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Vol. 50, No. 1

(Founded in 1972—Our 580th Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S out front:

January 2021 A Hatton-Brown Publication

Phone: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525

www.southernloggintimes.com

Georgia logger Charlie Carden and his crew have found a profitable niche in occasionally picking up clearing jobs for industrial development in urban areas in and around Atlanta, thanks in part to Bandit chippers. A Yancey customer, Carden is now using Weiler machines. Story begins on Page 8. (Photo by David Abbott)

Publisher David H. Ramsey Chief Operating Officer Dianne C. Sullivan Editor-in-Chief Senior Editor Managing Editor Senior Associate Editor Associate Editor

Rich Donnell Dan Shell David Abbott Jessica Johnson Patrick Dunning

Publisher/Editor Emeritus David (DK) Knight

Robert Kirby Long Term Survivor

Art Director Ad Production Coordinator Circulation Director Online Content/Marketing

Cindy Segrest Patti Campbell Rhonda Thomas Jacqlyn Kirkland

ADVERTISING CONTACTS DISPLAY SALES Eastern U.S. Kathy Sternenberg Tel: 251-928-4962 • Fax: 334-834-4525 219 Royal Lane Fairhope, AL 36532 E-mail: ksternenberg@bellsouth.net Midwest USA, Eastern Canada John Simmons Tel: 905-666-0258 • Fax: 905-666-0778 32 Foster Cres. Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com

Spotlight On: Tires, Tracks, Chains

Southern Stumpin’:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 COVID Vaccines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Bulletin Board: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 From The Backwoods Pew: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Industry News Roundup: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Machines-Supplies-Technology: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 ForesTree Equipment Trader: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Safety Focus: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Coming Events: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Western Canada, Western USA Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook Tel: 604-619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com International Murray Brett Tel: +34 96 640 4165 +34 96 640 4048 58 Aldea de las Cuevas • Buzon 60 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Bridget DeVane

Tel: 1-800-669-5613 • Tel 334-699-7837 Email: bdevane7@hotmail.com

Southern Loggin’ Times (ISSN 0744-2106) is published monthly by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—SLT is sent free to logging, pulpwood and chipping contractors and their supervisors; managers and supervisors of corporate-owned harvesting operations; wood suppliers; timber buyers; wood procurement and land management officials; industrial forestry purchasing agents; wholesale and retail forest equipment representatives and forest/logging association personnel in the U.S. South. See form elsewhere in this issue. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $65 annually; $75 in Canada; $120 (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.southernloggintimes.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Southern Loggin’ Times magazine 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 Southern Loggin’ Times. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. 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.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Southern Loggin’ Times, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, AL 36102-2419 Member Verified Audit Circulation

Other Hatton-Brown publications: ★ Timber Processing ★ Timber Harvesting ★ Panel World ★ Power Equipment Trade ★ Wood Bioenergy

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SOUTHERN STUMPIN’ By Patrick Dunning • Assistant Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: patrick@hattonbrown.com

Something New T

he inaugural Forestry 40 event—a logging equipment show followed by a dirt track race—took place on Halloween day, October 31, 2020 at Eric Cates Memorial Speedway in Bremen, Ala. Its goal was to raise logger awareness in the community. Kelly Crawford, 45, owner of K&K Logging, Inc., in Hanceville, Ala., along with Chris Cates, 43, owner of W. Cates Logging, Inc., in Arkadelphia, Ala., organized the event together looking for a way to give the logging community a positive image and get the public engaged in a unique way: a $5,000 purse to the winner of the 40-lap feature race featuring 24 drivers in a single heat on a 3/8-mile dirt track. Chris Cates, left, and Kelly Crawford, right “You’ll have the old guys out here trying to show dominance and the young Speedway, in 2001. It was renamed after Eric guys trying to knock them off, so we’ll definitely Cates was killed under mysterious circumstances see some pile ups,” Crawford says. “I wanted to in 2015; he was just 32. Apparently a murder that start the Forestry 40 to get some publicity for the has not yet been solved, Eric’s death is still under loggers. Most of the time all a person sees is a investigation by the office of the Attorney Generlog truck muddying up a road so sometimes al of Alabama (there is a podcast about the cold there’s a negative perception about it.” case as the family continues to seek justice; you Crawford serves as Vulcan District’s loggers’ can find it under Secrets True Crime podcasts on council director over Cullman, Winston, Walker, Facebook or YouTube). Their father died in Blunt and St. Clair counties. His main role is 2016, leaving Chris and his mother, Tobbie helping people get their Bureau of Land Manage- Stover, to look after the raceway and logging ment (BLM) Continuing Forestry Education company. (CFE) credits and promoting the logging indusThe speedway has held races almost every try. Meetings are held on the third Saturday of weekend since it was built, drawing crowds close every other month at local restaurants. to 2,500 people. There is an annual memorial Cates’ late father, Wayne, who owned Cates race in honor of Wayne Cates. But it has never Logging, and brother Eric, who drove a truck on held a race with an emphasis on recognizing the crew, were both dirt track race drivers. They Cates’ and Crawford’s peers in the logging built the track, originally named River Valley industry, until now.

Dave’s Corner: SLT Pushing 50 Do me a favor. Flip back a couple of pages and check the masthead on page 4, on the table of contents. Look up there at the top left where it says “Volume, No.” What volume does it say? That’s right. It says 50. 5-0. FIFTY. That’s right, this issue kicks off not just any new year but the 50th consecutive calendar year of publication for Southern Loggin’ Times. Now the golden anniversary issue itself won’t actually be until next year: October 2022 will be 50 years since October 1972, when the first issue of SLT went to press. But those last four months of 1972 (just about exactly six years before I was born) counts as the first year or volume, 1973 as the second and so on down the line. I’m just proud and humbled that I have been a part of this magazine’s history. I grew up reading it, seeing it on my dad’s desk when I helped him do his paperwork when I was still in middle school in the early ’90s; I remember the stories about the spotted owl and seeing bylines by DK 6

The Forestry 40 kicked off at 11 a.m. with door prizes and forestry equipment showcased by Athens’ Warrior Tractor, Hanceville’s Thompson Tractor, Husqvarna equipment from Alabama Outdoor Power Equipment, raffles sponsored by Southern Tire Mart, and Kenworth displays from Huntsville’s Truckworx. Costume contests and trunk-or-treat activities with the racecar drivers began at 4 p.m. on the racetrack. Warrior Tractor, a John Deere equipment dealership in Athens, showcased their L-II series machines at the Forestry 40 and foreshadowed some new items set to appear on the market in early 2021. “The newest machine John Deere is rolling out is the 768 L-II bogie skidder, which will be a first for us,” Warrior territory manager Tad Mitchell says. “That will be our biggest release in forestry since the L’s came out in 2015.” Mitchell adds that there were several updates between the D and E model loaders, such as cleaner electrical and hydraulic routing internally and a larger (52 in.) grapple in the 437E. The night’s races consisted of two divisions: limited model cars with steel heads racing for $1,500; and the premiere event, super-late models with open-aluminum motor heads competing for the $5,000 prize. Cates says drivers came from throughout the Southeast: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. He notes that drivers reach 120 MPH on straight-of-ways and approach 80 MPH in turns. “These guys are a tier down from what you see with Lucas oil racing on TV,” Cates says. ➤ 45

Knight, Dan Shell, Mike Tankersley, Ford Boswell, and Jennifer McCary, who years later became the grandmother to my two sons. I would not have guessed at age 12 that one day there would be articles with my name attached. Also hard to believe: I have actually been a part of this thing of ours now for about a third of its existence. By the time we get to October 2022, assuming I’m still alive and they haven’t fired me yet, I will have been with the company for 17 of those 50 years (17 and a half, in fact), and will have contributed to a little more than 200 of what will then be 600 issues. My plan is to begin a 50th year celebration countdown this fall with the October 2021 issue, with a special retrospective article each issue pulled from our archives, looking back on highlights from throughout SLT’s history, culminating in the 50th anniversary issue in October 2022. Looking forward to it. Oh, also: 2020 is over! I don’t know if 2021 will be an improvement, but let’s hope for the best and work together to make it so. Excelsior! —David Abbott

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Well Rounded ■ Charlie Carden had his crew clearing an industrial development site in Atlanta in November.

By David Abbott ORCHARD HILL, Ga. n late November, Charlie Carden, 51, had his Carden Tim★ ber Harvesting, LLC, crew set up in a parking lot just off of I-85 exit 62, on the southwest edge of Atlanta. They were working on clearing a wooded site adjacent to said parking lot. The job was for an excavation contractor. When they’re finished with this site, an Amazon warehouse is to be built here. Carden has found a nice little side niche for himself in the last few years, doing these kinds of jobs when they come up. He works with three excavation companies. “We do a little bit of work for them,” the logger acknowledges. “They have other loggers, but I catch things down the side from time to time.” The contractors hire him to clear everything but the stumps. “I tried that for a short period, but I found that I do better to just leave the stumps to them,” Carden says. “They dig these stumps up, haul them to a big pit they dig, make a big pile of stumps and burn them.” As these jobs go, this one, at 85 acres, is bigger than most. The average is under 20 acres, which doesn’t take long. “We usually run up here, get the job done and run back down, most of the time before people even miss us.” With its convenient location and easy access,

this is the kind of tract he’d ordinarily hold for the winter, if he could. Loading on and hauling from smooth pavement would be immensely preferable to getting stuck in deep mud in wet months. When Southern Loggin’ Times visited Carden’s crew in the middle of November, Georgia had to that point experienced a fairly warm and dry fall. But you can’t hold these kinds of development jobs off till the ideal time of year; you have to go on the developer’s timetable, when they need it done. Development jobs have their pros and cons. “It is hard to get the guys to come up here,” Carden admits of his crew. “They are used to a more laid back timberland setting where everything is quiet and there’s not much traffic. Then all of a sudden you snap your fingers and they come up here in the middle of all this every day.” The urban environment isn’t their preference, undoubtedly, but they are compensated; he compares the bonus to hazard pay. The company and its employees make good money on these jobs. “I tell my guys, if we are going to keep new equipment and keep new service trucks to ride in and all that, we have to take on some jobs like this, to offset the cost.” This kind of work represents about half of Carden Timber Harvesting’s work. The rest of the time the crew is on more conventional logging jobs. Carden also has another logger contracting under him who cuts in Taylor and

Carden’s son, Gabe, 6, says he will be the loader operator one day, in about 12 years.

Carden picks up urban clearing/development jobs on the side when he can.

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Crawford counties, staying mostly in first and occasional second thinning stands. “We do a lot of that kind of work down that way until one of these excavation companies has a job for us,” Carden says. “We come up here and do that and then go back to cutting our timber company wood, and a lot of private landowners, too.”

Equipment Carden has been a Cat/Yancey Bros. customer for a long time. He asked for the first Weiler skidder off the line at the plant in LaGrange. He thinks the first one went to South Carolina instead, but he believes his was the first one Yancey had available. Carden has two Weiler pieces now: a 350 skidder, bought in October 2019, and a 570 cutter, bought in July 2020. If he ever had any misgivings about transferring his Cat loyalty to Weiler, a customer dinner with executives Pat Weiler and Bill Hood laid those to rest. “I really liked what Mr. Weiler had to say, addressing some things that needed to be addressed,” Carden says. “If they had an issue with one of their machines, they didn’t wait till they had a thousand complaints. They went ahead and got on it right then, if it was a legitimate complaint, and changed it on the line as they were being built. I felt like he was going to put a lot of attention towards the forestry end of things and I feel like they are going to be a good thing.” Besides the Weilers, Carden still has plenty of Cat iron on the job: ’16 563C cutter, ’15 525D skidder and a 559D loader. He actually has two complete sets of equipment, so that he always has spares in case of breakdowns and so that if he needs to he can split the operation into two crews on separate locations, or move some ahead to start on the next job while others stay behind to finish up the last one. “It works out good,” he says. “You can move things around and get set up, and the equipment is still new enough you can actually work it when you get there.”

Carden took the first Weiler he could get from Yancey Bros.; he now has two, a skidder and a cutter, and is pleased with their performance.

Crew, from left: Charlie Carden, Jesus Cruz, Mario Molina, Nathan Stubbs, Clifford Perry, Jeremiah Maldinatto, Sergio Sanchez, Bobby Smith

He also has a pair of Bandits bought from private individuals. He keeps one on his own crew and the other with his contractor's crew. In fact, the contractor is the logger he bought this one from in the first place. “I actually bought it from him, around 2013, and now he cuts for me and I put the chipper on his job when I buy tracts that need a chipper.” When he got that ’16 model cut-

ter, he thought it was his worst mistake. “At first it seemed like there was something wrong with it all the time,” he recalls. “But Yancey stood behind it and if it had to go to the shop, they would furnish me something to run. They looked after me till they got it straightened out and since then it has been a real good cutter, and still is.” The Macon branch of Yancey

Bros. is his dealer. Mechanic Terry Peacock, according to Carden, knows logging equipment and how to keep it running. “Usually he can diagnose it on the phone, and he brings parts with him to the woods.” Carden says he has a good relationship with all the people at Yancey. “They have a good team of people and it starts with the salesman, Lee Benefield, and Jacob Pope, who runs

The logger bought his Bandits from private individuals, one of whom now works for him as a contractor and uses the very machine he sold Carden years earlier.

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Excavation crews clear debris after Carden removes the trees.

Yancey in Macon has earned Carden's loyalty.

the shop. The whole team down here has been good to me.” Carden says he used to run only used machinery, always on the hunt for quality older pieces. “I had a fellow who worked on my stuff as long as I have been in business, an independent contractor. But he died in 2018, and I realized then there are no more mechanics out there. He was the only one I knew of who could fix anything around here. It dawned on me that I had to start keeping everything in warranty.” Even with newer machines under warranty, maintenance is critical. Operators handle routine service in the woods, taking oil samples to Yancey on machines still under war-

have had so many problems out of some of these others, with all the emissions stuff,” he explains. “Once they get a few miles they go to having problems and have to go to the shop. So I keep a rental truck a good bit of the time, especially when we’re working far from the main mill markets. When we get back close to the mill and I don’t need it, or if a driver quits or if it rains, then I’m not obligated, I can turn it back in.” Nextran Truck Centers in Macon rents and sells Macks to him. In all he has seven trucks, eight roundwood trailers and six chip vans from Pitts and Peerless. He also has a container. “We break it out when we get far away and need

ranty. “Anything more than greasing, oil change or hose change, I call Yancey,” Carden says. The crew tracks hours in a notebook. Before moving equipment, the Carden crews cleans it off, using Stihl leaf blowers to blow out the chippers. “We don’t want anything to blow off going down the road,” the boss says. “And they usually blow it off every evening before they go home on account of fire hazard. I almost want to wet it down every evening. With all that hot air it is very dry and it wouldn’t take but just a smidgeon of something to catch it on fire.” Carden runs all Mack trucks, including one that is a rental. “I rent a truck most of the year because I

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some extra room.” His biggest problem is finding drivers, especially contractors. “You can not find one anymore, and I think the insurance has brought that on,” Carden says. “By the time they pay insurance, fuel and upkeep, they’d be better off working for someone, drawing a paycheck; it’s not worth the hassle.”

Markets Carden hauls chip-n-saw and super pulpwood to Jordan Lumber in Barnesville, logs to Interfor in Thomaston, and chips to Piedmont Green Power in Barnesville and Norbord in Hughley, Ala. Pallet

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wood goes to Southern Forest Industries in Forsyth, hardwood pulp to Rayonier in Barnesville, crosstie wood to Woody Lumber in Toomsboro, oak logs to T&S Hardwoods in Milledgeville. He sends most of his pine pulpwood to International Paper at Flint River (Andersonville). The Carden crew and the contract crew combine for a 40-load per week average just to the IP mill alone. On its own, the contract crew does 30-40 loads a week, and Carden Timber Harvesting

Carden buys and rents Mack trucks from Nextran in Macon.

hauls in the range of 50-60 loads weekly of roundwood and chips together to all locations. “Some tracts are more than half chips and the rest roundwood, and some are just the opposite,” Carden says. “I very rarely do a tract that is all chips anymore; we tried that but it is just not enough profit in chipping.” Instead, the chippers pay off by earning him jobs he couldn’t get without a chipper. Working with a contract forester, Carden cruises and buys his own timber and furnishes his own quota. He is a timber dealer for IP, Jordan and Interfor, using his crew and contractors to meet those quotas.

Background Instead of a logging family, Carden grew up in the wholesale produce business; his dad had a background in row crop farming. “They deliver produce to restaurants and mom and pop country stores and such, and I worked in that,” he says. “I had friends whose families were in the logging business; anytime I got out there in the woods with them I really liked it. A good friend who’s dead and gone now mentored me and taught me the ropes.” When he was in his late 20s, in the late ’90s, Carden bought a C65 Chevy truck and put a log rack on it, and a Case 1845 loader, which he still has. “I started clearing lots they were going to build houses on. I would cut a load of logs to go to Georgia-Pacific in Monticello.” Later, he bought a Mack truck from another friend and started contract hauling to fill gaps in between logging jobs. “Before long I didn’t have time to haul wood for anyone else because I had gotten so busy cutting lots for developers.” Gradually his equipment advanced and he evolved from a shortwood to a treelength logger. “I guess once you been in it so long people just call you. Consultants get to where they like you and want to do business with you. I got to where I could pretty much keep myself busy all the time. And then it turned into where I needed some help.”

The Help The men on his crew have been with him a long time, some of them around 10 years. “They do good work and they have stood the test of time,” Carden says. Mario Molina, who mans the loader and runs the crew, has been here the longest. “I knew him for several years before he came to work for me,” Carden says. “He is just a natural born good guy. All of them 12

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are good people.” Jesus Cruz operates the cutter while Sergio Sanchez drives the skidder. Jeremiah Maldinatto was recently hired as a trimup man along with truck driver Bobby Smith, who is also a mechanic. He stays on top of truck/trailer maintenance to ensure they stay road worthy and DOT compliant. “I have been real pleased with these fellas so far,” Carden says. Most of the crew is Hispanic, but all are legal, Carden says. “Mario’s wife is a school teacher. They have

nice families. Some people sort of turn their nose up at them, but I’m colorblind. If a man will work then he’s all right in my book, or it will give him the opportunity to be around me long enough for me to find out if he’s all right. The way these guys work reminds me of how people used to work when I was growing up. These boys look after me; if I had had a crew like this when I started there’s no telling where I’d be now. They are good to me.” Clifford Perry has been here the

longest of the truck drivers, going on seven years. “I kid him all the time because he’s from New York and he has that New York accent,” Carden grins. “He is a workaholic, gets up early, doesn’t bother him to stay out late, and he works six days a week. He is the senior driver.” Nathan Stubbs is also a good dependable fellow, Carden says, as are Richard Fisher and Brian Cook. “Very seldom do we have four good drivers at one time but I think we got it now. They are hard to come by.”

Carden Timber Harvesting hasn’t been untouched by the worries of 2020. Mario had the coronavirus early last summer, and got sick enough that it worried his employer. “He’s 38 and healthy as a horse, but he almost died,” Carden says, admitting that prior to that he hadn’t known whether or not to take the pandemic seriously. “I thought it was all a big joke at first, or all politics. In the beginning he couldn’t get diagnosed because the tests took so long to come back with an accurate result, so they treated him for other things.” After several weeks, he recovered and came back to work. Guffin & Eleam Insurance in Rome provides Carden’s coverage. “Others I have dealt with in the past sort of leave you holding the bag, but these folks go to bat for me, so I appreciate that.” The crew held a safety meeting on the morning SLT visited. “Usually what triggers a safety meeting is I see someone do something that I don’t think is safe,” Carden says. “Say I watch a man jump down off the loader, for instance; I’m gonna tell him there is a ladder on that loader for a reason. I don’t want a workers’ comp claim because you jump down, slip and hit your head. This trailer, we are in an urban area, all these power lines around, these drivers might pull under one, and then they might be apt to throw the strap over the load and hit the power line. You just have to watch them. I don’t want them trimming a truck up while it is under the loader; I want the driver to pull it out of the way first.”

Family Carden turns 51 in January and has a six year old son, Gabe. “Ain’t that something?” he smiles. “I thought I was staying young but he let me know just how old I was.” He already had one daughter, Taylor, who had finished college and another, Katie, who was still in college when he found out Gabe was on the way. Taylor keeps the books for the logging side, handling landowner settlements, paying bills and reconciling mill statements. Carden’s wife Amanda looks after the transportation side, rounds the tickets up and keeps up with the filings with DOT and FMCSA. Katie, meanwhile, works for a big orthopedic company. Outside the woods, Carden and his dad tend to their cattle, and he does inshore fishing in Florida when he can. He has a little Wood Mizer sawmill at his shop so if a project comes up he can cut a few boards, and he sells a little firewood on the side, by the dump SLT truck load. 14

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Work Ethic ■ Robert Kirby has been logging and sawmilling for close to five decades.

By Patrick Dunning DONIPHAN, Mo. ith nearly a half- century of logging ★ experience under his belt, seasoned vet Robert Kirby, 71, has long since learned to learn from his mistakes. Having survived multiple recessions, the owner of Kirby Sawmill, Inc., has found versatility is helpful if you want to outlast shifting economic cycles. Diligence over what capital he’s accumulated is also paramount, as is maintaining longstanding relationships with industry friends.

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Kirby grew up on a cattle farm in Ponder, about 10 miles southwest of his headquarters here. While they weren’t poor, his parents were careful to live within their means, a habit they cultivated after having gone through the Great Depression. He says that experience marked them, shaping their worldview the rest of their lives. They never spent a dime more than they had to. Inevitably their conservative values rubbed off on their son, who quickly understood the universal axiom that one has to work if one wants to own anything. After high school he moved

almost 200 miles north, to St. Louis, where he had a month-long stint on an assembly line at one of Chevrolet’s manufacturing facilities before deciding he preferred the country over city skylines. “I decided I didn’t like it and wanted to come home regardless if I starved to death or not,” Robert and Christi Kirby Kirby chuckles. “I’d rather be down here.” much about logging at the time The rural area offers limited job beyond cutting white oak on the opportunities. One of them is logfamily farm, splitting it with wedge ging. “It’s a poorer part of the and sledge. That didn’t stop him world, but a great place to live and from starting a new career by borwork,” Kirby says. He didn’t know rowing his dad’s Ford 8N farm trac-

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Kirby buys Tigercat machines from Rollison Equipment in Kentucky.

tor, and sometimes mules, to skid logs to a flatbed truck. Kirby went into business for himself in 1972—the same year Southern Loggin’ Times first went to press. Initially he contracted his labor out to local landowners, particularly childhood friend Tom Dalton, owner of Dalton Pallet Co., Inc., in Gatewood, Mo. Kirby was buying and selling timber small time on share deals, but vendors ultimately couldn’t maintain the same speed as him. When his local markets depressed in 1979, he saw one solution. To stay alive he decided he had to eliminate the middleman and start sawing and selling lumber for himself. This epiphany prompted the founding of Kirby Sawmill, Inc. in 1980. Owning a sawmill doesn’t cure everything, but Kirby says it definitely helps him escape fumbling with quotas and barely staying afloat. “I didn’t really want to get into it (sawmilling), but to exist and be

competitive I had to,” he says. “I got to the point where I was at the mercy of the mills so I bought one and got into the sawmilling business.” His expansion didn’t end there. Kirby separated himself from the pack in the ’90s by purchasing a 3,100-acre tract of land from KerrMcGee Corp., a company involved in natural resource exploration and production that at the time owned land around Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri. “That put me on the map in some ways,” Kirby reflects. “It didn’t fall in my lap but it was a big plus. We don’t go at that fast of a pace now but we did for a while.” Kirby says his normal crew couldn’t cut wood fast enough to pay the interest on the loan. It took two years, eight months, three sawmills and three logging crews to complete a sustainable timber harvest on that tract. According to Kirby, the hardest three months of his life were in 2007, when he was 58. Subtle chest

The feller-buncher and loader are both 2016 models.

discomforts one night led to a trip to the hospital, coronary artery bypass surgery and a lot of bed rest. “It scared the hell out of me,” he admits. “I didn’t have a clue what was going on. I was down for three months, which was the three hardest months of my life, not being able to work. I’ve worked harder since then, and haven’t slowed down since the surgery.”

Operations Just across the Arkansas state line, southwest of Doniphan, and south of the Fourche Creek Conservation Area near Warm Springs, Ark., SLT found Kirby in August 2020 on a 320-acre tract harvesting mixed hardwoods. Tom Dalton Lumber Co. owns the stand. A year-round creek runs through the rolling hills where Kirby had his loader staged on the hill. He targets white and red oak, walnut hickory, sycamore, gum, pine, and cedar.

Kirby’s single crew of three runs a ’16 Tigercat 726G cutter, ’16 Tigercat 234B knuckleboom loader, ’14 John Deere 548G-III grapple skidder, and a ’09 John Deere 648H dual arch skidder, with a single-arch Caterpillar 525B grapple skidder on standby. He almost always keeps an extra man on the ground hand-trimming limbs and topping trees in the woods for remarket purposes, but the late-summer heat had them shorthanded a chainsaw operator at that time. Kirby buys Tigercat equipment from Kenneth Underwood at Rollison Equipment, Bardwell, Ky. He’s done business with Underwood since the mid-’70s, long before Tigercat. Dean Davis at Erb Equipment, Cape Girardeau, Mo., supplies all things John Deere. Both Davis and Underwood have been great to work with, Kirby says. Kirby has three log trucks: two Peterbilts, ’95 and ’04 models, and a ’95 Ford Louisville, all with

Erb Equipment in Missouri is Kirby's Deere supplier.

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folding pole trailers (L-series), hauling an average of 15-20 loads of hardwood exclusively to his mill to produce between 90-100 MBF a week.

Mill At Kirby Sawmill, 924G and 924H Caterpillar wheel loaders and a 544 John Deere wheel loader deliver logs to two Prentice loaders, 180 and 280 models with slasher saws. Logs pass through a Mellott debarker and are then kicked to a three-head block 2016 circular Hurdle mill manufactured by Hurdle Machine Works in Moscow, Tenn. Kirby has a total of three Hurdle mills at his sawmill. A portable mill is set up stationary with a Precision chipper, vibrating conveyor and a green chain on the back end for manual grading. The mill employs six. Glen O’Neal, who has been with the company 27 years, supervises the mill crew. “He saws a good product and I am very thankful to have him to depend on,” Kirby says. They produce 7x9 and 6x8 railroad ties, pallet lumber, and dimensions of 6x6, 4x6, 4x4, 1x6 and 1x4. Grade lumber is sawn 1 in. by

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Kirby sends much of his production to his own sawmill.

random widths. All lumber is sold green to a few of Kirby’s dependable markets like railroad tie manufacturer Stella-Jones, Fulton, Ky., and Dalton Pallet Co., Inc. Grade lumber goes to Hardwoods of Missouri Flooring Co., Birch Tree, Mo., where Kirby deals with lumber buyer Curtis Treat.

“There’s several mills around here and a lot of competition. Thankfully I’ve been in it long enough and the good thing is, if you do people right, landowners will take care of you.” He cuts mostly for private landowners, including sometimes his own timber. Kirby says he’s stayed busy this

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year despite grade lumber trending down and stagnant red oak prices. “Red oak isn’t doing very well,” he says. “Grade lumber, flooring and furniture grade isn’t doing that good but I guess everything is somewhat off.” Railroad ties and pallet lumber are holding well enough, and Kirby has

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his tight-knit network to thank. “We never missed a day of work through this whole deal except for weather,” he comments. “I have markets I’ve been with through good and bad, most of them long term. Jump around and you’ll get caught in the middle if things go south.”

Maintenance

From left, Kirby, Charles Richmond and Kevin Pinkston

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Majority of maintenance on woods equipment and log trucks is performed at Kirby’s 90x40 sq. ft. shop at the sawmill. Logging machines get oil changed every 250 hours—he prefers Rotella 15w40 across the board—and greased every other day or so, depending on how hard the machines are run. Kirby changes oil in his log trucks every 7,000 miles, suggesting he would rather do it more often than less. “We do almost everything ourselves until you get into engine overhaul, rear ends and transmissions,” he says. “When you take care of your equipment it lasts a lot longer.” That’s important, he says, especially with the price of equipment on the rise. Charles Richmond, logging foreman and skidder operator, also hauls logs and helps maintain trucking and logging equipment. Richmond has been with Kirby 27 years as well. Kirby grew up raising cattle, hogs, and horses on the family farm and owns around 8,000 acres altogether, a parcel here and there, throughout the surrounding area. He manages about 7,300 acres of pine and mixed hardwood timberland, and leases a portion for hunting. Beside Kirby’s house he leases 700 acres of pasture to Dalton for harvesting hay and pasture land. Haigwood Insurance in Alton, Mo., covers Kirby’s logging and sawmill operation. In their spare time, Kirby and his wife Christi travel to New Mexico at least once a year to hunt elk and mule deer on their 160-acre plot of land in the middle of the Apache National Forest. Christi teaches physical education, art and health to 5th through 8th graders part-time at Gatewood School and manages the books for her husband’s business. Kirby doesn’t think too often about the free time he’ll have after he retires, but knows he’ll still work on the farm once he gets out of logging. “When I get to where I can’t get up and do what I need to do, I’ll retire,” he says. For now, it’s not a concern yet. “I can still run with the best of them, but Mother Nature will let my body know. I don’t ever SLT want to not do anything.”

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Corona Vaccines ■ What will you do?

ith the possibility of a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, many employers are starting to ask themselves how they’re going to handle this eventuality. Below are 10 considerations for employers to keep in mind from the perspectives of employment law, employee safety and health, and labor-management relations. #1: Mandatory or Voluntary? PreCOVID regulatory guidance authorized mandatory vaccine programs provided that medical and religious accommodations were honored and free from retaliation. (EEOC guidance, OSHA guidance.) With the presumptive public health case for a COVID-19 vaccine being at least as strong as historical vaccines (e.g., seasonal flu, H1N1), one can anticipate that the historical guidance will hold for a COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccines are medical examinations under the ADA and, if they are to be required, must be job-related and consistent with business necessity or justified by a direct threat. Historically, this has meant that flu vaccines can be mandated for employees in a patient care setting where there is interaction with vulnerable populations. Outside this setting, a voluntary program to start may be prudent, with the option to escalate to a mandate in the future. It remains to be seen if the EEOC will say that the COVID vaccines can be mandated on the theory that COVID-19 presents a direct threat in the workplace. #2: Minimizing Political Distraction. Employees may perceive any employer action or inaction regarding vaccines as politicized. Employees’ varied concerns might be eased by building a scientific, business, and humanitarian case for any course of action. Focusing on the safety of patients, customers, and coworkers–and avoiding political talking points and justifications–can help to legitimize an employer’s plan in the eyes of employees and defend against novel legal challenges and claims. In union workplaces, an employer may have an opportunity to partner with the union to align on messages of safety and other shared areas of concern. Employers will do well to set a tone of apolitical safety and corporate responsibility. 22

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#3: Rooting Out Malingerers, Fraud. Separating bona fide medical and religious accommodations from opportunists and malingerers is important to workforce planning and employee morale. This challenge presents itself whether a vaccine program is mandatory or voluntary. Employees may seek to avoid work either due to a mandate to take a vaccine perceived to be unsafe or being put to work in an environment with unvaccinated colleagues. Employers should anticipate an influx of accommodation requests and proactively train human resources staff to process accommodation requests involving vaccines or working around unvaccinated persons. Informed by existing disability accommodation and leave laws, employers can map out processes for detecting and deterring employee abuse and fraud associated with vaccine programs and, more broadly, returning employees to the workplace. As public health guidance is subject to change as the COVID19 pandemic evolves, businesses should be aware that accommodation requests relating to COVID-19 and vaccines may also change. #4: Business Leaders Rolling Up Sleeves. Unlike annual flu vaccine programs of the past, employees may be skeptical (for various reasons) of any COVID-19 vaccine offered by an employer. Business leaders should consider bold demonstrations of personal commitment to any mandatory or voluntary vaccine program, as a way to build employee trust and compliance. A picture or video clip of a business leader rolling up his/her sleeve to get a vaccine may be worth thousands of words. To have the assurance of business leaders participating in the program may put employees at ease, increase voluntary compliance, and reduce objections and disputes. #5: Potential for Tort or Workers’ Compensation Claims. Employers may face claims of negligence sounding in tort when they decide not to institute vaccination programs; however, a plaintiff’s ability to identify a relevant duty and to demonstrate an employer’s breach of that duty would likely prove difficult. Whether workers’ compensa-

tion laws apply to harm and side effects allegedly caused by COVID19 vaccinations will vary case-bycase and state-by-state. State systems could cover injuries suffered as a result of employees’ reactions to such vaccinations, particularly where employers mandated or strongly encouraged that employees receive those vaccinations. Employers should consider the industries in which their employees work when analyzing this issue, as employees in higher risk jobs may have stronger arguments for compensability. #6: The Occupational Safety and Health Act. Historically, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not mandated employee vaccinations, but has indicated that employers can do so. The whistleblower provision at section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act may afford protections to an employee who refuses to be vaccinated under an employer vaccination program because of the reasonable belief that a medical condition may cause a reaction to the vaccine resulting in serious injury or death. Separately, employees may allege that employers without vaccination programs have failed to provide safe and healthy work environments, as required by the OSH Act’s general duty clause at section 5(a)(1). #7: Watch for Protected Concerted Activity. Both union and non-union employers should be mindful of Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which protects employees’ rights to join together to advance their interests as employees and makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with or restrain employees in the exercise of those rights. If employees join together to protest an employer’s COVID vaccine program (or lack of a program) and the employer takes adverse action against those employees as a result, it could lead to unfair labor practice charges being filed against the employer with the National Labor Relations Board. #8: What Does the Collective Bargaining Agreement Say? Unionized employers should examine their collective bargaining agreements to determine the extent of their duty to bargain with

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the union over vaccine programs. Employers may need to consider whether their management rights clauses should be renegotiated with this in mind. But, even if the CBA gives the employer the right to unilaterally institute such programs, employers may still want to consider at least consulting with the union when developing such programs in order to foster goodwill with the union and to increase employee buy-in. #9: Mandatory Vaccination Programs Could Provide Unions with New Organizing Opportunities. Nonunion employers should consider how instituting a COVID vaccine program might affect their union avoidance strategy. When employees feel as though their employer is not listening to their concerns or adequately communicating with them, they are more likely to turn to labor unions for help. Employers should therefore ask themselves: l Could the positions that the employer takes regarding a COVID vaccine program change employees’ views on the potential benefits of bringing in a union and/or give union organizers more ammunition in their efforts to organize employees? l How is the employer going to balance the concerns of employees who resist the vaccine against employees who want all employees in the organization to get vaccinated? l Should the employer consider alternatives, such as the option to choose to wear a face covering or work from home? #10: Will Certain States Mandate Vaccination? There is a possibility that one or more Governors could issue Executive Orders mandating vaccination, and if they do, any such Executive Orders would also likely contain various carveouts. The issuance of such Executive Orders will likely be met with lawsuits challenging their legality. What will the Supreme Court say? In 1905, the Court upheld a mandatory vaccination law. What will this Supreme Court do and what should employers do while SLT they wait? This appeared in the December 2020 NEDA newsletter from Chicagobased law firm Seafarth Shaw LLP.

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A Truck Stop Story I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy, but I had never hired a mentally handicapped employee. I wasn’t sure how my customers would react to Stevie. He was short, a little dumpy, and had the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down Syndrome. I wasn’t worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don’t care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade.

Unfounded Concerns The ones who concerned me were the college kids; the yuppie snobs who polish silverware with napkins for fear of catching some dreaded ‘truck stop germ’; the businessmen who think every waitress wants to be flirted with. So I closely watched him for the first few weeks. I shouldn’t have worried. Stevie soon had my staff wrapped around his stubby little fingers, and within a month my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn’t care what the rest of the customers thought. The 21-year-old laughed a lot and was eager to please, and fierce in his attention to his duties. If he thought a customer was watching, his brow would pucker with added concentration. He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love how hard he tried to please each and every person he met. Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from the truck stop. Their social worker confirmed they had fallen between the cracks. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.

Heart Surgery That’s why the restaurant was a gloomy place the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota getting a new valve put in his heart. His social worker said that people with Down Syndrome often have heart problems at an early age and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and return to work in a few months. A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, the head waitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Bell Ringer, a regular trucker customer, stared at the sight of this 60-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Bell Ringer a withering look. He grinned and asked: “OK, Frannie, what was that all about?” “We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and is going to be okay,” she said, continuing to tell him and other drivers sitting nearby about Stevie’s surgery. Then she sighed and said: “Yeah, I’m glad he is going to be OK, but I don’t know how he and his mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they’re barely getting by as it is.” Bell Ringer nod24

ded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn’t had time to round up a busboy to replace Stevie—I didn’t really want to replace him—the girls were busing their own tables until we decided what to do.

Contagious Compassion After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand and a strange look on her face. “What’s up?” I asked. She replied, “I didn’t get that table where Bell Ringer and his friends were sitting cleared off until well after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off,” she said. “This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup.” She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed the words Something For Stevie. “Pete asked me what that was all about,” she said, “so I told him about Stevie and his situation, and Pete looked at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me this.” She handed me another napkin that had two $50 bills tucked within its folds. Frannie looked at me with wet eyes, shook her head and said simply: “Truckers!” The first day Stevie was to be back at work was a holiday—Thanksgiving Day, as it turned out. Stevie had called a dozen times in the past week, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. I met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his return. Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn’t stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting.

Big Celebration “Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast,” I said. “Work can wait for a little while. To celebrate your coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.” I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all placed slightly askew on dozens of folded paper napkins. “First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess,” I said, trying to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, and pulled out one of the napkins. It had Something For Stevie printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. He stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother. “There’s more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving.” It got real noisy with all the hollering and cheering, and there were plenty of tears as well. Fittingly, while everybody else was celebrating, Stevie, with a big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table. He was the best worker I ever hired. It is so fulfilling to plant a seed and watch it grow. Blessed are those who can give without remembering and those who can receive without forgetting.

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FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW

Timber and Tombstones Most of the large tracts of timberlands in the Southeast have been forested for a long time. Usually because of its location or difficulty in being Antill accessed, it has been bypassed for development and for the construction of Walmarts. Swamps as a general rule have probably been swamps since Noah got off the boat, except for the beaver’s influence. When we stopped making fur hats and coats, the beavers began a development program of their own, turning valleys and flats into wide ponds of decay. These remote stretches of timberlands have all seen the logger’s axe or felt the colonist’s saw over the years. It would be difficult to find a place in the Southeast where time alone has been the only harvesting agent. Occasionally, I will be walking through a remote timber stand. I feel like I am the first person to walk through this wooded cathedral, the first to wade the streams…then I look closer at the stream and realize it is an old ditch, hand dug many years ago. But besides finding the old remains of human activity, it is also not uncommon to find graveyards. It used

to be customary for landowners to have their own burial spot somewhere on the property they owned. Over time, the family line came to an end or hard times dictated the selling of the land. Perhaps a distant war called for soldiers, soldiers who never returned to again man the family farm. For whatever reasons, these old graveyards soon began to be absorbed by the surrounding forests. Nature abhors a vacuum, and soon the grass grew taller. Seeds blew in from the maples or gums in the timber nearby, or perhaps the oaks left to shade the plots began to reproduce. After many years, the graveyard now looks like part of the forest, just trees growing, maybe a little smaller and trying to catch up. But it looks like a part of the woods, not part of the memorial it was meant to be. But sometimes the graveyards can teach us a lesson or two. I was in South Carolina one hot summer day, checking on a logging operation at the northern end of a large property I managed. As I was approaching the property, I drove by an old country graveyard, situated next to a small dilapidated church building. It was rather neglected; the grass was high, and surrounding it were tall trees, just waiting to capture the site. With a river flowing past the other side of

the graveyard, the whole scene was rather picturesque, yet sad. It was a graveyard, once the center of importance to those whose loved ones had passed on; but time was slowly taking the graveyard back into the woods. In the middle of the graveyard, half covered by weeds, was a statue of Jesus, nearly life-sized. That statue had seen many summers. It was faded, yet resolute, standing there with one hand raised towards heaven. I turned into the graveyard, intending to turn the truck around, when from the high grass at the foot of the Jesus statue jumped up a very small fawn. With wobbly legs, the fawn left Jesus and tottered down the path towards the road and the river. Hitting the road, the fawn was gaining speed. Soon it was on the bridge crossing over the river. At this point, the fawn did the unthinkable. It tried to jump the bridge railing. Giving it the old college try, the fawn’s front legs cleared the railing, but not its back legs. It hung momentarily there on the rail, teetering back and forth and then with a kick, it flipped over the rail and disappeared. Jumping out of the truck, I raced over to the rail. The river, a swift-flowing black water river, was about 30 feet below. The fawn came to the surface in the middle of the river, obviously dazed, but doing the dog paddle like a collie. It righted itself, and began to drift down

the river into the trees, into the swamp, into the area known locally as the Gator Hole… Moral: When you find yourself sitting at the feet of Jesus, regardless of what you see coming at you, it is better to stay there! Another lesson can be learned from these old graveyards, and we have to take this one personally; the reason they became lost to the woods, is the same reason so many people drift away from God: neglect. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.—Judges 2: 10 They began to take God and his provision for granted. (Weeds began to grow.) They became distracted. (Seedlings began to take root.) There was money to make, desires to be pursued. (Trees began to grow.) The woods reclaimed the graveyard! Don’t forget the graveyard, the history of times past. We must remind ourselves of our past, we must look for the hand of God. Remembering God’s past work gives us our vantage to view the future. Too often the God that was so important in our childhood becomes a distant memory when we become adults; he is soon completely forgotten. Weeds grow, seedlings sprout, trees mature and we no longer know God. We have neglected him, forgotten him. And when life hits us with its full fury, when the storms of life threaten our health, our families, our relationships, we search in vain for an anchor, a reminder that God is with us. We can’t see it; we have forgotten where to look and what to remember. The world has hidden him from us, just like the woods silently surrounding us waiting for us to neglect that patch of ground it wants to reclaim. And it will. If we fail to keep God close, if we fail to praise him for what he has done in our lives, then God will become dead to us, a forgotten memory, instead of a vibrant source of life. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.—Psalm 119:10,11 “Timber and Tombstones” excerpted from Faith, Fur, and Forestry. Brad Antill, author; find it at www.onatreeforestry.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP of the roughest and toughest As We See It: Good Riddance 2020! one years for professional loggers and By Danny Dructor As we look back on the year 2020, the majority of us can probably say it can’t end fast enough! With the COVID-19 pandemic, cata- Dructor strophic wildfires, hurri-

canes, mill explosions, the downturn in hardwood markets resulting from tariffs, extremely wet operating conditions and shuttered paper and sawmills in many parts of the country, 2020 has been without a doubt

log truckers to keep their businesses afloat, no pun intended. It started with the tariffs and ended with the extended wildfire and hurricane season, and somewhere in between the issues that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic. While loggers remained an essential service provider, many of

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the mills that we produced for could not maintain enough personnel to run their facilities due to the illness. At a time when paper products in the U.S., such as toilet paper, were flying off of store shelves, loggers supplying the raw fiber needed to produce those products were seeing their delivered prices drop. As do-ityourself projects picked up because of the stay at home mandates, lumber prices soared due to the shortage of lumber caused, in part, by lack of mill capacity due to employee shortages. We asked both Congress and the administration for some type of relief package to help those businesses that are struggling stay afloat long enough to reorganize their business plans in order to do just that, stay in business. While we had some help from both sides of the aisle in both the House and the Senate, the ability of Congress to pass legislation of any form was curtailed by the partisan politics that seem to be the new norm in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, we found that the United States Department of Agriculture failed to see the similarities between agricultural producers and loggers and our attempts at getting assistance by way of the CFAP program were rejected, perhaps because the advisors to the Secretary do not understand our industry or perhaps the Secretary himself was not interested enough in the issue. We provided them with the data generated by Forest2Market showing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the logging and log trucking industry, but to no avail. Meanwhile, commercial Christmas tree growers are eligible for the program even as they are set to have a banner year as social distancing and stay at home policies are still in effect in many states across the U.S. Go figure? Loggers are survivors as well as adaptors. Once again the majority of you have risen to the occasion and figured out a way to make a go of it, but there have been casualties, many that could have been avoided with an assistance program from the federal government. Besides legislation that we have worked on for many years such as the Safe Routes Act and the Future Logging Careers Act, it has become evident that one important recognition needs to be made and that is to create parity between logging and the rest of the agricultural commodity producers. We aren’t going to cry for assistance every time the ground gets too wet

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to work or another mill goes down due to market fluctuations, but logging and log trucking businesses should have the opportunity, the same as the other agricultural producers, to at least qualify for low interest loans or even small forgivable loans when pandemics that are totally out of our control shut down the businesses and markets on which we rely. 2020 can’t get out of here fast enough, but we will have our work cut out for us in 2021. Wishing each and every one of you a safe, happy and blessed holiday season and a prosperous 2021! Danny Dructor is executive vice president of American Loggers Council. ALC is an 501(c)(6) not for profit trade association representing professional timber harvesters throughout the United States. For more information please contact the American Loggers Council at 409-625-0206, or american logger@aol.com, or visit our website at www.amloggers.com

Western Producer Goin’ South Idaho Forest Group is building a sawmill in Lumberton, Miss., in Lamar County. The project is a

$120 million corporate investment and will create up to 135 jobs. Headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Id., IFG operates six sawmills and a fingerjoint plant at locations in Idaho and Montana. The company manufactures, markets and distributes a variety of lumber products to consumers predominantly across North America and has the capacity to produce more than 1 billion BF per year, making it one of the country’s largest lumber producers. IFG is working closely with Pearl River Community College on several workforce training initiatives. Details about training and employment opportunities will be available in early 2021. “We are pleased to have the confidence of the Lamar County leadership,” says Marc Brinkmeyer, owner and CEO of Idaho Forest Group. The Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance for site preparation and rail upgrades. Lamar County and the city of Lumberton also are assisting with the project. “This is the most exciting news we’ve received in Lumberton in quite some time, and we are thrilled that IFG has chosen Lumberton as

their new home in the Southeast U.S.,” says Lumberton Mayor Quincy Rogers. IFG plans to begin construction on the new sawmill in early 2021 and expects it to be operational in 2022. The Lamar County Board of Supervisors agreed to transfer 174 acres of county land to IFG for the project. The site is between Lumberton and Interstate 59, along Old Highway 11.

Second Klausner Mill Sold At Auction Austria-based Binderholz Group has purchased through auction the bankrupt Klausner Lumber Two LLC sawmill operations in Enfield, NC for $83.4 million. Binderholz had already purchased at auction in August the bankrupt Klausner Lumber One LLC sawmill operations in Live Oak, Fla. for $61 million. Binderholz prevailed over runnerup bidder Austria-based Mayr Melnhof Holz both times. Reinhard Binder, CEO of Binderholz, comments: “The acquisition of Klausner Lumber Two is

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the logical complement to the Klausner Lumber One plant. With this acquisition accomplished, the foundation has been laid for further investments.” Klausner Lumber Two had produced some green lumber before going down. As some technical investments still have to be made, production is expected to start at the end of 2021. Construction at Enfield began in 2015 and over the years several setbacks and delays plagued the operation. Klausner shut it down this past March. With this acquisition Binderholz becomes the largest European lumber producer with nine sawmills in Austria, Germany, Finland and the U.S. Both Klausner sawmills were expected to produce 350MMBF of southern yellow pine lumber annually. Family-owned Binderholz now has 14 locations producing sawn timber, profiled timber, single- and multi-layer glued solid wood panels, glued laminated timber and cross laminated timber. Once both U.S. mills are running, it will employ 3,500 at five Austrian sites, five German sites, two Finnish sites and the two U.S. sites.

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Hankins Plans Timbers Mill Hankins Lumber is building a timbers sawmill in Grenada County, Miss. The project is a $12.5 million investment and will create 43 jobs. It’s expected to be operational in the spring. The new Hankins Timbers operation will process first and second pine thinnings and produce 40MMBF annually. The Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance for equipment installation. The company also qualifies for the Advantage Jobs Rebate Program, which provides a rebate to eligible businesses that create new jobs exceeding the average annual wage of the state or county in which the company locates or expands. The Delta Regional Authority and Grenada County also are assisting with the project.

CEOs Address Climate Change Forest products industry, environmental and conservation leaders have announced an agreement of principles on the important role sustainably managed forests and forest products can play in mitigating climate change. The principles were signed by the CEOs of 43 forest industry businesses representing more than 46 million acres of working forests across the U.S., along with CEOs of American Forests, American Forest Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, National Alliance of Forest Owners and The Nature Conservancy.

Nokian Starts Up R&D Center The new Nokian Heavy Tyres R&D Center is up and running in Nokia, Finland. Nokian has invested heavily on a state-of-the-art test center, upgrading the testing capabilities to a whole new level with added automation and capacity. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many phases of the construction process were managed remotely. “This kind of flexible problem-solving has been typical for the whole construction project, and it has kept us on schedule. Hats off for the whole team that made it possible!” says Development Manager Matti Kaunisto. The nearly 4,000 square meter facility is a vast improvement both Tire scanner at Nokian Heavy Tyres R&D Center in terms of testing quantity and quality. “For example, the drum testing capacity grew significantly,” says R&D Director Kalle Kaivonen. “The product development and OEM collaboration are much more efficient. Thanks to the added capacity, the earlier bottlenecks in testing have been eliminated. And there is plenty of room for future investments” The new machinery encompasses more data and better analysis. The whole testing process from installation to measurements and 3D scanning, from pressure testing to section-cutting is optimized to provide quality data efficiently for different information needs. “Different kinds of tests and analysis can be ordered by a product development team, customer service or by a machine manufacturer, for example,” Kaivonen adds. Special attention was paid to the safe and ergonomic handling of the tires and wheels. For example, the process where the tire segments are scanned with a high-resolution scanner and transferred digitally fits well with today’s social distancing requirements. There’s hardly any waste that isn’t recycled and the heat generated by the test equipment is gathered for heating the facility, and more heat is generated by the local biofuel plant. The policy principles encourage incentive and market-based approaches to increase the carbon benefits of working forests and forest products. They recognize the important role that private sector

participation, investment and partnerships can play in expanding carbon benefits from the forest sector. They also emphasize the need for robust science, data and life cycle analysis to guide policy.

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Forest owners and forest products manufacturers are well positioned to optimize the carbon potential of the private working forest value chain through sustainable forest management and the manufacture of sustainable forest products. However, private forests are under increasing threat from uncharacteristic wildfire, pests and disease, drought and extreme weather events that can cause significant carbon releases and other environmental damage. In many private forests, addressing these threats requires sustainable management such as thinning, prescribed fire, and other forest management techniques that bolster forest health and resilience. Some of the signees include J. Travis Bryant, President & CEO, Coastal Forest Resources Co.; Marc Brinkmeyer, owner, Idaho Forest Group; James Irving, Co-CEO, J.D. Irving, Ltd.; Bob Lyle, President, Molpus Woodlands Group; Mike Covey, Chairman and CEO, PotlatchDeltic; David Nunes, President and CEO, Rayonier, Inc.; Grady Mulbery, President and CEO, Roseburg Forest Products; Mark Emmerson, Chairman and CFO, Sierra Pacific Industries; Brian Luoma President and CEO, The Westervelt Company; Steve Killgore CEO, Timber Products Company; Devin Stockfish, President and CEO, Weyerhaeuser.

Crouse Represents Bandit In Arkansas Bandit Industries has expanded its agreement with Crouse Truck Parts and Equipment to represent sales, service and support of Bandit’s horizontal grinders and whole

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tree chippers for the state of Arkansas. “We couldn’t be happier to have Crouse Truck Parts and Equipment as an authorized Bandit dealer, so we are thrilled they’ve agreed to expand their product lines,” says Bandit Sales Manager Craig Davis. “Our current and potential customers in Arkansas can rely on the experts at Crouse to answer their questions about any large Bandit equipment, or get their machines serviced at their dealership location.” Crouse Truck Parts and Equipment is located 8.5 miles south of Sheridan on Highway 167. Visit crousetruckparts.com or call 1870-942-3908.

working hours. Previously, the warranty was 2,000 hours for the parts themselves and up to 1,000 hours for the work, so it is a significant improvement. In addition to an improved warranty on parts, labor costs and travel, Rottne Industri also covers the first service, which is done after 100 working hours. The first service sometimes discovers things that need to be readjusted and the customer should not pay for it, Rottne states.

Arauco Achieves CO2 Net Surplus Charles Kimber, ARAUCO’s Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Sustainability, announced that the Chilean forestry company achieved certification as carbon neutral. This means that the carbon dioxide captures of the company are equal to or greater than its emissions. ARAUCO, based in Chile, states it becomes the first

forestry company in the world to meet this important goal. This achievement is sustained by two complementary paths: efficiencies at an operational level that allow the company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and an increase in CO2 captures by the native forest, forest plantations, and carbon stored in forestry products. The company says the current status is built on a path it began paving in the ’90s with regard to emission reductions through integrating clean

Ponsse Completes Machine 16,000 The 16,000th Ponsse forest machine was completed at the end of September at Ponsse’s factory in Vieremä, Finland. The Ponsse Ergo harvester was delivered to Celulose Nipo-Brasileira S.A. (CENIBRA) for operation in eucalyptus plantations in Brazil to meet the needs of local pulp production. Ponsse has worked in close cooperation with Cenibra since 2014 in extremely difficult slope conditions in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. This cooperation has provided Ponsse R&D valuable information about wood harvesting needs in steep slope conditions. “I would like to thank Cenibra for the excellent partnership so far. I would also like to thank Ponsse personnel that have made all this possible in Brazil,” says Marko Mattila, Sales, Service and Marketing Director, Ponsse Plc. The eight-wheeled Ergo is equipped with a Ponsse C5 crane, a Ponsse H7 Euca harvester head and the Ponsse Synchrowinch solution. Ponsse established a subsidiary in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil, in 2006. Its team in Brazil consists of 248 people divided between five different locations in the country. During 2021, Ponsse expects to double its staff in Brazil.

Rottne Expands Warranty Terms Rottne Industri AB has introduced new warranty terms for its newly produced forestry machines. The new basic warranty foresees that Rottne Industri replaces free of charge machine parts that break down due to manufacturing or material defects up to 3,000 Southern Loggin’ Times

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and renewable energy from biomass into its production processes. The method used by ARAUCO to demonstrate its carbon neutrality was conducted in accordance to the Neutrality Protocol guidelines produced by auditing and consulting entity, Deloitte, which was applied to all of the company’s businesses for the year 2018. According to the company, ARAUCO generated a net surplus of 2,599,753 tons of CO2. “ARAUCO has developed a climate strategy that focuses on the complementary combination of native forest conservation and sustainable production, manufacturing products from the natural, renewable and noble resource that is wood,” the company states.

Price Waterhouse Coopers audited the calculation process of the carbon capture by forests and its storage in forest products.

Forest Service Sold 3.2 Billion BF Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, the USDA Forest Service announced it surpassed goals in 2020. The agency sold more than 3.2 billion BF of timber, the second highest level in 20 years. It also improved forest conditions and reduced wildfire risk on more than 2.65 million acres, removing hazardous fuels like dead and downed trees, and combating disease, insect

and invasive species infestations. “2020 was a challenging year with record wildland fire activity and the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the Forest Service, we have risen above these challenges and set our minds, hands and hearts to carrying out our mission to meet the needs of the communities we serve,” says Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen. The Forest Service will have nearly completed all guidance to implement new legislative authorities in the 2018 Farm Bill. In addition, officials quickly began implementing President Trump’s Great American Outdoors Act to increase access to national forests and grasslands and make progress towards

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reducing the agency’s $5 billion infrastructure backlog. The Forest Service was successful in prioritizing early suppression of wildfire ignitions while facing a record-breaking fire year, with the most acres burned on national forests since 1910. The agency’s modeling research on how COVID19 may spread between firefighters or in communities during response efforts led to new interagency safety protocols to better support fire camp management. The protocols not only successfully minimized the spread of COVID-19 among the agency’s 10,000 firefighters, but early learning suggests the safety measures resulted in additional health benefits to fire crews, reducing ailments common in fire camps, which translated to a healthier and more resilient firefighting workforce available to protect lives, homes, and communities threatened by wildfire.

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Spotlight On: Tracks and Chains S

outhern Loggin’ Times invited manufacturers of tires, tracks and chains to submit editorial.

BABAC Skidder Chains – Ring Chains

comes standard with an aggressive double spike pattern. Veriga’s link system for their wheel tracks is a 30mm x 35mm oblong design that reduces surface wear and extends service life, as well as a twist inhibiting side rail. Veriga wheel track plates utilize a rolled profile, not castings, ensuring even and adequate hardness throughout the entire profile constructed from a boron alloy steel. All wheel tracks are put through a specialized heat treatment process to get an optimized ratio of hardness and toughness. Hardness for abrasion resistance and toughness ensures the material is not fragile and won’t crack with impact. When purchasing wheel tracks for your skidder or replacing the wheel tracks on the one you have been operating, consider Veriga W-TRACK MULTI as an option to give you greater performance, value and service life. Visit wallingfords.com for more.

ECO-Wheel Tracks

Since 1986, BABAC has been an industry leader in the design and development of skidder chains. BABAC skidder chains are 100% American made and hand assembled for optimum quality control in our plant in Winslow, Me. Chains are built from 10B21 Through Hardened Boron Alloy steel, with a uniform hardness and tensile strength throughout. Extensive tests and field experience have shown that BABAC tire chains wear longer, more uniformly, and without breakage associated with case hardened products. BABAC is able to design and build tire chains for custom applications and odd tire sizes, utilizing our in-house computer-aided design capabilities. BABAC’s Ring chains provide excellent traction for operating in mud or snow. All models feature alloy lugs that, unlike most other chains, are butt and wrap welded for unsurpassed strength and durability. Our slanted half links take out pre-load as the chain goes over the tire. This reduces friction and wear and allows for free tag chain movement. It is a standard feature on all of our ring chains. The Multi Ring offers a smooth ride due to the 3-link tag chain design with close spacing of the rings. For wider tires, BABAC also offers a double Multi Ring. Visit wallingfords.com for more.

Forest Chain Multi-Ring

Veriga Wheel Tracks

Forest Chain wide range of ring skidder chains are available in fixed ring, multi ring, and studded with 9⁄16", 5⁄8" or 3⁄4" tag chains to fit all popular tire sizes. Designed to give as much as 60% more traction to your skidder, Forest Chain skidder chains provide quicker skid times, more production and increased bottom line profits. Forest Chain premium multi-ring heavy duty chains offer superior traction and are available in 9⁄16, 5⁄8, 3⁄4, 7⁄8 and 1 inch. The DoubleDiamond configured chains equipped with U-shaped studs are especially effective in the worst conditions: the deep biting lugs dig deeply into the terrain. Repairs are easy using common welding techniques and materials for longer life. Email forestchain@gmail.com or call 800-288-0887.

With today’s high-capacity skidders, wheel tracks are commonly used to improve traction and performance. Tracks have a larger contact area with the ground, which improves grip and enhances pulling efficiency with heavy loads. There is greater force transmission, making the machine more efficient. This is particularly true on soft or wet terrain where tracks can offer greater traction and also minimize fuel consumption. Tracks also prolong the life of the tires regardless of what ground they are working on. The W-TRACK MULTI has a single grouzer plate profile that

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ECO-Wheel Tracks from Olofsfors are an economical alternative to conventional tire chains. They are suitable for skidders and wheeled feller-bunchers with tire sizes ranging from 23.1 x 26 to 35.5 x 32. ECO-Wheel Tracks provide numerous benefits over chains including superior traction, longer lifetime and less maintenance. With the smooth and consistent traction, ECO-Wheel Tracks reduce the ‘spin and grab’ effect on the machines drive line. They fit new or used tires. ECO-Wheel Tracks also increase the stability and mobility especially in hilly conditions. For more information visit www.eco-tracks.com or call 519-754-2190.

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MACHINES-SUPPLIES-TECHNOLOGY Deere Shovel Logger John Deere announces the new 953ML Shovel Logger, providing a purpose-built solution for loggers operating in wetland and swamp conditions. The 953ML is equipped to help loggers outmaneuver the muck, tackling challenging job sites with its powerful live heel boom, durable track system and comfort-boosting operator station. Equipped with a 330 HP John Deere PowerTech 9.0-liter diesel engine, the 953ML delivers the power needed to tackle challenging conditions. The most notable feature on the 953ML is the 36’ live heel swamp-logger boom with its 60” grapple capacity. With the live heel boom, control over the positioning of the log is improved during timber-handling operations. Another key feature, the long and wide undercarriage, combined with excellent ground clearance and proven tractive effort, maximizes its maneuverability and flotation in soft, swampy and spongy conditions. “It’s got all the reach you need to get down into a hole and grab something. It has the lifting power and stability for handling big logs. And with the long tracks, it has plenty of flotation for working in wetlands,” says Trey Freeman, Long Bay Trucking. “The ride and feel are smooth and comfortable. There’s plenty of room in the cab, and the visibility is great. I can look out and grab what I need to grab. And if I start to get stuck, I can see the tracks really well.”

The operator station on the 953ML offers improved visibility, equipped with floor-to-ceiling front and side windows along with an overhead skylight. Visit johndeere.com.

Tigercat Mulcher Carrier Tigercat adds to its mulcher lineup with the release of the 760B mulcher and the 4061-30 mulching head. The 760B is a 550 HP class mulcher carrier that shares major components with the field proven and similarly classed Tigercat 480B track driven mulcher as well as the popular M726G wheel driven mulcher. The 760B was designed primarily for silviculture applications. Forestry companies require the capability to efficiently clean up residual post-harvest forest debris and grind stumps to ground level. The 760B meets this requirement and the machine will also find application in large scale land clearing and ROW projects. In stable, well drained soil types, a high horsepower wheel driven machine has many advantages including quicker travel speeds, lower operating costs and the ability to run a wide mulching head for improved coverage and wider swaths, increasing quality and productivity. As such, Tigercat also designed a 3 m wide mulching head to complement the new carrier. The new 4061-30 mulching head is based on the original Tigercat 2.5 m 4061, with several updates and enhancements. The 2.5 m 4061 will be rebranded as the 4061-25 when similar updates are introduced in early 2021. The 760B will be standard equipped with boom float, LogOn (Tigercat’s wifi based machine monitoring system), ground level fueling and Tigercat’s WideRange transmission. The operator’s station was designed with operator comfort in mind, with a climate controlled seat, Bluetooth audio connectivity and ergonomic controls. Tigercat mulcher carriers offer superior build quality, greater hydraulic efficiency, better operator ergonomics and easier access to components and daily service points than competing mulcher carriers. The result is greater uptime and higher productivity. Visit tigercat.com.

Expanded Tire Lineup Titan International is expanding its STL3 tire line to include a total of 7 tire sizes. The new 875/65R29 size is in high demand for articulated dump trucks, wheel loaders and scrapers. Matt Miller, Tire Technology Manager, R&D at Titan, comments, “Our customers have been asking for it in this new size to support a wider range of equipment models, as well as to overcome some of the challenges they’re having with competitive tires in this size, which include lack of availability and rim slip that causes bead chafing which can lead to air loss.” The dual-taper bead design and extra-wide steel bead on the STL3 give it high resistance to rim indexing. With its E-3/L-3 non-directional tread pattern and center-riding rib, the STL3 also provides excellent traction, a smooth ride and a long life. Its full-width shoulder lug provides lateral stability. Available in cut-resistant and wear-resistant compounds, it’s suitable for a range of conditions. The 875/65R29 joins the 750/65R25 and 26.5R25 sizes with wearresistance compounds, along with four additional sizes offered with cut-resistant compounds—20.5R25, 23.5R25, 26.5R25 and 29.5R25. Visit titan-intl.com. 38

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PRINT CLASSIFIED AD RATES: Print advertising rates are $50 per inch. Space is available by column inch only, one inch minimum. DEADLINES: Ad reservation must be received by 10th of month prior to month of publication. Material must be received no later than 12th of month prior to month of publication.

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LOGGER’S BEST FRIEND!

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Repair Hoses in the Log Woods Crimper Start-up Kit Less than $5,000 Contact: Chris Alligood 1-252-531-8812 email: chrisa.cavalierhose@gmail.com

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RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!! In addition to new machines, CHAMBERS DELIMBINATOR, INC. now has factory reconditioned DeLimbinators. These units have been inspected, repaired, and updated as needed. Call us and we will help you select a DeLimbinator for your need.

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Mechanic Injured While Repairing Tracked Feller-Buncher BACKGROUND: On a cool, rainy, fall day in the South, a mechanic was replacing hydraulic lines on a tracked feller-buncher. PERSONAL CHRACTERISTICS: The mechanic was in his early 50s and had been a mechanic for over 13 years. He had worked for this employer for two months prior to the incident. He was experienced in the task at hand, and he was wearing a hard hat, safety glasses, high-visibility vest and steel-toed boots.

the ground while another individual helped while lying on the track. When the mechanic realized he could not reach the hose from the ground, he decided to stand on a 5-gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid to gain extra height to reach the

The track was built in 2001.

ACCIDENT: The mechanic had reattached the hose when he slipped off the bucket and fell to the ground. INJURY: His left arm caught the track on his way down, and he dislocated his shoulder. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CORRECTION: l Use proper tools for the job. A stepladder or work platform should have been used. l All work surfaces should be free of fluids or loose particles.

UNSAFE ACT OR CONDITION: The hose was deep inside the hydraulic compartment of the feller-buncher, and the track only offered limited room for access to the area. The mechanic decided to work from

Stumpin 6 ➤ “You’d be surprised how much knowledge and experience goes into running these machines and being competitive. These guys spend a lot of money prepping their tires, grooving them, and changing their tread patterns to how they want it.” The winner of the super-late model race was number 90, “Flying” Brian Rickman, Columbus, Miss., for $5,000. Brandon “The Hanceville Hurricane” Brown of Hanceville won the limited late

hose. The bucket was an unstable work platform, and due to water and oil residue, the surface was slippery.

Supplied by Forest Resources Assn. model race for $1,500. Brighton Forestry Services and Tyson Prewitt of Simcoe Wood Products co-sponsored the $5,000 prize. “There’s not another event like this in Alabama with a logging show and night races,” Cates says. “This gives kids and younger people an opportunity to see equipment up close and maybe get some younger guys involved in the industry.” Crawford and Cates plan to set a date for the 2nd annual Forestry 40 SLT in spring 2021.

“Flyin’” Brian won $5,000.

Make A Statement! As Americans, our heritage is important to us, but for most Southerners, it’s a treasure. You have to be born and raised South of the Mason-Dixon line to know just what it means to have Southern heritage. While we’re all proud to be Americans, Southerners feel God went the extra step for them. Show your Southern pride with these highly visible 3-1⁄2 in. x 12 in. bumper stickers from the publisher of Southern Loggin’ Times. Only $5 each, including postage and handling. All stickers shipped unfolded. Order on-line: www.southernloggintimes.com; by phone (800-669-5613); or mail (Bumper Sticker, Hatton-Brown, P.O. Box 2268, Montgomery, AL 36102-2268). Make checks payable to Hatton-Brown Publishers.

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A D L I N K ●

ADVERTISER

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PG. NO.

PHONE NO.

American Logger’s Council

409.625.0206

American Truck Parts

888.383.8884

Around The World Salvage

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Caterpillar Dealer Promotion

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Flint Equipment

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Forestry First

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Moore Logging Supply

888.754.5613

Morbark

800.831.0042

Olofsfors

519.754.2190

Pitts Trailers

800.321.8073

Ponsse North America

715.369.4833

Puckett Machinery

601.969.6000

Quality Equipment & Parts

386.754.6186

Southern Loggers Cooperative

318.445.0750

Stribling Equipment

855.781.9408

Tidewater Equipment

41,43

912.638.7726

Tigercat Industries

1,7

519.753.2000

Timberblade

519.532.3283

TraxPlus

601.635.5543

800.845.6648

W & W Truck & Tractor Wallingford’s

12,30

800.323.3708

Waratah Forestry Attachments

770.692.0380

Waters International Trucks

601.693.4807

Yancey Brothers

800.282.1562

COMING EVENTS February

July

24-28—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers annual meeting, Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, Ponte Vedra, Fla. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianhardwood.org.

25-27—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, WV. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianhardwood.org.

March

August

3-5—SLMA Spring Meeting, Hyatt Regency Savannah, Savannah, Ga. Call 504-443-4464; visit slma.org.

5-8—Virginia Loggers Assn. annual meeting, Hotel Roanoke, Roanoke, Va. Call 804-677-4290; visit valoggers.org.

24-26—Forestry Assn. of South Carolina annual meeting, Myrtle Beach Marriott at Grande Dunes, Myrtle Beach, SC. Call 803-7984170; visit scforestry.org.

April 30-May 1—Mid-Atlantic LoggingBiomass-Landworks Expo, near Laurinburg, NC. Call 919-2719050; visit malblexpo.com.

May 17-19—Forest Resources Assn. annual meeting, DoubleTree Nashville Downtown, Tenn. Call 202-296-3937; visit forest resources.org. 21-22—Expo Richmond 2021, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com.

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11-13—Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Expo, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 504-443-4464; visit sfpaexpo.com. 13-14—Southwest Forest Products Expo, Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501-2242232; visit arkloggers.com. 24-26—Louisiana Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Resort, Lake Charles, La. Call 318-443-2558; visit laforestry.com.

September 9-11—Great Lakes Logging & Heavy Equipment Expo, UP State Fairgrounds, Escanaba, Mich. Call 715-282-5828; visit gltpa.org. 17-18—Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show, Starkville, Miss. Call 800-669-5613; visit midsouth forestry.org. 17-18—Kentucky Wood Expo, Masterson Station Park, Lexington, Ky. Call 502-695-3979; visit kfia.org. 29-October 1, 2021—North Carolina Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Grandover Resort & Conference Center, Greensboro, NC. Call 800231-7723; visit ncforestry.org.

October 7-8—American Loggers Council annual meeting, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Call 409-625-0206; visit amloggers.com.

March 2022 29-30—Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334-834-1170; visit bioenergyshow.com. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

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JANUARY 2021 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

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