulic system and 24.4-horsepower Yanmar engine. The three pumps greatly improve performance and lead to less risk of slowing down during simultaneous operations — such as with the boom, stick, swing and curl functions — compared to mini excavators with only one pump.
For more information, visit www.YanmarCE.com.
John Deere Offers 6 L-II Series Skidders
John Deere offers six L-II Series skidder sizes and various options. Choose from a cable skidder, bogie skidder, and four grapple skidders.
John Deere skidders feature Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), which combines the efficiency of a direct-drive transmission with the smoothness of a hydrostatic drive. An impressive horsepower and power-to-weight ratio combined with constant engine speed delivers superb responsiveness with efficiency.Rugged axles maximize durability and rock-solid stability provides excellent pulling power.
A range of powerful, box-style tong grapples can fit your operation.
For more information, visit www.deere.com
Loftness Develops Mulcher for Compact Excavators
Loftness ® has expanded its line of Battle Ax ® mulching heads with the new 10 Series. Featuring a lightweight, yet heavy-duty design, it can be used on smaller excavators ranging from 7,000 to
10,000 pounds in a variety of applications, such as right-of-way vegetation management, site preparation, fire prevention, invasive species removal, landscaping, pasture reclamation, and more.
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Like other products in the Battle Ax line, the 10 Series rotor has an innovative depth gauge design. The depth gauges, which function like raker teeth on a chain saw, optimize the amount of material being fed into the drum at one time, resulting in easier operation, faster production, and more desirable particle sizes. Additionally, the 10 Series includes the exclusive Loftness two-stage cutting chamber, which uses two shear bars to help process material more thoroughly than other mulching heads.
The 10 Series Battle Ax is powered by a 45cc fixed-displacement gear motor, which requires 20 to 70 hydraulic horsepower and 15 to 35.9 GPM hydraulic flow to operate. It has a 25-inch cutting width and overall weight of approximately 620 pounds, depending on options, making it compatible with many popular models of compact excavators.
Customers can choose between three types of cutting teeth: reversible planer teeth, four-point beaver teeth, or doublecarbide teeth. The teeth are mounted to the rotor with a single bolt, so they can be easily reversed or replaced on the jobsite using a common hex socket.
For information, visit www.loftness.com.
Teleo Makes Strategic Expansion
Teleo, a company building autonomous technology for heavy construction equipment, is expanding its strategic focus to deploy autonomous heavy machinery – such as wheel loaders, terminal tractors, excavators, and more – into new industries beyond construction.
The company has secured orders for 34 machines and has secured nine new customer deals in the pulp and paper, logging, port logistics, munition clearing, and agriculture industries.
Teleo converts any make, model, and vintage of heavy equipment, such as bulldozers,
CALENDAR
January 15-17, 2025
wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks and more, into autonomous robots. Teleo’s Supervised Autonomy keeps human operators involved, enabling one human to oversee multiple autonomous machines at once. The human operator acts as a supervisor with the ability to step in remotely to control the machine if needed.
Teleo is moving the operator out of the cab of the machine and away from the harsh job site environment and into a remote central command center, making the operator’s role safer, comfortable, and more accessible.
Association of Equipment Distributors (AED), Summit, Orlando, FL 630-574-0650, www.aednet.org
January 22-23, 2025
Mapping the Course: Timberlands, Forest Products & Fiber Issues, Portland, OR 503-226-4562, www.westernforestry.org
January 24-25, 2025
Associated Oregon Loggers Annual Meeting, Grand Ronde, OR 503-364-1330, www.oregonloggers.org
January 24-27, 2025
Western Pallet Association Annual Meeting, Rancho Mirage, CA 360-335-0208, www.westernpallet.org
Environmentalists, Loggers Reach Consensus On Proposals to Amend Northwest Forest Plan
By Sydney Gleason
In 2022 a group of 21 scientists, loggers, conservationists, and tribal and government representatives was convened for one simple task: decide the future of Northwest forests.
The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan was supposed to dictate how 24 million acres of federal forests were managed for the next century. Thirty years in, the plan has failed to meet most of its objectives. Even though timber harvest has been reduced, endangered species that depend on old-growth are still declining. Wildfires scorch the land. And many rural communities near federal forests are struggling to survive.
With the future of Northwest forests in jeopardy, the U.S. Forest Service decided to overhaul the plan, and the agency tasked the 21-member Northwest Forest Plan Advisory Committee to agree on recommendations for an amendment. In a historic display of collaboration, the committee published their recommendations in July of this year.
The committee was led by co-chairs Travis Joseph, president of the American Forest Resource Council, and Susan Jane Brown, chief legal counsel of Silvix Resources. Joseph represents the timber industry, and Brown, the environmentalists. The pair worked together under Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, and their partnership traverses the divide between loggers and conservationists.
“It is no accident that Travis and I are cochairs,” said Brown. “We disagree about a lot of things, but we recognize the momentous opportunity that we have to make a positive impact on forest management in this region.”
When the original plan was established in 1994, loggers and environments were embroiled in a bitter battle over Northwest forests following decades of unsustainable timber harvest. At the height of the conflict, loggers were slashing hundreds of millions of acres of old-growth a year, and activists were protesting in trees and blockading roads. An industry representative and an environmentalist like Joseph and Brown collaborating
After the committee was commissioned in 2022, it was supposed to have two years to agree on recommendations. But, with the presidential election approaching, their timeline was accelerated. “We’re a part of the administration’s rush to the finish line,” said Brown.
Despite the abbreviated timeline, the pair steered a team of loggers, activists, scientists, Tribal members, and elected officials toward common ground. “It’s been a difficult process,” said Joseph. The committee met seven times and spent hundreds of hours deliberating. “But within one year, 21 very diverse people came to a consensus around a vision for our national forest. That’s a historic deal.”
The committee published 184 recommendations. The overwhelming majority – 113 recommendations – are dedicated to Tribal and Indigenous inclusion. The committee had ground to make up since the original plan failed to consult Tribes entirely. “We hope to correct that and make sure Indigenous voices are not just engaged, but actively involved in management,” said Joseph. Recommendations call for a “shift in tribal relations,” including contracts and agreements with Tribes, accommodating cultural burning, training on Indigenous
culture and treaty rights, and a recurrent emphasis on co-stewardship of forests.
The committee’s recommendations also highlight the importance of supporting timber communities. Joseph believes the forest management recommendations will be the key to realizing the timber harvest targets the plan promised. “We’re so focused on restoring millions of acres at risk in the Northwest that it should lead to more timber volume, more jobs and more revenues for counties,” he said.
Committee members agreed that segmenting forests into Late Successional Reserves (LSRs), Matrix land, and Adaptive Management Areas (AMAs) – the foundation of the original plan – in retrospect was a mistake. However, the Forest Service prohibited the panel from changing the zoning. “So we said, ‘If we can’t change the lines, we can change the direction of the management within those lines,’ ” said Joseph.
The 1994 plan left mature and oldgrowth trees on Matrix land available for commercial harvest. This stipulation prompted backlash from environmentalists. In a step towards brokering peace, the
would have meant crossing enemy lines.
committee defined old-growth as any stand established before the year 1825 and recommended prohibiting logging in those stands. Recommendations also emphasize sitespecific management, particularly in moist versus dry forest. “Sometimes conservation looks like passive stewardship. Just don’t touch it,” said Brown. “But sometimes, particularly in dry forests, it’s proactive stewardship, where we’re going to go into those stands.” The original plan neglected these nuances.
In many stands, proactive stewardship will mean reintroducing fire on the landscape through controlled burns. The 1994 plan followed an era of fire suppression that left Northwest forests overstocked with vegetation and susceptible to severe wildfire, and it failed to implement adequate thinning and prescribed burning regimens to address the damage. The committee provided 26 fire resilience recommendations to change that. “Proactive stewardship looks like cutting trees, and it looks like putting fire back on the ground,” said Brown.
The Forest Service released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement in November, and it incorporated many of the committee’s recommendations. Just 10 days before that, voters elected a new president who likely will impact the process of amending the Northwest Forest Plan.
It is unclear what the new administration’s approach to the plan will be. Some groups, like Oregon Wild, are already calling on the Forest Service to abandon the amendment and any changes to the management of these forests. However, to many other stakeholders, the status quo is no longer sustainable.
“We may never get another shot at revising or amending the Northwest Forest Plan,” Brown said before the election. “And things need to change if we want those forests to persist not only for our generation, but future generations.”
Joseph said the federal government needs to go further to reform a broken system of federal land management. “We can offer a great plan but there’s still going to be structural systemic issues in the way of actually doing that management,” Joseph said.
Policies like the Endangered Species Act and The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) prevent work from happening at the pace and scale necessary to make enduring change in federal forests. “Ultimately, it’s going to be work outside of the amendment and pounding the pavement on Capitol Hill,” Brown said.
Regardless of what the Trump Administration may do with the Northwest Forest Plan, Joseph said the committee’s work shows it’s possible for diverse interests to come together. “I’m hopeful we can help turn the page to a different narrative, where our forests actually bring people together and we can find common ground on providing all of their extraordinary benefits to society. Instead of fighting about our forests, we should be coming together to manage and protect them and make them more resilient.”
(Sydney Gleason, a native of Seattle, is a student at Boston College. This past summer she served as an environmental journalism intern for Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities.)
This accident was reported to Oregon OSHA in June of 2023. A yarder engineer was attempting to repair a carriage at a mobile worksite. The victim was operating a yarder, and the rigging crew was using the carriage to transport logs to the landing. The company was in the process of logging a 50acre clear-cut.
During the course of operations, the rigging slinger noticed that the throttle in the carriage was stuck in the ‘on’ position and that the carriage was revving at full throttle. The carriage promptly returned to the landing. The yarder operator slacked the skyline down so the carriage was close to the ground for inspection, but it was still suspended in the air.
The yarder operator noticed that a stick was stuck in the motor compartment and had broken off a pressure gauge on the throttle solenoid and battery cable. In order to replace the solenoid, the victim turned off
the motor to the carriage. With the carriage still elevated off the ground by the skyline and with the carriage skyline clamp brake engaged, the yarder operator began to unhook the broken solenoid. As the victim began to remove the hydraulic hose that operated the solenoid, all pressure on the system was released, and the slack puller brake and skyline brake disengaged. There was 20 feet of slacked skidding line hanging out the back of the carriage, which allowed the carriage to roll down the skyline and strike the victim in the right temple and right side of the face.
Hazardous Conditions
• The carriage was elevated above ground while work was being performed.
• Energy was not fully removed or blocked in the system.
• Carriage was being worked on at an angle and not on flat ground.
Unsafe Acts
• Lockout/Tagout was not performed properly because all hazardous energy was not removed or blocked in the system while work was being performed.
• The carriage was still elevated while work was being performed.
Recommendations for Correction
• Retrain all personnel on lockout/tagout procedures to ensure all energy is removed from systems being worked on.
• All repairs should be performed while equipment is on the ground or blocked properly (not suspended) to control hazardous energy.
(Source: Forest activities incidents reports, Oregon OSHA, and the Forest Resources Association (FRA), a national advocacy organization representing the entire wood supply chain. Visit the FRA at www.forestresources.org.)
