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A Hatton-Brown Publication HATTON-BROWN PUBLISHERS, INC. Street Address: 225 Hanrick Street Montgomery, AL 36104-3317 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2268 Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 Telephone (334) 834-1170 Fax 334-834-4525 Publisher David H. Ramsey Chief Operating Officer Dianne C. Sullivan
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Editor-in-Chief Rich Donnell Managing Editor Dan Shell Senior Associate Editor David Abbott Senior Associate Editor Jessica Johnson Associate Editor Patrick Dunning
Vol. 69, No. 6: Issue 689
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Steep slope logging and rugged conditions take center stage in this issue that profiles steep slope loggers on both sides of the country and equipment and technology to handle such conditions, beginning on PAGE 10. (David Abbott photo; design by Shelley Smith)
MIDWEST USA, EASTERN CANADA John Simmons (905) 666-0258 • Fax: (905) 666-0778 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com WESTERN USA, WESTERN CANADA Tim Shaddick (604) 910-1826 • Fax: (604) 264-1367 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca
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Montana Cable Loggers Tough Terrain For Decker, Gall
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14 ALC Annual Meeting Idaho Hosts 2021 Event
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Bridget DeVane 334-699-7837 bdevane7@hotmail.com Timber Harvesting & Forest Operations (ISSN 2154-2333) is published 6 times annually (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, November/ December issues are combined) by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscriptions are free to U.S. logging, pulpwood and chipping contractors and their supervisors; managers and supervisors of corporate-owned harvesting operations; wood suppliers; timber buyers; businesses involved in land grooming and/or land clearing, wood refuse grinding and right-of-way maintenance; wood procurement and land management officials; industrial forestry purchasing agents; wholesale and retail forest equipment representatives and forest/logging association personnel. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $50 annually; $60 in Canada; $95 (airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries—TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.timber harvesting.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Timber Harvesting & Forest Operations are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Timber Harvesting & Forest Operations. Copyright ® 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed in USA.
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20 WV’s Wolford Logging Tackling Big Logs, Steep Hills
24 Steep Slope Logging New Machines, Technology
OurDepartments My Take _____________________________________________ 4 NewsLines ___________________________________________ 6 TeamSafe Trucking Update _____________________________ 9 Fall Logging Shows, Events ___________________________ 18 Equipment World____________________________________ 30 Innovation Way _____________________________________ 32 Select Cuts ________________________________________ 34 THExchange ________________________________________ 35 Events/Ad Index _____________________________________ 38
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MyTake DAN SHELL
ALC Meeting Touts Group’s Growing Impact COEUR d’ALENE, Id. lease read complete coverage on the 2021 ALC meeting beginning on page 14, but a few notes are in order here as the organization shifts gears with new leadership and an office presence in Washington, DC. The organization has truly come a long way. Though a bit sobered by the challenges that face the logging industry, those in attendance definitely enjoyed the first faceto-face fellowship, networking and information-sharing event in more than two years. Special thanks go to the host group Associated Loggers-Idaho, Executive Director Shawn Keough and Idaho state group and national ALC President Tim Christopherson and everyone else involved for their hard work and hospitality in putting on a great event. The great fall weather can be a little harder to pull off but they definitely did. And Scott Dane, ALC executive vice president, put together a highly informative seminar and fun and significant banquet package.
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Trucking Dominates While the event covered a broad swath of concerns, issues surrounding trucking on all sides, from regulations and liability to driver shortages and trucking availability, pose some of the toughest challenges currently facing loggers. Trucking was never far from the surface on almost any topic, from a full day of TeamSafe Trucking presentations the day before the ALC meeting began to ALC seminar day presentations and also taking up time and debate during the general meeting. Several angles stood out: ● Dash cams. Dash cams. Dash cams. Buy them. Install them. Run with them. Use them. Currently, for loggers, this is likely the single best relatively low cost trucking investment they can make to protect their businesses. Loggers, lawyers and even a cop talked about how useful and important they are. All that griping about 4
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table. As ALC board member Richard Schwab of MA Rigoni in Florida noted, “We have to look at things differently, and there are different ways to do what we’ve always done.” ● The ALC’s Safe Routes Act may be on the fade. Promoting legislation that allows trucks to operate on the much safer interstate highway system as been a big ALC priority for several years, but that may be changing. Talks with transportation lobbyists have revealed the steep uphill climb such legislation has since it’s a blanket, nationwide policy.
wreck-chasing trial lawyers running up trucking costs? Loggers can cut out a whole bunch of that foolishness with camera systems that show events as they truly happened—not some emotional retelling that’s calculated to sway a judge or jury. ● Is trucking logging? Do loggers need to worry with it? We know loggers are always worried about it because that’s the only way to get paid. We know relatively small loggers across the country who still run a low-boy and one or two rigs because they know they can put a truck on the landing any time, exactly when and where they want it. This goes for larger loggers who may be going with almost all contract haulers as well. Yet those two or three trucks opens a smaller logging company to the same headaches and challenges as one running 10-20 trucks—and those liabilities may be much more significant for a smaller outfit. One company that’s seeing the logging industry’s challenges as an opportunity is JB Hunt out of Arkansas, which is making a concerted effort to provide capacity. We’ll cover that more in detail in a ALC meeting visitors enjoyed a great event and logging tour in Idaho. future issue, but during Instead, look for state logging groups a presentation in Coeur d’Alene a to pursue “carve-outs” of specific intercompany representative talked about state routes and segments where log its capabilities and what they can bring trucks are legal on a state-by-state basis. to the table. Some states have had success doing With almost every truck-running “carve-outs,” others, not so much. Look logger out there struggling to fill seats, for ALC’s “Safe Routes” strategy to larger companies can bring more reshift toward supporting such efforts. TH sources—and more drivers—to the TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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NewsLines Oregon Proposes Sweeping Forest Practices Changes
to logging and forest roads; new minimum harvest standards for small forestland owners; and compensation for small forest landowners who are impacted by the rules. State officials plan to codify the new practices in legislation, pass it, then use it to propose and create what is essentially a statewide federally supervised habitat conservation plan.
Judge Halts Montana Lolo NF Project, Citing Elk Oregon changing private land management?
Oregon is embarking on a major change to the Oregon Forest Practices Act after an agreement reached by preservationist and timber industry groups was announced in late October. Changes to the act will deliver a variety of new protections for sensitive and endangered species and also provide more regulatory and legal certainty for timber companies and small woodland owners regarding logging and timber management activities on private lands. The goal is to update rules governing timber harvests and forest management on private land—roughly 10 million acres in the state—to in effect make the state’s forest practices fit the requirements of a federally supervised habitat conservation plan. Such a plan, if approved by NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would protect forestland owners from lawsuits under the Endangered Species Act in exchange for conservation commitments. Similar agreements have been negotiated with some large timberland owners in the Pacific Northwest, but not on a statewide basis for all landowners. The agreement comes after several years of in-state preservationist and timber industry groups going at each other with competing ballot initiatives and increasingly expensive litigation. The tragic fires of 2020—and ongoing fire concerns—have made it easier for both sides to find common ground and interests. Many details remain to be worked out, but some commitments already agreed to include wider no-cut buffers for fish-bearing streams; new buffers for streams that were previously unprotected; new rules governing logging on steep slopes to minimize erosion and protect habitat, improvements 6
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A U.S. District Court judge in Missoula has agreed with The Alliance for the Wild Rockies that sued to stop a 10,000 acre stewardship project on the Lolo National Forest, saying it didn’t follow the forest’s management plan and wasn’t retaining enough trees for elk security cover. Issuing an order to halt the project, the judge noted that Forest Service officials working with the Soldier-Butler Project in the Ninemile Ranger District needed to remedy that issue—and also to reconsult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on how the use of old logging roads will impact grizzly bears. FS officials say they are reviewing the ruling and considering next steps.
Miller Steep Slope Work Passes Muster Profiled a year ago in Timber Harvesting, the Monarch Pass thinning and forest health project near a major Colorado ski area is making good progress and is part of a much larger forest health effort. Counting 2020 and 2021, it’s taken two summers to thin about 466 acres of forest on Monarch Pass. The work is being conducted by Oregon-based Miller Timber Services, the TH 2019 Logging Business of the Year. According to forester Andrew Lerch with the Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative, Miller Timber’s crews have harvested an estimated 9,000 tons of timber, or 2.3 million board feet of beetle-killed spruce, off the pass in the past two years. The work is looking good: Researchers with the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station have been studying erosion below the logging operation on Monarch Pass and haven’t found any widespread or alarming issues. The project is part of a much larger regional effort that involves dozens of communities, local, regional and
federal agencies and stakeholder groups to reduce fire risk and boost wildfire protection, which by 2030 could see $40 million spent to treat more than 30,000 acres.
Conservation Fund Purchases 70,000 Wisconsin Acres The Conservation Fund has purchased 70,000 acres in northern Wisconsin from investment firm The Forestland Group to preserve it for recreational use and forest management. The land purchase located mostly within Oneida County is the largest ever made in Wisconsin by the Conservation Fund. The property located east of Rhinelander will become known as the Pelican River Forest. The Conservation Fund purchased the land for an undisclosed amount with the help of a loan through the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Protecting the large block of forestland will provide ecological benefits in the form of habitat for state endangered and threatened species like the American marten and spruce grouse, according to Clint Miller, the conservation group’s central Midwest regional director. He said the forest also benefits the climate by storing around 19 million metric tons of carbon. Miller added that the conservation easement with the DNR ensures the forest will provide economic benefits for years to come and support more than 700 jobs in the forest products business. The purchase keeps the tract from being chipped away at the corners and sold off into 40-or 160-acre parcels, said Miller. "It remains as forestland—commercial forestland."
Scotch Plywood Focuses On Waynesboro Rebuild Scotch Plywood is making steady progress in the rebuild of its veneer mill at Waynesboro, Miss., following a January 6 fire that destroyed it. The mill is one of three Scotch owns, including a veneer mill at Beatrice, Ala. and a softwood plywood mill near the corporate office in Fulton, Ala. Considering employee retention and maintaining relationships with landowners and customers, and what it would mean to not have a mill in eastern Mississippi to serve that part of the industry, company officials within 18 TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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NewsLines
Scotch Plywood is rebuilding its veneer mill at Waynesboro following a January fire.
hours after the blaze decided to rebuild while ramping up production of its veneer mill in Beatrice, including transporting Waynesboro employees to Beatrice daily. With two charter busses, 12-hour days, and 12,000 tons of logs processed weekly, the Beatrice mill has continued to thrive. Meanwhile come mid-September, working around major rains and storms, Scotch Plywood Co. was pouring concrete at Waynesboro in preparation for building erection with key
Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
pieces of machinery on site. By mid-October, construction progress had gained momentum in anticipation of a spring 2022 startup. In addition to operating the plywood and veneer mills, Scotch companies and their owners manage 460,000 acres in Alabama and Mississippi, oversee 24 logging crews, employ 28 foresters and technicians, and manage multiple wood dealerships. For David Hall, President and CEO of Hall Timberlands, Scotch’s response to the fire at Waynesboro confirmed what he already knew about the type of people at the company. As the largest landowner for Scotch in Mississippi, his family has been trusting Scotch to manage his family’s land and timber since 1976, and for the longest time did so without a formal contract. “These are two family-owned businesses, and we have a seamless relationship with Scotch,” Hall says. “We see ourselves as an extension of their operations and vice versa. We buy land knowing that Scotch will handle
the management aspect of it and get it to the Alabama mill until Waynesboro is back online.” Photo and article supplied by Scotch Plywood, as written by Stamp Ideas for Forest Landowner magazine.
GP Sells OSB Mill To West Fraser Timber An oriented strandboard plant in Allendale, SC will now have its third ownership since starting up in 2006. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is purchasing the facility from Georgia-Pacific for $280 million. The Allendale facility has been idle since late 2019 when GP shut it down citing market conditions. The plant has an estimated annual production capacity of 760MMSF (3/8 in. basis). West Fraser intends to invest $70 million to upgrade and optimize the facility in preparation for a restart in nine months. The mill is expected to employ 135. West Fraser states the mill will be one of the lowest cost mills in the company’s OSB portfolio after the optimi-
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NewsLines zation is completed and the mill has ramped up to full production, a process that it says typically takes 18-24 months after restart. Early this year West Fraser entered the OSB arena when it completed the purchase of Norbord Inc., the world’s largest OSB producer, for $3.1 billion. Norbord operated 15 OSB mills in the U.S., Europe and Canada. West Fraser was known primarily as a sawmill company, while operating a handful of non-OSB panel facilities. GP continues to own five OSB plants in North America.
Package Deal Buys SDS Mills, Timberland SDS Lumber, including its sawmill and plywood mill at Bigen, Wash. and 96,000 acres of timberland, has been purchased in parts by three entities. Seattle-based Twin Creeks Timber, LLC, The Conservation Fund, and Carson, Wash.-based Wilkins, Kaiser & Olsen, Inc. (WKO) are acquiring SDS Lumber and Timber Companies. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. SDS Lumber was established in 1946 by Wally and Bruce Stevenson and Frank Daubenspeck on the banks of the Columbia River in Bingen. They incrementally grew the business from one small green lumber mill through reinvestment and the accumulation of timberlands, making SDS Lumber a driving force and major employer in the Columbia Gorge community. “Each of these entities brings deep expertise,” comments Jeff Webber, president of SDS Lumber. “Under their ownership and leadership there will be ongoing positive economic and environmental impacts for Bingen, the Gorge and the entire Northwest.” The SDS board went through a one-year process to evaluate a transition and sale of the company. WKO will acquire and operate the Bingen mills and its related divisions under its newly formed subsidiary, Mt. Adams Forest Products. WKO operates a modern sawmill at Carson, and its affiliated company, Mt. Hood Forest Products, operates a Douglas fir sawmill near Hood River, Ore. “We have deep roots in Washington and Oregon and know well the positive legacy of SDS. We look forward to welcoming employees into our or8
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ganizations and shaping the future of these facilities.” says Bill Wilkins, CEO of WKO. Green Diamond Resource Co., manager and investor in Silver Creek Capital Management’s Twin Creeks Timber, LLC, will acquire and manage the majority of the timberland as working forests to support the local economy while upholding their long-standing practice of forest stewardship. “ The Conservation Fund will acquire a portion of the SDS properties and manage the conservation easement process and community engagement to ensure that lands with the highest natural, climate and community values are conserved.
Forest Service Says 4FRI Is Still Alive Following its cancellation of the Phase 2 Request for Proposal (RFP) and bid selection in September, which caught everybody by surprise, the Forest Service “has gone back to work” on how to move forward with stewardship and treatment of the 520,000 acres that was included in Phase 2, which was part of the 4 Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI) seeking to improve forest health conditions on more than 2.5 million acres across four Arizona national forests while establishing wood products manufacturing and biomass processing infrastructure. The agency hosted an industry roundtable of 4FRI stakeholders on October 12 in Heber, Ariz. that addressed restoration strategies and “lessons learned.” “Our critical work will continue with the goal of increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration across the 4FRI landscape,” the agency said, adding that the cancellation of Phase 2 does not affect any ongoing forest restoration or fuels reduction work, including stewardship agreements in place and plans to issue new timber sales in 2022. “It was a surprise for sure,” comments John Godfrey, principal of Godfrey Forest Products, after the FS cancelled the Phase 2 RFP, just when it appeared the agency was about to award the winning bid on the 20-year, 520,000 acres stewardship contract. Godfrey’s bid, apparently one of two in serious contention, included the construction of an 850MMSF oriented
strandboard plant in Winslow, Ariz. Godfrey has developed several OSB facilities through the years. The Forest Service cited “performance risk” concerns as a reason for the cancellation. The Phase 2 contract award announcement had been delayed several times since 2019 due to 13 contract modifications including reductions in stewardship acreage from as high as 800,000 acres during initial discussions. Upon the cancellation, the FS stated, “The requirements for meeting the restoration objectives (as currently defined in the RFP) are not reasonably aligned to industry needs. In addition, significant financial and investment risks remain which ultimately represents a performance risk to the government.” In so many words, over a 20-year period what happens if FS timberlands dedicated to the project are somehow made unavailable due to fire damage or administrative withdrawal? How does the FS replace those resources and how are Phase 2 investors to be placated or compensated? The FS statement added, “It is in the best interest of the government to thoroughly reassess the requirement so that any new solicitation issued would better address all risks to offerors and the government, including financial and investment risks.”
West Fraser Purchases New SYP Sawmill West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has entered into an agreement to acquire the Angelina Forest Products southern yellow pine sawmill in Lufkin, Texas for $300 million (U.S.). The new sawmill began construction in 2018, commenced operations in late 2019 and is expected to progress toward full production capacity of more than 300MMBF annually. West Fraser states the the acquisition is another important step in its continued expansion of its U.S. lumber operations. Upon completion of the transaction, West Fraser will have combined Canadian and U.S. lumber production capacity of 7 billion BF, with U.S. capacity of SYP lumber representing 50% of the company’s capacity. The ownership structure of AFP was composed of local businessmen and landowners. TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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TST Builds On Trucking Safety
and inspection records, Blitch cited two additional ways to reduce risk. Using equipment leasing and holding companies, move as many intangible assets as possible out of the trucking company, she said. The key is to truly operate separately, and “You have to follow through every year with the formalities and make sure you stick with the corporate rules,” Blitch added. Another good idea is to get a written agreement or indemnification statement from any contract driver or company that might use any of your trailers. “It’s all about reducing risk exposure,” she said. In other news, Team Safe Trucking named Robert Lussier its new president during the annual meeting. Lussier, owner of Great Woods Companies in Bennettsville, SC, replaces Richard Schwab of MA Rigoni in Florida who had served since the organization’s inTH ception in 2016.
COUER D’ALENE, Id. olding its annual meeting a day before the American Loggers Council meeting began at the Couer d’Alene Resort in Idaho, TeamSafe Trucking (TST) officials noted loggers have lots of support materials available, and they need to promote their safety programs to insurance companies, mills, safety agencies. Longtime TST supporter Jimmie Locklear, currently risk Maintaining compliance, reducing liability were big topics. control manager at the Forest Insurance Center Agency in yer with Boise firm Blitch Westley BarNewberry, Mich., said that when the rett, gave several ideas to mitigate risk. group began in 2016, insurance costs In addition to the basics like fully were increasing, carriers were exiting documenting such activities as due dilithe log hauler market, and driver gence when hiring and all maintenance shortages and behavior were big challenges. There are good training programs and new technology out there that can Concerns about forest products transportation continue to grow nationwide help reduce costs and liability, Lockas driver shortages and regulations challenge sustainability for many. Michigan lear added, and the cost of a trucking Association of Timbermen (MAT), Great Lakes Timber Professionals Assn. safety program is much less than the (GLTPA) and Forest/Loggers/Mauck Insurance Agencies have joined to procost of a preventable accident. vide assistance for the transportation segment of the forest products industry. “We need to get proactive and adapt Over the past several years, TST Driver Safety Program modules have to new technology, but we have to get been accepted as SFI continuing education credits (CE) in Michigan and Wisowners motivated to make changes,” consin. SFI class attendees have been very receptive to having TST including Locklear said. as part of their CE classes and would like to see more TST class subjects During the TST meeting, Bryan made available in other venues as well. We are currently seeking out assisGraham of Associated Loggers Extance from various logging, trucking and wood consumer operations in Michchange with host group ALC-Idaho igan and Wisconsin for venues to provide truck driver safety programs and noted big log hauler concerns he sees education sessions. Please contact MAT, GLTPA or F/L/M Insurance Agenare hours of operation, training, age cies if you would like to host a meeting. and resistance to change. In summer 2020, the Great Lakes Forest Products Truck Safety Team “There’s a correlation between WC (GLFPTST) was created to help promote truck driver safety and compliance, claims and longer work hours,” Graas well as TEAM Safe Trucking Driver Safety Program modules in the Great ham said, adding that he’s seeing the Lakes region. In the fall of 2020, the Forest Products Transportation Truck “same things over and over ” and that Owners Guide for Safety & Compliance booklet was completed and distribmany times operators only make uted at various meeting venues and individual Risk Control visits to logging, changes after a tragedy. transportation and wood consumer operations in the Great Lakes region. Graham noted that younger and less Compliance with governmental requirements for both the truck and the experienced drivers are harder to indriver are very important to an insurance provider’s underwriting process in sure because of training and overall today’s world. When a truck and a driver are involved in a crash, the settlesafety issues. He cited statistics showment of that claim will increase greatly if either is found to be non-compliing drivers under 25 have loss ratios ant and/or in violation of the laws that apply. This continues to be a major over 100%. problem for commercial truck insurers and requires higher premiums to Graham also reported results of a cover claims. survey of Idaho loggers showing two An active truck driver safety program is essential in today’s transportation thirds wouldn’t pay more to insure environment. Your driver’s safety and the public’s safety depends on your younger drivers—if they could find TH concern for them. them—and only one fourth would pay Submitted by Jimmie Locklear, Great Lakes Forest Products Truck Safety Team up to 10% more. Bridgette Blitch, transportation law-
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‘Motivation To Change’
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Steep Slope Harvesting
Steep Ground Cable Logging CRD Timber, Gall Logging handle tough terrain. DAVIDAbbott
CRD Timber: Line Logging Specialist LIBBY, Mont. he owners of CRD Timber and Logging, a specialist in high elevation line logging, has contracted for F.H. Stoltze Land & Lumber Co., a dimension lumber mill based in Columbia Falls, since the Decker family migrated to this area in 1983. “We are the primary line logger for Stoltze,” says Russ Decker, 56, who manages CRD’s daily operation. Both companies trace their business roots back a century or more; Stoltze marked its 100th anniversary in 2012, and CRD has had five consecutive generations of Decker men in the timber industry (represented in Russ’ sons Tyson (T.C.), 31, and Cody, 25). The CRD name comes from the initials of its owner, Charles Russell Decker, Russ Decker’s father. Charles also helped found the Rocky Moun-
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Eagle carriage uses remote controlled selfreleasing chokers from Log Tough.
CRD Timber and Logging specializes in harvesting Stoltze Lumber’s steeper tracts that require line logging systems.
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tain Elk Foundation, a conservation-minded hunting organization devoted to improving and preserving habitat for future generations. The CRD crew works on Stoltze company lands as well as government agency sales, and sends all its sawlog production to the Stoltze mill (pulpwood goes to a Weyerhaeuser mill). Stoltze manages its timber with its own company crew and other contractors running tractor crews, but relies on specialists like CRD to tackle line skidding aspects. “We’re a necessary evil for Stoltze,” Decker says. “We average 90-100 tons a day compared to a tractor site that moves three or four times that. We have twice as many people moving half the volume, so we’re more expensive, but this land needs to be treated just as much as tractor ground.”
Land Management Decker views taking care of this difficult to access timber as a responsibility—a job someone has to do as part of managing the habitat for the benefit of all. “In my early years we did a lot of clear cuts, and a lot of that was to help create elk habitat,” he reminisces. “We don’t do clear-cuts anymore. Everything is a leave-tree based prescription. It still opens up the land, but does it offer enough grazing for the elk? I don’t know.” CRD was working on Stoltze-contracted land when Timber Harvesting paid the crew a visit in early October. This job was species designated: They were to leave all the larch, and individual trees as marked, and take everything else that was merchantable. From the paved road to that job site is an hour drive, 35 miles up around a winding mountain road. They work TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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Steep Slope Harvesting these tracts in mid-late summer or early fall; snows make roads inaccessible in winter. And they can’t operate here from April to July because of grizzly bear denning, as per the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act). Mother Nature and lumber markets determine where, and how much, they can work during the frozen winter and especially during the spring breakup when thawing snow begets mud. “Once the frost starts leaving we will sink up to our axles in some areas,” Decker explains. “The unique thing with line skidding is, we don’t have the impact on the ground, so sometimes if the lumber market is pretty strong, they’ll have us continue to log and deck, and we just keep decking logs for two to three months, or sometimes six weeks. It usually hits between February and March, and we’ll fire up again first of May. Usually you can count on being off in April.” They use the time off for preventive equipment maintenance, repairs and rebuilds. Stoltze has the timber contract, but this is U.S. Forest Service land. “We have a lot of it here and work a lot on it,” Decker says, adding that federal agencies are increasingly freeing it up for harvests. “I think some of it has to do with how many forest fires we are having, (because of) how long they have neglected federal land. I think climate change has to do with it too. But if you could control the intensity of a hurricane or tornado, an earthquake, a blizzard, wouldn’t you do that? Well, with wildfires, you can a little bit. This is all renewable; it all grows back. If you just leave it, eventually, Mother Nature will take care of it. It’s inevitable.” One thing Stoltze makes is MSR (machine stress rated) lumber. “The reason they can do that is because our trees grow so slow here,” Decker notes. “We are talking ⅛ to 3⁄16 in. growth a year; if we can get ¼ in. of growth, we are really banging.” That results in a tighter grain. Growth is slow because the growing season is shorter in Montana than in many other places, especially at higher elevations, and the air is dryer. It also means higher quality lumber.
Equipment CRD skids with a Skagit 717 yarder, built in 1980. According to Decker, only 13 of these machines were ever built; CRD has three of them and enough parts to build another. The undercarriage is an M6 tank retriever. “A lot of these machines were built in the ’60s and surplus parts were available from World War II, so Skagit incorporated that into their machines because parts were so prevalent and cheap.” The tower has a 50 ft. boom. The operation uses ¾ in. skyline cable, swaged from ⅞ in. “So we have the line capacity for ¾ in. but the strength of ⅞,” Decker says. They have a range of about 3,200 ft. with some slack. They run a 9⁄16 in. mainline (⅝ swaged). The line runs an Eaglet carriage from Eagle Mfg. CRD uses remote controlled self-releasing chokers, manufactured in New Zealand under the trade name Log Tough by Andrew Wood. “I think I have only the second set in the United States,” Decker says. It’s a bit more basic than some brands, he says, but also less expensive. When available, guideline back stumps are cut high and notched low so the cable doesn’t ride high. On this set, though, the yarder was anchored by guidelines attached to a 445D Timbco parked on a rim above the yarder. “When we don’t have large enough trees we hook to a piece of equipment,” Decker explains. “Tractor guys move a lot more Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
On site, crew handled more than half a dozen log sorts by species.
From left, Russ Decker, T.C. Decker, Travis Reynolds, Tom Handley, Alex Radandt
quickly, so by the time I get to an area they have usually already done their work. With disc saws, stumps get shaved down to the ground, so a lot of times we have to have equipment to tie back to because there is just nothing left but leave trees, and we try not to guide the yarder back to leave trees when possible.” Timber type, ground conditions and slope determine when they can fell with the Timbco. Otherwise, they use Husqvarna chain saws. Emissions standards, he says, have made that more of a challenge. “We change elevation so much and it does affect 2 cycle engines, because the air is thinner. It’s common for us to line skid at 6,000 feet and that slows the chain saws down.” A Doosan 225 DX with Waratah 622B dangle head handles processing while a second Doosan, a Solar 225, loads trucks and sorts. They sort by species: fir, larch, and cedar all have their own sorts, while spruce and lodgepole go together in one sort, as do grand fir, subalpine fir and hemlock in another. CRD hauls on average about three 90-ton loads a day, varying by conditions. McManus Transport is contracted to haul. The crew works on machines themselves, with parts and support from Komatsu dealer Modern Machinery in Kalispell and Doosan dealer Northwest Parts and Equipment in Columbia Falls. Although he’s worked in the woods with his dad since he was 16, Decker also went to school to be a heavy equipment mechanic, so that has helped. New equipment is more complicated, he notes. “The concepts are all the same but with computers it’s more technical to work on. We don’t own any Tier 4 equipment; we bought the Doosan TH when we did to avoid that.” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
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Steep Slope Harvesting
Gall Logging: Swing Yarding Steep Terrain KALISPELL, Mont. bout 120 miles south of CRD Timber’s operations near Kalispell, Timber Harvesting found Gall Logging, Inc., working way up on a mountainside overlooking Superior, a little town an hour northwest of Missoula. That’s where owner Jake Gall, 38, and his crew were working. The winding road to this site was more than editor David Abbott’s rental car could navigate, so he parked on a cutaway and proceeded to walk the remainder of the distance on a chilly October morning. At this elevation, close to 6,000 ft., the air was thin and the fog thick. Gall’s dad, Peter, took pity on the writer and kindly offered him a ride the last mile or so in and back out. TRL (Thompson River Lumber, not Total Request Live), a dimension lumber operation in Thompson Falls, Mont., is the primary mill for which Gall works. Thompson River buys the timber and he contracts with them. “TRL has been wonderful,” Gall says.
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“I have worked for them since we started eight years ago and they have been great.” In October, the Gall Logging crew was working the Cedar Creek drainage, very close to the state line; in fact, Idaho was visible from this steep slope, just beyond the highest ridge. The U.S. Forest Service (FS) owns and manages this land, sometimes replanting it after a harvest, sometimes burning and allowing natural regeneration. It’s strictly leave-tree work, no clear-cutting. “That is a thing of the past,” Gall says, “At least in Montana.”
Jake Gall
Denharco stroke delimber on Cat carriage sets up adjacent the yarder to handle log processing. 12
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What the loggers leave varies from unit to unit, Gall says. Typically the FS would mark a tract before they ever make the sale, but in this case it was a purchaser-marked unit. That left it up to TRL to make the call as to what should stay and what should go. After the FS approves the marks, the logger is free to move. “They paint the ones they want us to leave and the sawyer saws everything but that,” Gall explains. On this job, “We are supposed to leave the larch, with 35 ft. spacing.” Gall and his men live on the job site during the week, staying in pull-behind or fifth wheel campers, because it is too far from home to drive back and forth every night. They move down to lower elevation tracts when the winter sets in; the snow will be deep up here by December, restricting road access. The trees here were 18-20 in. DBH, and the logger estimates they might be close to 100 years old. The 36-acre unit would take the team two or three weeks to finish. The crew moves its setup about every 100-120 feet, or about every other day at this level of volume.
Landing Setup At each set, as the men make their way down the hill on foot, they take all the merchantable timber in a 120 ft. swath, covering about 60 ft. on either side of the skid line. Then when they finish it they move on to another 120 ft. corridor. Gall and his crew use spurs and a climbing belt to slide up to 40 ft. in leave trees, set rigs with a choker and feed the cable through the choker to hold up the skyline. “We like them when they don’t have limbs,” he says of the anchor trees. “It makes them easier to climb. Otherwise we are up there trying to saw them off while we’re climbing. Larch is great because the bark is slick, so they are nice to climb.” The skyline goes out a distance of 2,000 ft. so they can yard at around 1,800-1,900 ft. The carriage runs from the yarder down the skyline; the skid line is underneath and has a toggle that setters run through each ring of the chokers. The yarder has three guylines. “We cut stumps behind it; that’s what holds it up,” Gall explains. “Without those guyline backs anTIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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Steep Slope Harvesting chored behind (the yarder), it would pull it over. We try to find the best trees available. We usually cut them maybe two feet high and notch them so the cable can’t slip off.” When they lack sufficient trees, they can use some of their equipment as alternative anchors. A 6140 Thunderbird swing yarder runs an Eagle motorized carriage down to where the choker setters preset logs for line skidding up to be processed at the road. The choker setters each have four chokers, each working on either side of the line. They alternate, one taking chokers off and presetting his chokers, while the other hooks his toggle to a set. “That way we aren’t stopped waiting while they are trying to hook a turn up,” Gall says. “It speeds the process.” Once chokers are set, the carriage pulls each turn of logs up to the rim, where it’s picked up by a Denharco monoboom stroke delimber on a Cat 324 carrier. This machine removes limbs and tops. A mobile 320 DFM Cat log loader on tracks sorts by species and product and loads trucks accordingly. Sorts include firewood, post and rail (non merchantable species), sawlogs of multiple species for TRL, and a cedar sort, which goes to Idaho Forest Group mills. “The Forest Service likes you to utilize everything,” Gall notes. Gall Logging also has a Cat 518 rubber tired grapple skidder, used frequently on some of the steepest slopes where logs may slide back down. The grapple holds the logs tight while operators unhook the chokers; then the skidder can run a grapple-full down the road to a more level landing. “We use it a lot for different stuff,” Gall says. “Sometimes we use it as a mobile anchor for the yarder.” Other equipment used by Gall Logging includes a D7 Cat dozer and 770CH road grader. These come in handy for cleaning brush and maintaining roads, or as mobile anchors for the yarder’s guylines. Gall also keeps a blade for pushing out snow. “It’s nice because I can final blade all our units when we’re done,” he says. “I got tired of depending on others to blade snow.” Spring breakup, he says, lasts six to eight weeks usually, and provides a good time to handle preventative maintenance.
Thunderbird yarder can skid 120 ft. wide swaths more than 1,500 ft. long.
Yarder man Chase Haines unhooks chokers.
Manpower Two full time independent contract truckers—his uncle, Dan Gall, and Wade Nichols—haul steady for Gall Logging every day. On a job like this one, it takes an hour or so to get up to the landing from the paved road, another hour or so to get back down the mountain, and then the distance to the mill. As such, each truck can only make two trips a day. When they get behind on loads, they try to find more trucks to supplement capacity. “When I come into a unit I have a pretty good idea what I want to see, production wise, each day,” Gall says. “That is how I work up my number to log for the mill.” The market seems to be doing well this year, he reports. But he wonders where it will end up with all the things going on in the world. Gall himself does a little of anything and everything, whatever needed. When TH visited in early October, he was down a choker setter so he was handling that job while breaking in a new employee in the position. “It has been getting hard to find people recently,” he says. His core group has been with him a long time, but he admits, “Sometimes you can go through choker setters.” Speaking of the core group, chain saw man Brian McForemost Authority For Professional Loggers
Dowell does all fellings using a 461 Stihl. Chase Haines mans the yarder and Brian Brown operates the delimber. Peter Gall, Jake’s dad, runs the loader, although he is technically semi-retired. Jake grew up working in logging with his dad, but when Peter got out of the business when his son was 22, the younger Gall left logging for several years. He got into construction and had his own company, Oak Ridge Construction, which did quite well building custom homes until the recession hit him hard in 2009. “It went downhill,” Gall admits. He ended up in North Dakota for a year crushing gravel. Then he had an opportunity to buy some equipment and get back into the woods, and Peter came with him. Jake started Gall Logging in 2013, and has been working with TRL most of that time. “They have been a blessing and kept us busy,” he says. Gall and his wife Tasha have been married 15 years. They have a son, Isaac, 14, and a daughter, Grace, 12. “They’re TH great,” the dad says. “I love my kids.” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
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ALC Returns, Marks New Leadership American Loggers Council sees generational changes at its 27th annual meeeting. BYDavid Abbott and Dan Shell COEUR D’ALENE, Id. hen the members of the American Loggers Council met for the organization’s 25th anniversary in September 2019, no one at the time knew that it would be two years before the group would have its annual meeting in person again. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 meeting, which would have taken place in Branson, Mo., the home state of then-President Shannon Jarvis, was held virtually instead in September 2020. At that time, ALC’s board voted for all officers elected in 2020 to serve two-year terms and for the annual meeting to take place in Branson in 2022, at which time new officers will be elected. This decision was reaffirmed in the 2021 meeting. This year’s meeting took place on October 7-9 in Coeur d’Alene, Id. Current American Loggers Council President Tim Christofferson welcomed attendees to his home state of Idaho. New ALC Executive Director Scott Dane rose to the challenge of his first annual meeting admirably well, while his predecessor in the position, Danny Dructor, who handed the reins over to Dane earlier this year after 20 years on the job, clearly enjoyed the chance to sit back, relax and enjoy the meeting free from all the headache of organizing it. The future picture of the American Loggers Council is taking shape in real time, building on the foundation of its past. Signs abounded that the dedication and hard work of so many people over so many years has paid handsome dividends, with ALC now being recognized in new ways. As Dructor himself put it, “We have arrived.” That turned out to be a recurring theme of the weekend, underscored by the fact that no less than the office of the President of the United States sent
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American Loggers Council members gathered in Idaho to discuss issues pertinent to the industry.
ALC a message during the meeting. Responding to the message, Tom Trone, who moderated Friday’s seminars, said, “The work of 27 years has paid off, because ALC is on the radar of the highest office in the land. Five years ago they wouldn’t have known (anything) about us.” At one point Trone invited Dructor on stage with him to look back on what ALC has accomplished, how it has grown, where it came from and where it is headed. Dructor noted that participation in the annual fly-in event, in which ALC members visit their state’s Congressional delegates to represent the interests of the industry, has grown significantly, and the impact of their efforts is now becoming apparent. “We don’t call them anymore;
they call us,” Dructor said, citing the example of Arkansas Congressman Bruce Westerman texting him directly to discuss forestry issues. “The letter (from President Biden) we just got was proof positive that we have arrived in Washington, DC. We are in a position now we have never been in. We are speaking for ourselves, our sector of this industry; we have not had that opportunity in the past.” He noted that ALC reps are now sitting in on advisory panels, working on policy, testifying before Congress. “We have built relationships with members of Congress that are priceless, and we have to continue that. It doesn’t matter which party is in power.” Concluding his remarks, Dructor left his friends with this advice: “You are loggers working for loggers; don’t ever let anyone take that away from you.”
Seminars
M.A. Rigoni’s Richard Schwab, left, and J.B. Hunt’s Jeremy Morris discuss trucking.
Industry consultant and former John Deere man Tom Trone served as moderator and facilitator for a full day of seminars and set the tone for the day by commenting on what he called a “generational shift” in the logging industry, in the ALC and in its leadership. TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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Helping Out
Logging tour visited Bob Danielson Logging’s fully mechanized tethered operation near Clarkia, Id.
Noting that information is key to suckets, Stewart admitted progress is being cess, Trone introduced Pete Stewart, made in advanced biofuel and chemiPresident, CEO and founder of Forestcals, but slowly. Meanwhile, he called 2Markets, who kicked off a slate of the market potential for mass timber speakers with discussion focused on “enormous.” He further advised mempost-Covid markets in 2021 and going bers of the forest products community to forward. pay attention to carbon credits, calling Capital expenditures at mills have greenhouse emission offset trading a been almost entirely in the South, which new global currency. The Blackrock has added 2.5 billion board feet of new hedge fund alone could buy every log capacity. “Capital is flowing to the sold in a year in the U.S. for 2% of their South, China, and Latin America and revenue, he warned. nowhere else,” he says. Why is it all in Dana Doran, Executive Director of the South? Because the Northeast has a Professional Logging Contractors of balance of supply and demand, leaving Maine was on a panel with Julie no room for growth. The situation in the Tucker from the DC office of the US South is a negative for landowners but a Forest Service speaking on the work it boon for suppliers. Agriculture has a took to achieve success with PATHH similar problem with over production this past year. Doran said, “$200 miland a tension between supply and delion puts the logging community on mand, he noted. the face of the earth when it comes to Stewart cited 50 million tons of exCongress and the Executive Branch. It cess pulpwood in the was a battle,” he admits U.S. and 40 million tons to get PAATH cleared. of excess saw timber, “We have gotten on the adding that “The South map and we can use alone could produce anthat for what we need other 10 billion board going forward.” feet of lumber, easily.” Henry Scheinebeck, Overall, industry trends ALC committee chair on are fairly clear, he asgovernment affairs, reDructor, left, and ALC-Idaho’s serted: increasing deported on his having tesChristopherson mand for logs and pine tified before Congress. pulp in the South, flat “We mostly listen to demand in the northwest, WIE-FM: What’s In It and declines in the MidFor Me,” he said. west outside of some “Somebody’s got to do it choice markets. With or you got to pay somesuch an oversupply of one else to do it for you. fiber, he said, loggers I don’t want to do this I have little choice but to want to be in the woods get more efficient. but someone has to.” Tim Curran’s Seaway Timber HarAs for other, less tra- vesting was the TH Logging BusiAnother panel conness of the Year. ditional industry marsidered the challenge of Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
Robert D’Agostini of Associated California Loggers holds the “$20,000 saw” as the bids to help stroke-stricken logger Dan Leeds rise higher during the ALC’s Auction Night.
After American Loggers Council (ALC) board member Dan Leeds suffered a stroke a while back, fellow loggers across the nation stepped in to lend a hand during the recent ALC annual meeting. A beautiful Stihl 880 Magnum chain saw with 4 ft. bar donated by Michigan logger Jim Carey went into the silent auction, and the saw was won and re-donated and auctioned several times with the proceeds designated for Leeds of the Northern Arizona Loggers Assn. and owner of Northwoods Logging in Greer, Ariz. Together, the ALC members attendance raised more than $20,000 in one night to help a fellow logger in a time of need. finding, training and retaining qualified employees. Delbert Gannon made a presentation about the HELO (Heavy Equipment Logging Operations) training program at northern California’s Shasta College. Rex Storm of Associated Oregon Loggers (AOL) and Sara Nelson, AOL’s workforce development manager, discussed how to attract new workers to replace older ones retiring. Nelson asserted that 80% of logging businesses in Oregon use word of mouth as the primary method of finding new employees. “That’s not the best way to reach young people,” she points out. Dan Snidarich, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, based in the Virginia office but representing workers in Minnesota, discussed how his group helped the timber industry in Minnesota design a healthcare agreement for loggers and their employees—a benefit that’s not NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 15
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often feasible for many small operators to offer potential hires. Meanwhile, according to Caterpillar’s marketing consultant Mike Lenzie and senior project engineer Mike Greco, future loggers may not even need as many employees. They say timber harvesting technology is on the path to autonomy: remote controlled machines with no operators physically in the cab. The annual auction Friday night was as spirited as usual and attendees proved themselves as generous as always, per-
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haps more so this year. Normally the proceeds from the auction go to the ALC and to Children’s Hospitals. This time, though, they went further, also donating to help one of their own (see sidebar).
Meetings, Awards During Saturday’s meetings, Henry Scheinebeck reported on climate change mitigation and carbon neutrality biomass credits, and lamented
stalled progress on the proposed safe routes act to increase weight tolerance for log trucks on interstates nationwide. Frustrated with the lack of traction on the interstate issue at the federal level, some suggested confining the issue to the local and state level, an approach that has been successful in many areas. According to Richard Schwab, lobbyists have told him that “No legislator in their right mind will increase weight limits nationwide for just one industry.” As an alternative, state associations and politically active loggers can lobby to carve out exemptions specific corridors close to a local market, rather than a blanket change for the whole country. This piecemeal approach, some suggested, may also prove more palatable to railroad lobbies, which have opposed the Safe Routes Act at the federal level. At the awards lunch on Saturday, ALC gave special recognition to Dructor, calling him a trailblazer who left a path others can now follow. Receiving a special ax and plaque in appreciation for his two decades of service, Dructor was emotional in his thank you, and said, “I’m pleased to see in my successor what it takes: it’s called passion.” At the President’s farewell banquet Saturday night, TH Managing Editor Dan Shell presented the Timber Harvesting 2021 Logging Business of the Year award to Tim Curran of Seaway Timber Harvesting in Massena, NY. Like Southern Loggin’ Times, Timber Harvesting magazine is a publication of Hatton-Brown Publishers. Seaway Timber Harvesting is a major timber producer that operates multiple crews and a pellet mill. The company is the 24th winner of the award, which recognizes loggers who step outside the woods in support of their industry and communities, and the first winner from the state of New York. The keynote speaker was Staff Sgt. Travis Mills, a veteran of Afghanistan who woke up from an encounter with a land mine in 2012 to learn on his 25th birthday that he was a quadruple amputee. He didn’t let this stop him from leading full life with his family and helping others. Urging his audience to never give up and never quit, Mill’s speech was moving, motivating and, perhaps surprisingly, extremely funny. No doubt those in the room left with a renewed perspective on their TH own lives. TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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LoggerEvents
Logger Events Mark Live Show Return
Great Lake States Expo Turnout
Mid-South, Lake States shows see success.
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ogging shows have returned this year after taking a 2020 year off due to the pandemic, and two recent events, the Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show in Mississippi and the Lake States Logging Congress and Equipment Expo in Michigan held earlier this fall featured good crowds. Vendors gave great feedback on show.
’Bama Loggers Meet The 2021 Alabama Loggers Council Annual Meeting in late October brought nearly 150 logging industry professionals together at the Marriot Prattville Hotel and Conference Center to discuss issues facing the industry and celebrate several awards. A panel of industry professionals discussed short-term solutions to circumvent rising insurance premiums, truck driver shortages and frivolous Dane embraces ALC challenges. lawsuits by integrating scales and incab camera systems. Scott Dane, Executive Director, American Loggers Council, gave the keynote speech and discussed ALC’s long-term vision to improve trucking conditions in the logging industry. Dane encouraged Alabama logging professionals in attendance to get involved and support the forest products sector by collaborating with others in the industry. “The ALC is the voice of the American logging industry. Loggers are considered to be the bottom of the food chain, but it is the logger and trucker that are the first link in the supply chain. Without them, there is no forest products industry,” Dane said. “The logging industry is never more than one generation from extinction. There may be sawdust in your bloodstream, passed from generation to generation, but if you don’t fight for it, protect it and hand it off to them as the generation before us did, we will spend our sunset years telling our children what it was once like.” Steve Lowe, Lowe Brothers Logging, Inc., Reform, was recognized as the 2021 Alabama Logger’s Council’s Distinguished Logger of the Year. Steve founded the company with his two brothers, Terry and Eddie Lowe, in 1992. The award was presented by Gee Allgood Jr., McShan Lowe Brothers Logging takes home the top logger plaque. From Lumber, whom the Lowe brothers contract left are Stephen Posey, loader operator; Terry Lowe, co-owner for in Pickens County. and truck driver; Steve Lowe, co-owner and cutter operator; Eddie Lowe, skidder operator.
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Good weather and a great turnout drove a positive Lake States Logging Congress and Equipment Expo in Escanaba, Mich. in early September. Sept. 6-7. Henry Schienebeck, executive director of the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Assn. (GLTPA), noted that the 68th annual had a very good turnout and a lot of good vendor comments. “Everybody seems to be a better mood this year. The markets have stabilized which is a good thing,” he said. Concerns that came up during the logging congress include regulations from the Forest Service and EPA, Schienebeck said, plus potential regulations concerning air quality and climate change. More locally, loggers would like to see more active management on Lakes State national forests and are closely watching a Michigan roads improvement plan. The three-day event typically alternates between Michigan and Wisconsin and is scheduled for 2022 at the new Resch Expo Hall in Green Bay on Sept. 8-10.
Public timber access was a show issue. TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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LoggerEvents Miss. Loggers Awards Event During the Mid-South show, the Mississippi Loggers Assn. (MLA) held its annual awards banquet that drew more than 200 people hosted at Paul Yeatman’s tree farm. MLA Executive Director David Livingston cited the work of MLA staff and a team of volunteers from Mississippi state, plus MLA MLA Executive Director David Livingston, at right, honors MLA Logger of the Year Randy McInnis of member TruxWorx which Timberline Trucking and Timber Activist of the Year Sandy Martin. cooked steaks for the crowd. The event featured presentations for MLA Logger of the Year and other awards. American Loggers Council Executive Vice President Scott Dane spoke at the event, which included presentations by “Forged in Fire” champion Randy Caston and new MLA member trucking technology company Samsara.
Mid-South Draws Crowd Loggers across the region made their way to just outside Starkville, Miss., where the John W. Starr Memorial Forest is part of the Mississippi State University Bulldog Forest and used for teaching, research, demonstrations and events like the Mid-South show. Proceeds from timber cut at the show (and on sales from other Bulldog Forest tracts) are used to help fund forestry school scholarships. Setting up headquarters at the Charles E. Burkhardt Pavilion and Site, the two-day event drew a strong crowd, and weather cooperated fairly well—bringing not hot (can’t really call it cool!) temperatures. Live demos with the latest in logging equipment technology are what draw the most excitement, but the show had plenty of other activities, including skidder and loader competitions and free food at some booths. The Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show also offers a full slate of continuing education seminars offering credits for pro logger certificaRotobec gives the crowd what they tion programs in adjacent states. Topics offered included using digital want with SEC grapples. mapping and drone technology; pine beetles; regeneration and ticket reconciliation issues.
Mid-South offered pro logger certification credits with several seminars.
Exhibitors displayed a variety of logging technology live and in action.
Live demos remain the top show draw. Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
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Less Downtime, More Production West Virginia’s Wolford recently added a 20-ton KMC track skidder to his crew. PATRICKDunning AURORA, W. Va. lmost 20 years ago, Butch Wolford, 40, established Wolford Trucking LLC in 2003 with his brother Scott, and in 2004 added Wolford Bros. Logging & Excavating LLC, both in Rowlesburg. From a young age, Wolford admits he never wanted to work for another man, so he started contract hauling logs at 19 years old. “I knew I didn’t want to work for someone else the rest of my life. I went from farming to hauling to logging. Farming was really just an expensive hobby.” After 17 years in the logging business, Wolford leads a three-man mechanized hardwood operation in northern West Virginia harvesting logs 20 in. DBH and larger. Recently he’s working along the Cheat Mountain range in Preston County.
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Wolford doesn’t shy away from steep tracts.
Select-cutting the side of a mountain can be time consuming, Wolford says, and often includes hand-felling, winching logs and preparing and constructing roads on steep inclines. To
expedite the log-harvesting process and reduce downtime, Wolford Logging runs a ’16 Komatsu track cutter and a ’18 KMC track skidder with a 120 in. grapple. “It’s not your average skidder,” Wolford says. “You can skid in almost any weather, that’s what I like about it. There isn’t much downtime for wet weather. It’s been a blessing.” Wolford considered purchasing a KMC skidder for eight years when he talked to Myron Stull, who was running a KMC for Virginia logger David Bennett. “I was dealing with KMC directly but they are based in Canada. It’s so far away, and when the pandemic hit it was harder to travel.” Wolford met with Bennett, cut a deal and purchased the track skidder in July 2020. “It was expensive, but the days I was losing TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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before, now we can work in the rain.” Wolford believes the price of a KMC skidder can scare potential buyers away, but says if you take care of your equipment, your equipment will take care of you. “Everyone is scared of the cost of a KMC. I know a guy who had two of them back in the nineties, and one of the biggest problems he said he had was the undercarriage and torsion bars but they (KMC) upgraded them,” Wolford says. “I had to adjust the steering clutches on it, a few other minor things but nothing major. I talk to KMC if I have any problems and they tell me exactly what to do.” The 20.5-ton KMC has its own unique track design and maintains 7 PSI to the ground for added flotation. Remanufactured in 2018, the dual-arch grapple skidder has a 5.9 Cummins and four-speed Clark transmission.
A ’16 Komatsu track cutter tops logs 20 in. DBH and larger.
Operations When Timber Harvesting visited Wolford Logging in May this past year, the single crew was harvesting a mix of red and white oak, hard and soft maple, poplar, beech and birch. Wolford says this is the third time in 17 years he’s cut this 150-acre private block in Preston County. “It’s rather steep down there in places. Been working to get a road across the year-long creek that runs through the hollow,” Wolford says. “On steeper ground we hand fell trees then I’ll come through with the Komatsu, top them and get them to the road. A lot of your danger is in topping because on steep hills you can’t predict where they will go.” At one time, Wolford was utilizing a yarder and skyline to get logs from steep slopes. “Mine was a lot smaller than what you see in the Northwest but we used to do it that way. Don’t have the manpower now.” Wolford runs the ’16 Komatsu 430L track cutter with single grouser pads and a 2900 Quadco intermittent saw head. Additional equipment includes: ’06 John Deere 160C excavator, two ’99 Prentice 180E loaders, ’14 and ’13 John Deere 548G-lll skidders and a ’12 John Deere 550J dozer. Bear Paw chains are equipped on all rubber-tire machines. “I run the Komatsu cutter and drive trucks. I bought the 548 new when I heard they were going to quit making Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
Wolford has a strict maintenance schedule to ensure equipment lasts.
them. Found out they were going to make them one more year so I sold my ’08 and got the ’14,” Wolford says. Wolford deals with KMC product support specialist Paul Barabonoff for all KMC troubleshooting and solutions; and Leslie Equipment in Norton, W. Va. for John Deere equipment. “I started with John Deere. It’s what I know and have known. When I call Leslie’s for parts and service they are willing to help.” Wolford put $50,000 down on the new Komatsu track cutter he purchased through Anderson Equipment, Fairmont, W. Va. Cochran Equipment, Summerset, Pa., provides
Prentice parts. All oil and fuel are bought in bulk through Woodford Oil Co., Elkins. Wolford looks to Newlons International Sales, Elkins, for truck parts.
Maintenance A small portion of Wolford’s equipment is under warranty so most upkeep and service are done in-house at the company’s 35x77 shop. Wolford’s motto is simple. “When I buy equipment, I buy it for me and take care of it.” Woods machinery is serviced every 200 hours using Citgo 600 and greased NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
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Wolford Logging averages 15 loads weekly and currently delivers to three mills.
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daily. Trucks are serviced on 10,000mile intervals. Wolford knows what it takes to survive in the logging business, and says a little tender loving care to his machines goes a long way. “It’s a struggle to make it but I know what it takes to survive. You’re out here all day and half the night. I’ll haul a load in the morning, come help the guys in the woods after that then load trailers in the evening,” he says. “Every two to three months I pull the belly pans, wash them out and clean the debris out. They catch a lot of dust and debris, it’s all a fire hazard. I clean in between the cab and engine compartment under the boom two to three times a week, that’s a fire hazard, too.” Wolford adds, “An old fella told me once when I first started trucking. He said ‘I don’t mean to tell you what to do or anything, but I’d like to give you a valuable piece of information. You take care of that truck and it will take care of you.’ I feel that way about all my equipment.” Wolford Logging mostly operates within a 25-mile radius of its headquarters in Rowlesburg. Its three-truck fleet includes a ’98 Mack CL with a V8 engine, ’00 International with a Signature 600 Cummins and a ’07 International 9900I, acquired in 2021. The company hauls 15 loads per week to three different mills. Pitts trailers are used exclusively. Hardwood pulpwood logs are delivered to Pixelle Specialty Solutions, Parkersburg; Weyerhaeuser OSB Plant, Flatwoods; and Allegheny Wood Products, Kingwood. Allegheny is the market Wolford contracts with most of the time to stay busy when other markets are tight. When TH followed up with Wolford recently for an update on market conditions, he said white oak and hard maple logs are moving steadily, and that he is currently buying his own stumpage. He says loggers are still feeling the effects of Verso Corp. closing the Luke, MD, paper mill in June 2019, effectively eliminating 675 immediate jobs. “It was hard to recoup from that,” Wolford says of the mill closure. “It’s been two years. They didn’t give us much of a warning.” Still, Wolford admits that mills aren’t exempt from shifting markets. “Before Verso shut down they were paying over $50/ton, which was the best it’s ever been,” he says. “But the mills are suffering, too. I’m thankful they’ve kept TH me working for 17 years.” TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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SteepSlopeSystems Falcon Forestry Equipment Falcon Forestry Equipment is a mechanized forestry solutions brand distributed and utilized across the globe. We believe every person involved the logging industry, specifically the steep-slope sector, has the right to return home safe— every single day. Falcon Forestry Equipment enables crew owners to create a “zero harm” and highly productive steep Create a “zero harm” and highly productive steep slope-logging operation by providing simply-to-use, reliable and versatile slope-logging operation mechanized solutions. Falcon Forestry with mechanized solutions. Equipment’s major products lines includes winch assist excavators, grapple carriages, camera systems and lighting solutions within its range. Falcon Winch Assist—The only hydraulic winch machine on the market that provides your crew with safety, simplicity, productivity and real versatility. Key features include: 21T line pull for maximum stability and uncompromised safety; single rope tethering for ease of use—not tangled ropes; an excavator base ensuring versatility and excavation ability aren’t lost and is productive all year round; and a simple interface that’s efficient and easy to understand. Falcon Claw Grapple Carriage—The logging industry’s most widely used motorized grapple carriage significantly reduces health and safety risks to crew members while increasing the efficiency of the log extraction process. The Falcon Claw Grapple Carriage has 8T Grapple lift capacity for bigger pulls; durable casing and build quality minimizing downtime; a 70" grapple claw designed specifically for forestry use; and LED lighting for low light settings. Rope compatibility is ⅞" - 1⅛". Visit falconforestryequipment.com
Forest Chain Delivers Traction, Protection Forest Chain’s premium Multi-Ring heavy duty chains offer superior traction putting steel in strategic points providing protection from rocks, stumps and site debris, protecting against expensive rubber tires. Available in 9⁄16", ⅝", ¾", ⅞" and 1" sizes. They are designed to give as much as 60% more traction and provide quicker skid times, resulting in more production and increased bottom line Double Diamond configured profit. The Double Diamond configured chains equipped chains equipped with with U-shaped studs are especially effective in the worst U-shaped studs are especially conditions like mud and snow, and deep biting lugs dig effective and deep biting lugs deeply into the terrain to keep production moving. Forest Chain’s wide range of LaGrand ring skidder keep production moving. chains have been manufactured using top quality materials for over 30 years, come with full warranty and guarantee and are available in fixed ring, multi ring, and studded with 9⁄16", ⅝" or ¾" tag chains to fit all popular tire sizes. Order by phone 24 hours for fast delivery from warehouses throughout U.S.A. Call 800-288-0887; email forestchain@gmail.com
KMC Kootrac 3600 The Kootrac 3600 is the new steep slope and wet ground harvesting solution. Designed with commercial thinning in mind, these machines are equipped with heavy duty hydrostatic drive motors, giving them the remarkable maneuverability required to navigate the leave KMC/Kootrac is known tree prescriptions within selected timber stands. To com- throughout the world as the plement the machine’s nimexpert and main supplier of bleness, they have been the KMC/KMC HSST Vehicles equipped with several HD and Associated Parts. Cameras, making sure you have the awareness necessary to maneuver even the toughest sites. The cab on these units have been moved forward on the machine for better balance, visibility, and operator comfort. The end result being a happier operator and thus greater productivity. The KMC 3600 Hydrostatic Track drive is now available for trial on your site. KMC/Kootrac is known throughout the world as the expert and main supplier of the FMC/KMC HSST Vehicles and Associated Parts, having been associated with the product line since its inception in 1974. We currently manufacture and market new machines and parts, remanufacture FMC/KMC machines and parts to new machine specifications or repair used FMC/ KMC machines and parts for any applications. Call 800-562-5303 to request a rental/demo; visit kmc-kootrac.com 24
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SteepSlopeSystems Maxam: Handling All Conditions Whether you are facing wetlands, swaps, or steep slopes, you need a solution that can help you harvest every advantage. With the most rugged and reliable lineup of forestry tires, technology, and support, Maxam Tire moves your operation forward. The Maxam forestry High-strength, belt-stabilized tire product line consists of three series that are deconstruction delivers excellent tracveloped to handle the ex- tion in harsh logging applications. treme. With formidable solutions for soft under-footing and the most demanding conditions, the MS930, MS931, and MS933 are developed to conquer all challenges, no matter the demand. The MS930 LOGXTRA is designed for use on skidders and feller bunchers. Featuring a high-strength, belt-stabilized tire construction, the MS930 is suitable for all terrains as it provides excellent traction and flotation at an undeniable value. Manufactured with the signature LOGXTRA twin bead package, the thick and short cross-section adds additional strength during mounting, stability under tension, and prevents bead failure during impacts. The premium MS931 LOGXTRA is designed for use on the most extreme forestry equipment. Providing maximum protection from cuts, impacts & punctures in severe logging applications, the belt stabilized tread design delivers maximum traction in soft under-footing. Featuring the deepest wearable tread in the market, the MS931 was developed with mud breaker layers to ensure excellent self-cleaning capabilities. The large footprint also delivers low soil compaction and enhanced stability. Designed for use on demanding forestry equipment, the MS933 LOGXTRA also features the signature high-strength, belt-stabilized tire construction delivers excellent traction in harsh logging applications. Featuring a cut-resistant compound specifically engineered for forestry service, the extra-wide footprint provides exceptional flotation in muddy and wet ground conditions. The MS930, MS931, and MS933 LOGXTRA series provide robust solutions to the timber industry at a price that yields an outstanding return on your investment. Visit maxamtire.com
Olofsfors: Traction Track Specialists Olofsfors is a Swedish based company founded in 1762 with North American operations in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Olofsfors is the market leader in bogie tracks for CTL machinery and wheel tracks for skidders and wheeled feller bunchers. For the CTL machines, Olofsfors offers a wide range of bogie track models and linkage systems for various maOlofsfors offers a wide chine configurations and ground conrange of bogie track mod- ditions. Most track models are now available in the next generation of els and linkage systems cross members for increased for various machine con- curved flotation, less ground disturbance and easier machine turning. figurations and ground Olofsfors has nine families of track models. The All Around tracks are ECO-Track and KovaX. Both models provide good traction along with good flotation. The Tracconditions. tion tracks include EX, OF and EVO with EX providing the most traction. The Flotation tracks consist of Baltic, U and CoverX. Specific to skidders, Olofsfors offers ECO-Wheel Tracks to boost productivity and increase traction. ECO-Wheel Tracks are traction aids developed and designed to suit the most demanding terrain and machine sizes. ECO-Wheel Tracks provide numerous benefits over conventional chains including increased traction, less spin and grab, easier and less maintenance, and can fit on used tires. Visit olofsfors.com
Ponsse Expands Harvestable Steep Slope Areas Harvesting on slopes is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, and Ponsse forest machines have opened up a completely new range of possibilities. By making it possible to work on steep slopes, Ponsse forest machines can operate to harvest timber on previously inaccessible land. For steep slope operations, the cut-to-length (CTL) method has proven to be very efficient way to do logging in slopes as it enables all harvesting types from selective thinning to final cutting with low ground impact. Ponsse has developed solutions that are enabling usage of the machines in very steep slopes yet doing it in an environmentally sustainable way. It all starts from an eight-wheel machine. An eight-wheel machine is productive in steep slopes because of its stability, lower ground pressure, and better tractive effort compared to traditional six-wheel machines. The eight-wheel Ponsse machine design is optimal for steep slopes as the crane is located on a separate frame from the operator´s cabin. This improves ergonomics as the forces from the crane are not transferred to the cabin, but what is even more important is that the operator’s inclination angle remains stable even if the crane is turned—without lateral swaying. Today, over 90% of the total terrain, the Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
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SteepSlopeSystems requirements for other components of the machines, have also grown higher. One of the biggest differences in the productivity of different machine makes comes from the crane’s properties and the stability of the machine. Also, the machine’s center of gravity must be kept low when working in slopes. Ponsse cranes are offering low center of gravity, sufficient tilting angle and strong slewing. An eight-wheel machine complemented with Ponsse’s reliable traction winch, called Synchrowinch, enables harvesting in most challenging slopes yet causing low ground impact. The By making it possible traction winch mounted on the machine’s frame assists the machine while logging in the steep to work on steep slopes. Ponsse’s Synchrowinch helps achieve high productivity in steep ground operations. It slopes, Ponsse forest allows operating the same machines in flat and steep work sites with no need for additional mamachines can harvest chinery or methods. Ponsse Synchrowinch preserves soil from rutting and erosion, saves fuel and reduces stress in drive transmission components. Ponsse Synchrowinch winch is available timber on previously for Ponsse harvesters (Ergo and Bear) and inaccessible land. forwarders (Elephant King, Elephant and Buffalo). Synchrowinch equipped Ponsse machines are today used in various countries around the world. The system offers major benefits: The traction assistance winch helps to maintain high productivity also in steeper terrain because forwarding is possible to both directions (no need for separate route with full loads). Due to the tiltable seat the driver can keep a relaxed sitting position while working on steep slopes. This makes the work ergonomical and less tiring. The traction assistance winch helps to widen the area of operation— the same machines can handle also steeper places. No need to employ additional machinery or other harvesting methods (like cable skidders, manual felling) in the same logging site. With traction assistance, winch energy efficiency is approximately 80% because of direct transmission of traction force to movement and no slip. No slipping means mitigated impact to soil and lower erosion risk by reducing track formation. Lower fuel consumption and decreased transmission part wearing are pros of traction assistance compared to operating without winch in slopes. Investment cost compared to fully mechanized cable yarding systems is remarkably lower. Traction assistance logging has lower transporting costs (two machines vs. four machines) and system involves only two operators at the same time. Visit ponsse.com
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SteepSlopeSystems Tigercat Track, Tire Machines Handle It All Tigercat continues to lead the industry in steep slope technology in both track and rubber tire machines. With continued focus on safety when logging on steep terrain, Tigercat machines are proving to be stable and powerful, yet efficient and comfortable. Tigercat’s leveling track machines are used in a wide range of applications for steep slopes such as shovel logging, felling and harvesting and use innovative technologies optimized for steep slope work. Tigercat’s new improved patented super-duty, leveling undercarriage is longer, wider and provides exceptional stability on steep slopes. It uses two massive hydraulic cylinders and heavy steel sections for a solution that is simple, robust and reliable. Unlike competing systems, the Tigercat leveling system leans into the hill when Tigercat’s new improved leveling to the side which further improves machine stability and operator comfort. To patented super-duty, lev- further enhance the ability of Tigercat’s track machines to work on slopes, an optional cable assist mount has been developed. The tether anchor bolts firmly to the main careling undercarriage is body structure of the undercarriage and allows either single or double cable tethers to be longer, wider and proattached to the track machine. The tether can then be connected to a variety of different vides exceptional stability third party winch system that can assist the track machine up or down slopes. Tigercat also produces skidders, harvesters, and forwarders with unique innovations to on steep slopes. enhance productivity on steep or soft terrain. The drivetrain components including the pump drive, transmission and the hydraulically balanced bogie axles are engineered and built by Tigercat for extreme forest duty, long life and high uptime. Wide stance bogies and proper weight distribution makes Tigercat machines stable on steep terrain. Tigercat wheel harvesters feature leveling upper turntables provide strong swing torque for working on slopes and the centre oscillation joints used on both harvesters and forwarders provide exceptional stability while travelling. All machines have heavy duty lugs incorporated into their frames to accommodate tethering systems. Visit tigercat.com
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Tire Care Makes Big Difference Maintaining specs is key to durability, lower costs.
Forestry tires face extremely tough applications every day.
F
orestry tires are a big investment for logging operators, and in a business where small increases in efficiency can add up to the difference between profit and loss, it is important to take care of your tires. Skidders, forwarders and drive-totree feller bunchers all operate in the most extreme off-the-road and environmental conditions. Therefore, forestry tires experience drastic changes: from hot to cold temperatures, mud to rocks, and abrasive soil, causing them to wear prematurely or fail if not properly maintained. Some key signs that indicate opportunities for improvement are: Lack of traction Rapid tread wear Excessive punctures or cuts Tire separation Tire-rim slip Fortunately, by following simple precautions, operators can increase their logging operation’s investment return, efficiency, and site safety along with decreasing downtime, tire wear and fuel costs.
daily. Running machinery on tires that are not inflated to the manufacturer’s recommended levels of air pressure causes excessive wear, tire separation and tire-rim slip. The result is reduced tire life, loss of productivity and increased operating costs. Keep in mind that under-inflation can cause excessive heat buildup leading to damage of the sidewall, beads or lining of your tire. A drop of 5 PSI can lower a machine’s load carrying capacity by 10% and a drop of 10% will shorten tire life by no less than
10%. Alternatively, an over-inflated tire is more vulnerable to impact damage as the additional pressure stresses the casing. Operators need to be checking tire pressure regularly, preferably before each shift. Many operators do a walk around, kick the tires, check the fluids, and go to work, but not stopping to check your air pressure can cost you valuable tire life. Please note, for example the minimum cold air pressure requirement for the Maxam LOGXTRA tire is 45 PSI. If the tire is run under 45 PSI you will encounter problems. Many companies like Maxam will void workmanship and materials warranties if run under the recommended air pressure. To protect your tire investment, only operating with the required minimum pressures must be strictly enforced. Cold inflation checks are the best and most accurate. A cold tire is generally defined as one that has been sitting idle and not used for a minimum of 24 hours. From this point, the pressure can be monitored more accurately. Hot inflation checks, in most cases, are the norm. Therefore, knowing the cold inflation pressure of the tire will help track the rise in pressure in a working tire. This will then help to set the correct standards for warm inflation checks. As a tire works, its internal temperature will increase, as will its air pressure. A hot tire must never be deflated. If the air pressure increases by 20% or more from the cold inflation reading, it is a signal that the tire is overheating and should be stopped. The tire, then, should cool down or be moved to an
Key Maintenance Points
Check Air Pressure Tire pressure is the most important factor in tire maintenance. Over time tires will lose pressure naturally and need to be pressure checked/adjusted 28
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operation that is less demanding. If there is any question regarding the continued operation of the tire, consult with a tire manufacturer representative. A tire operating at the incorrect air pressure, either under- or over-inflated, might not show any immediate issues but may fail later, even after its air pressure was corrected. Operating a tire with insufficient air pressure causes the tire’s operating temperature to rise. This can lead to irreversible damage to the tire’s internal components and will shorten its life expectancy. Over-inflation, on the other hand, is not good either. It can cause rapid and irregular tire wear. In addition, the tire will be subjected to a greater chance of sustaining cuts in the tread and sidewall due to improper flexing of the tire
important to look at both the valve caps and the lug nuts/bolts. Securing your valve caps will avoid air pressure loss, cracks, and corrosion in the valve area. All lug nuts/bolts should also be torqued to the manufacturer’s specifications to avoid downtime. Operator training and behavior are both critical to extending tire life. The operator who avoids unnecessary backing up, spinning of tires, and erratic movements will extend tire life on the site and increase production.
Operators should also select the best driving path whenever possible. Operators need to be aware of the layout in the working area and carefully plan their routes. How steep are the slopes? Are there areas of deep mud or hard-tospot hollows? Going around an obstacle or mound or steep incline may take longer, but the savings in fuel and tire damage may well make it worthwhile. TH Submitted by Maxam Tire. For any questions on this article or on proper air pressure, please contact maxamtire.com.
Excess Loads Due to the specialized nature of forestry usage, actual loads more than those stated in the appropriate load tables listed by the tire manufacturer are often encountered. Excess loads can be a result of the actual vehicle weight exceeding the design weight. This can be due to different attachments being added, varying density of the materials being moved, load transfer and other factors. Under these conditions, the actual tire load may exceed the load rating noted in the manufacturer’s load table. An example of excess load situations would be transporting the loader from one deck to another. If excess loads are encountered, the cold inflation must be increased to compensate for the higher loads. As noted in the manufacturer’s data books, the excess load allowed is 15% with a maximum PSI increase of 30%. The customer must be advised that if they are running continually with excess loads, the tires will not perform as well. Questions on proper tire inflation should be discussed with both the tire and rim manufacturer to obtain their approval.
Inspections Are Key Tires should be visually inspected before every shift for cuts and impacts that could lead to tire failure. Routine maintenance inspections can lead to discovering deeper cuts that have exposed plys. In these cases, removing the tire and repairing it immediately can extend the life of the tire, increasing the machine’s profitability. During these routine checks, it is Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
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EquipmentWorld Platinum Equity Acquires Oregon Tool Platinum Equity announced the acquisition of Oregon Tool, a leading manufacturer of saw chain and guide bars for chain saws, as well as lawn mower blades, agricultural tractor attachments and a broad range of other products. “For nearly 75 years Oregon Tool has earned its reputation as a global leader in precision cutting tools through hard work, innovation and a commitment to the highest quality standards,” says Platinum Equity Partner Louis Samson. “We are excited to work with Paul Tonnesen and the company’s management team to invest in a new generation of growth and expansion.” With more than 3,200 team members, Oregon Tool sells thousands of products in more than 110 countries under multiple professional and consumer brands like Oregon, Woods, Carlton and ICS. Earlier this year, the company rebranded from Blount International to Oregon Tool, an effort that
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highlights its unique heritage and long history of innovation. Oregon Tool CEO Paul Tonnesen remains CEO and will continue to lead the company. Oregon Tool was founded by Joe Cox in 1947 as the Oregon Saw Chain Corp.
Barko Teams Up With Stearns Bank Barko Hydraulics has partnered with Minnesota-based Stearns Bank National Assn. to provide exclusive retail financing to dealerships across the United States. “We are very excited to be partnering with such an incredible organization as Stearns Bank. Both Barko and Stearns Bank want to provide not only competitive financing to the retail market but also an incredibly personal level of service and customer experience,” says Barko President Justin Rupar. “Our combined goal is to make the financing experience easy and enjoyable so that our dealer partners can grow their business and capture a
larger percentage of potential sales.” The partnership preserves both organizations’ personal, relationship-building models to create a fast, efficient and connected financing experience for Barko dealers to offer their customers. As demand for forestry and heavy equipment solutions continues a steady growth pattern, Stearns Bank is poised to help Barko dealers meet demand head-on with customer financing solutions while also assisting with short- and longterm business needs.
Bandit Announces More Expansion Plans Bandit Industries plans to build three new production facilities and expand an existing plant in 2022. That’s in addition to four building expansions in 2021, one that is completed and three more that are under construction. When all are completed, Bandit’s manufacturing facilities will increase from 340,000 square feet to 560,000 square feet.
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EquipmentWorld
Bandit Industries has announced additional expansions of its manufacturing facilities in Remus, Mich.
The demand for Bandit products and the backlog has skyrocketed to where Bandit needs to double its 2020 production, a record year for Bandit. Bandit employs 600, up from 450 in 2020. Bandit presently has 100 positions to fill and plans to add more employees in 2022 when the new facilities are completed. Bandit will introduce three new products in 2022 that will add to the product demand. Bandit is an employee-owned company. “It is exciting to watch the enthusiasm that employee ownership brings in driving the business upward” says Jerry Morey, President of Bandit. “They are all benefiting from their success.”
Maverick Environmental Reps For Morbark Morbark LLC, announced that Maverick Environmental Equipment has been selected as a Morbark Industrial Products dealer for Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and western West Virginia. Morbark is a leading manufacturer of tree care, forestry, sawmill, and wood recycling equipment. “We’re very familiar with the Morbark product line as well as the management at Morbark, so this partnership was a natural progression,” says Tim Smith, Managing Partner at the Maverick Ohio North facility. “We see exciting things happening with Morbark and share in their commitment to ensuring our customers’ success.”
John Deere, Hitachi End Joint Venture John Deere announced it has agreed with Hitachi Construction Machinery to end the Deere-Hitachi joint venture manufacturing and marketing agreements. John Deere and Hitachi will enter into new license and sup- ➤ 37 Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
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InnovationWay timberharvesting.com
New F-Bs, Harvesters Tigercat releases 822E series feller-bunchers and harvesters with the latest features and upgrades. The 822E is the most compact track feller-buncher and harvester platform in the Tigercat track carrier lineup. The powerful machine is versatile for challenging thinning and final felling applications. Strong lift capacity, tight-tuck ER boom geometry, and compact tailswing make the 822E the perfect choice for selective felling where minimal site impact is important. The harvester configuration is available with a fixed or leveling undercarriage. High horsepower and harvester head optimized hydraulics provides responsive control, quick feed speed and powerful delimbing capability for high performance and productivity. The 822E series carriers can be equipped with the Tigercat FPT N67 Non-certified, Tier 4f or Stage V engine, producing 282 HP. A redesigned engine enclosure provides improved roof access for clearing debris. A boom slider also reduces debris build-up in hard-to-reach areas. The clamshell style enclosure and drop-down side platform allow easy access to all sides of the engine, valves and daily service points. A hot shutdown feature has been added. This allows the turbo to sufficiently cool before stopping the engine for improved turbo life. The updated E-series cab includes a new parallel action air ride seat with integrated heating and cooling. The reclining seat is fully adjustable with seat angle and seat extension adjustment. The wider seat cushion and lumbar support provide operator comfort all day long. Visit tigercat.com.
John Deere Harvester Heads John Deere offers the new, smallsize H423 harvester head and the large-size H425 and H425HD. These new attachments replace the previous H413, H415 and H415HD models. Like its predecessor, these heads have 4WD feed. The H423 harvester head works on the 1070G, 1170G and 1270G base machines and is ideal for thinnings and other fellings, where the tree diameter at chest height (BHD) is 150-350 mm. With improved hose routing from boom to harvester head, and from valve block to feed motors, this attachment offers improved durability, easy hose replacement and improved hose protection with modifications to the frame. It has an operating range of minimum diameter at chest height (BHD) 40 mm to a maximum 500 mm. 32
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InnovationWay The H425 harvester head for the larger size class is available on the 1270G and 1470G base machines. This attachment is ideal for final fellings and other fellings where the tree diameter at chest height (BHD) is 250500 mm. Also including improved hose routing from loader to harvester head and from valve block to feed motors, the hoses are routed through the frame and well protected within the structures, improving durability. Additionally, the H425HD harvester head added to the H425 model offers an HD tilt frame, expander pins in the upper end of the tilt cylinder, feed motor arms, and lower delimbing knives. A wide selection of saw motors and saw bars are also available for the H425 and H425HD harvester heads. Visit johndeere.com.
Tigercat 880E Logger The 880 series logger is a multi-purpose forestry carrier that can be configured for loading, shovel logging, or processing applications. It introduces several features including an updated operator’s station and various grapple configurations to tailor the machine to your specific needs. The 880E is powered by the Tigercat FPT N67 engine, producing 308 HP. The F7-163 undercar-
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riage is designed and built to withstand rigorous, full-time forest duty with exceptional stability for heavy timber applications. The spacious cabin has a new heated operator’s seat. Controls are integrated into both sides of the joystick pods, eliminating the need for any bolt-on control pods. The optimally positioned controls and large machine control system touchscreen interface improve ergonomics and machine monitoring. The quiet interior helps the operator enjoy the auxiliary audio input port, Bluetooth audio and hands-free calling. Additional new features include a standard equipped rearVIEW camera system, emergency stop button, and a key fob to turn on exterior lights remotely when entering the cab in the dark. The 880E can be configured as a loader equipped with various power clam, butt-n-top and log grapple options. Equipped with a live heel boom system, the 880E is a highly capable shovel logger with excellent stability, tractive effort and swing torque. The carrier can also be configured as a high-capacity processor capable of running large harvesting heads in demanding duty cycles. Some of the many advantages of the 880E over excavator conversions include better service access, higher cooling capacity, a better operating environ-
ment with superior sightlines, more robust undercarriage components and extremely efficient hydraulic circuits. The result is higher production, uptime and fuel efficiency. Visit tigercat.com.
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SelectCuts As We (ALC) See It
As We Are Seen SCOTT DANE American Loggers Council recently held its 2021 Annual Membership Meeting and Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Even with the ongoing uncertainty of the Pandemic, 180 timber industry representatives gathDane ered for three days of business, seminars, logging operation tours and other events. Why did logging industry representatives from all four corners, and in between (28 states) attend? Because these industry leaders know that it is the American Loggers Council that represents them and their issues. Opening the conference was Idaho Governor Brad Little, who personally attended, formally addressed and welcomed the group, and visited with the attendees. Why, in his busy schedule, did Governor Little attend the conference? Because he recognizes the value of Idaho’s timber industry (not to mention his personal and professional relationship with the Associated Contract Loggers-Idaho, their staff and members) and the role that the American Loggers Council plays in collectively representing the 30 state association members. Participating in the conference was Julie Tucker, a representative of the U.S. Forest Service, DC Headquarters Office. Why did the USFS official attend and participate in the conference? Because the U.S. Forest Service appreciates the collaborative professional relationship between themselves and American Loggers Council. Additionally, as the PATHH program application deadline approached, they knew that directly reaching the 28 states that were represented at the conference was the most effective way to reach out to loggers and truckers across the country. While at the conference, the American Loggers Council received a direct official correspondence from the White House specifically addressing the American Loggers Council, the conference, and the economic and environmental benefits that the timber 34
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industry provides in sustainable forestry. Why did President Biden reach out to the American Loggers Council during the conference? Because healthy forests, wildfire mitigation, rural jobs, and carbon sequestration are not partisan issues. They are shared objectives, and the timber industry, represented by American Loggers Council, is recognized as being a key element to accomplishing those objectives. A couple of weeks ago the House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural and Rural Business Development held a Hearing on “Sustainable Forestry’s Role in Climate Solutions.” Of the four witnesses testifying, two were American Loggers Council affiliated. Scott Dane, American Loggers Council Executive Director, testified on behalf of the minority party (Republicans), and Dana Doran, Professional Logging Contractors of Maine (American Loggers Council member) Executive Director, testified on behalf of the Subcommittee Chairman Jered Golden and the majority party (Democrats). Why was the American Loggers Council invited to provide congressional testimony? Because both parties recognize and respect the fact that American Loggers Council and its members are necessary to healthy forests, created by science based silvicultural practices performed by the timber industry. American Loggers Council Legislative Committee Chairman Henry Schienebeck (GLTPA Executive Director) testified at a previous congressional hearing this past summer as well. So, “How are WE, the American Loggers Council, Seen?” We are seen as a leading professional organization that represents the American logging industry, speaking on their behalf, and as the national voice for professional loggers. To be part of the American Loggers Council, join your state associations, join the American Loggers Council directly as an Individual Logging Member if your state does not have a logging association, or if you are an ancillary company (supplier, consumer, vendor, OEM, or other association) you may join as an Associate Member. Be Seen, Be Heard. For more information on these membership options and to join visit www.amloggers.com.
Scott Dane is Executive Director of the American Loggers Council. ALC is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests of timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses across the United States. For more information visit www.amloggers.com. Scott Dane is the Executive Director of the American Loggers Council. ALC is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests of timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses across the United States. For more information visit www. amloggers.com.
Westervelt Expands Timberland Holdings The Westervelt Company and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group, announced the acquisition of more than 76,000 acres of high-quality pine timberland in southeast Georgia and the creation of a new strategic partnership that will focus on sustainable timberland management. The newly acquired property had been owned and managed for nearly a century by Superior Pine Products, a family-owned company headquartered in Georgia. “This was a rare opportunity to purchase a special timberland asset in southeast Georgia. The land matches Westervelt’s strategic growth and diversification objectives, and its age class distribution balances growth and sustainability goals,” comments Westervelt President and CEO Brian Luoma. “Westervelt and CDPQ align with our company values and commitment to sustainability, so we are excited about this opportunity for all entities and look forward to future possibilities for growth,” says Scott Griffin, President and CEO at Superior Pine Products Co.
Roseburg Continues Growth In The South Roseburg has completed the purchase of 30,000 acres of timberland in the Southern U.S. from Forest Investment Associates (FIA). The properties are in the northeast region of North Carolina and the southeast region of Virginia, and consist of loblolly pine plantations. ➤ 38 Roseburg already owns TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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EquipmentWorld 31 ➤ ply agreements, which will enable John Deere to continue to source, manufacture and distribute the current lineup of Deere-branded excavators in the Americas. As a result of the new agreements, the following changes will go into effect on February 28, 2022: —John Deere will acquire the Deere-Hitachi joint-venture factories in Kernersville, NC; Indaiatuba, Brazil; and Langley, BC, Can. —John Deere will continue to manufacture Deere-branded construction and forestry excavators currently produced at the three Deere-Hitachi factories. These locations will discontinue production of Hitachi-branded excavators. John Deere will continue to offer a full portfolio of excavators through a supply agreement with Hitachi. —John Deere’s marketing arrangement for Hitachi-branded construction excavators and mining equipment in the Americas will end; Hitachi will assume distribution and support for these products. “For many years John Deere and Hitachi enjoyed a mutually successful partnership in the Americas,” comments John Stone, president, John Deere Construction & Forestry Foremost Authority For Professional Loggers
Div. and Power Systems. “As we turn the page to a new chapter of Deere-designed excavators, we remain committed to supporting our customers of today and tomorrow.” John Deere and Hitachi began a supply relationship in the early 1960s; then in 1988 the companies started the Deere-Hitachi manufacturing joint venture to produce excavators in Kernersville. In 1998, Deere-Hitachi expanded the relationship to include the production of forestry swing machines at Deere-Hitachi Specialty Products in Langley. In 2001, John Deere and Hitachi combined their marketing and distribution efforts in the Americas. In 2011, excavator manufacturing was expanded with the addition of the Deere-Hitachi Brazil factory in Indaiatuba.
Hyundai Purchases Doosan Infracore Following the sale completed in mid-August of Doosan Infracore to Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH), Doosan Infracore becomes a subsidiary of the newly created Hyundai Genuine (HG) group alongside Hyundai Construction Equipment
(HCE) as two independent construction equipment companies under HHIH. HG will act as the intermediary company of HHIH Group’s construction equipment businesses and will be leading both DI and HCE to maximize the company’s efforts and focus on the construction equipment industry. The plan is to manage overlapping investments and invest heavily in future technologies and innovation. Doosan Infracore will be working to commercialize Concept-X and develop cutting-edge products such as electric excavators, battery packs, hybrid fuel cells and other next-generation products. By focusing on each company’s areas of strength, HG will be able to advance the development of these types of products to gain a competitive edge in the global market. Doosan Infracore North America, LLC, headquartered in Suwanee, Georgia, markets the Doosan brand of products that includes crawler excavators, wheel excavators, mini excavators, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks, material handlers, log loaders and attachments. Doosan has more than 160 equipment dealer locations in North America. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
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SelectCuts 34 ➤ 158,000 acres of timberland in the Roanoke Valley, following a 2017 acquisition. The lands acquisition follows the July 1 announcement of Roseburg’s plan to build a new, high-capacity sawmill in nearby Weldon, NC., to be called Roanoke Valley Lumber.
Lussier New TeamSafe Trucking President
New Gasification Plant Picks California Site Officials with Yosemite Clean Energy recently announced they have secured a site for developing a carbon-negative green hydrogen and renewable natural gas (RNG) production plant in Oroville, Calif., with groundbreaking scheduled for Q2 of 2022. Yosemite is a sustainable biofuels company devoted to the stewardship of our planet’s natural resources as well as the empowerment of local forest and farm communities to democratize energy production. Yosemite’s biofuels production facilities utilize proven Austrian-based gasification technology, successfully commercialized and deployed by Christian Aichernig of Repotec. The Oroville plant will be the flagship du-
Team Safe Trucking (TST) named Robert Lussier its new president on October 6 during TST’s annual meeting preceding the American Loggers Council meeting in Couer d’Alene, Id. Lussier, at left, owner of Great Woods Companies in Bennettsville, SC, replaces Richard Schwab, right, of MA Rigoni in Florida who had served since the organization’s inception in 2016.
al-bed gasification facility in the Americas, following over 100,000 hours of commercial run-time across developed plants in Europe, Japan, and South Korea. Yosemite President Tom Hobby stated, “Yosemite and our team of en-
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February 24-26, 2022—Oregon Logging Conference & Show, Lane County Convention Center, Eugene, Ore. Call 541-686-9191; visit oregonloggingconference.com. March 29-30, 2022—Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334834-1170; e-mail dianne@hattonbrown.com; visit bioenergyshow.com. March 29-31, 2022—Kentucky Forest Industries Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Lexington, Ky. Call 502695-3979; visit kfia.org. April 6-8, 2022—Intermountain Logging Conference, Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center, Spokane Valley, Wash. Call 208-245-3425; visit intermountainlogging.org. April 8-10, 2022—Forst Live, Exhibition Center, Offenburg, Germany. Visit forst-live.de. April 29-30, 2022—Mid-Atlantic Logging-Biomass-Landworks Expo, near Laurinburg, NC. Call 919-271-9050; visit loggingexpo.com. 38
gineers, forest and farm professionals, legal, marketing, and financial teams will lead the company to become the first wood waste biomass plant to produce commercial scale carbon negative green hydrogen and RNG for the California fuel markets.”
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