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Vol. 50, No. 2

(Founded in 1972—Our 581st Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S out front:

February 2021 A Hatton-Brown Publication

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

www.southernloggintimes.com

Alabama logger Chris Cates stepped up to lead W. Cates Logging, the company his father Wayne founded, years ago when Wayne decided to focus on converting his farm land into a dirt race track. Following his father’s death almost five years ago, Chris and his mother Tobbie carry on the family’s legacy both in the woods and at the speedway. They’ve also been fighting for the last six years to get justice for Chris’ younger brother Eric, who was murdered. No arrest has yet been made, but the family may be getting close to a breakthrough. 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 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 Western Canada, Western USA

Southern Stumpin’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca

Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Kevin Cook Tel: 604-619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com

From The Backwoods Pew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Industry News Roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 ForesTree Equipment Trader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Coming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

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’

Cooperation EDITOR’S NOTE: My friend at the Virginia Loggers Assn., Ron Jenkins, asked if we could publish this article by Michelle Stoll, Director of Public Information, Virginia Dept. of Forestry. I was happy to make a space to accommodate his request. It previously appeared in the December 2020 edition of the VLA's newsletter.

one to bridge-two seamless.

“I was very impressed with Donnie’s ability to listen and suggest alternative ways to stabilize the crossing during use,” recalls Kevin. “Donnie used the existing brush on both sides of the crossing to create a corduroy pad that would keep the equipment from rutting the approaches and prevent any potential erosion or sedimentaemember those old cartoons with the coyote tion. He also suggested using two main bladed and the sheep dog clocking in to work, the trails, which was an idea that I had not previouscoyote set on eating the sheep and the sheep ly considered, but after listening to his reasoning dog determined to stop the coyote? These two were (L-R)Virginia state forester Rob Farrell, bridge builder I thought it was worth a respectable try.” always at odds and that was just the nature of their The job began in August of 2020 and as of Binky Tapscott (behind), logger Donnie Reaves (front), water quality specialist Kevin Dawson, Virginia Secretary jobs. Well, some people may assume the same is Thanksgiving was approximately 75% complete. of Agriculture & Forestry Bettina Ring true for Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) The Lynchburg area received separate rain events water quality personnel and loggers, but they Improvement Fund. This program helps logging of four in., five in., and 10+ in. during this harvest would be wrong! “We’re really on the same side contractors cover the cost of implementing Best and the bridges as well as the approaches have and when we work together and keep each other Management Practices (BMPs) on stream crossing held up better than ever expected. Donnie used a informed, everyone wins,” explains VDOF Water sites across the state. The program covers 50% of combination of temporary diversions and brush Quality Specialist Kevin Dawson. the cost of BMP installation up to $2,500, or matting to prevent soil compaction, soil rutting, Kevin, forestry consultant Todd Goode and $5,000 if the project includes the purchase of a erosion, and sedimentation. Kevin explains that logging company owner Donnie Reaves have portable bridge. Kevin submitted the cost share each week he has responded to many phone calls been working together on a job that proves partpaperwork at the same time to secure funding to questioning the project and has conducted weekly nership and communication are more than just help Donnie with this project. inspections of the property because he knows that words. As a result of pre-planning, intentional Donnie knew he needed a bridge that would there are many eyes that view this harvest daily. and open communication, and a sound relationadequately support his tracked sawhead, and he He has yet to find any erosion or sediment entership built on mutual interests, one harvest in contacted Binky Tapscott of Forest Pro, Inc., to ing the stream channel. Once the project is comLynchburg City has proven to be stress-free and perform the construction. They settled on a 35-ft. pleted the bridge will be removed, VDOF will a success for all involved. steel bridge with extra I-beams under the outer close out paperwork for the Logger BMP costTodd and Donnie contacted Kevin in June of panels for added strength. The plan also called share project and process the payment.

2020 about a potentially complicated timber harfor logs under the ends of each bridge to make “I’ve seen pictures of the bridge with a bullvest in Lynchburg. The site crossed a stream and the crossing level and the transition from bridge- dozer sitting on it after heavy rains, the creek was in a particularly visible location. The location swollen, an incredible amount of fast-moving had all the elements of a difficult job fraught with water, all while the stream banks look undiswater quality problems and public scrutiny. Donturbed by the logging,” according to VLA Execnie and Todd recognized this and reached out to utive Director Ron Jenkins.

Kevin to request a pre-harvest plan and assistance Donnie’s willingness to listen and take the time with installing a temporary bridge. to install the necessary control measures during the “Donnie and Todd foresaw the potential issues harvest made this endeavor successful. In addition and reached out for help from VDOF,” Kevin to Donnie’s efforts to enlist VDOF’s expertise and says. “This kind of communication and trust involvement prior to beginning the harvest, the goes a long way to make a positive harvest that City of Lynchburg has also been an important everyone walks away happy with.” stakeholder. “They have been great to work with, The site posed two significant challenges: the and I keep them informed on a regular basis with need to cross Dreaming Creek as well as a city any developments I observe while conducting my Following several inches of rain, bridge remains strong sewer line running adjacent to the creek. Kevin harvest inspections,” Kevin says. and the stream remains clear and free of sediment. wrote the pre-harvest plan on June 18, 2020 and This job is a perfect example of what happens submitted it to Todd, Donnie, when the communication and Lynchburg City. The plan between parties is open and involved a double bridge honest. All parties have been

By Donnie Reaves crossing at Dreaming Creek, willing to listen to one anothone set of bridges to traverse er, and that makes things This was a wonderful project created by some great people coming together. It was the sewer line and the second simple when it comes to the WE factor that made it happen and not just one person. Kevin Dawson of the Virset to cross the stream. Lynchcomplicated harvests. “I ginia Dept. of Forestry got it all started off on the right foot by helping me understand burg City was more than willthink the entire process has our options. Me done did doesses went and found me a goodess water quality man. ing to mark the sewer line. proven that when pre-harvest When it came to crossing this creek, I counted heavily on Uncle Binky Tapscott to build Donnie was able to take planning is involved along one that would allow my heavy equipment to cross and keep the water clean. Both men advantage of VDOF’s Logger with patience and determinawere so important to helping me. Also, I am thankful to Rob Farrell for making the fundBMP Cost Share Program that tion that complicated projects ing available to build the bridge. I sure hope Mr. Farrell didn’t have to give up a paycheck! takes advantage of funding are not as complicated as Finally, I give the Lord above all the credit for helping to move everyone in the right provided by the Commonthey may seem,” Kevin condirection for a successful outcome. Amen!

SLT wealth’s Water Quality cludes.

R

“We Done Did Doesses This Together”

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Carrying On ■ After suffering family tragedies, Chris Cates keeps up his father’s legacy.

By David Abbott BREMEN, Ala. hen Wayne Cates ★ died of cancer at age 64 in 2016, he must have taken some measure of comfort in knowing the company he started almost 30 years earlier, W. Cates Logging, would be in good hands. His older son Chris Cates, 43, had long since proven himself up to the task.

Chris had already been running the daily operations in the woods for several years by that point, but he still had his dad with him, and Wayne was still ultimately in charge. Now, the son shoulders the responsibility for safeguarding the family name, and the businesses associated with it—the logging and trucking concerns as well as a dirt race track, ECM Speedway.

The burden isn’t his to carry alone, though; he has support from his

W

Chris Cates and his mother, Tobbie Stover

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Cates added two 610E Tigercat skidders in two years from B&G Equipment in Northport, Ala.

mother and partner, Tobbie Stover.

“Before he got sick, he was healthy as a horse,” Chris recalls of his father. “He worked hard all of his life, every day. He was a nononsense kind of guy.”

Wayne wasn’t a born native to the logging woods. He started his career working in coal mines, but what he really wanted was to drive his own truck. “The coal mine was really doing bad with layoffs, the mine shut down, so Wayne started driving,” Tobbie recollects of her late husband. He bought his first truck from Charles Bishop in 1975. Tobbie and Wayne married in August of ’76 and

incorporated their company in ’77, the year Chris was born.

He hauled coal till the coal industry played out, then tried gravel, soy beans, anything to keep the men working—they had five trucks by then going to Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee. “It was just not enough money to keep it going, so we changed from dump beds to flat beds,” Tobbie says. They started hauling lumber north and steel back, Chris says, taking advantage of backhauling opportunities to minimize deadhead miles. Wayne had a bad back made worse by often twice-weekly round trips to

Chicago, Ill., or Gary, Ind. Truck driving kept Wayne away from home more often than not, and soon enough, he and his wife divorced. “Wayne was a workaholic,” Tobbie says. They remained on reasonably good terms, though, both regarding the business and their sons—Chris had gained a brother, Eric, in 1982.

Chris corroborates his mother’s assessment—“work” was Wayne’s middle name. A few years ago, after he was grown and supervising operations in the woods, Chris wanted to take the crew down to Gulf Shores on a Friday to go snapper fishing,

and asked his dad about the idea.

Wayne’s reply? “Naah, we ain’t doing all that; we’d have to take off work!” Over time, his enthusiasm for the fishing trip only grew stronger, so Chris again brought it up, and Wayne again shot it down, quick. “Boy, it just galled me that he wouldn’t even consider it,” Chris admits, able to grin about it now. “I remember it plain as day. He was sitting there in his chair, and I asked him, ‘Dad, do you not like doing nothing?!’ He looked at me, raised his eyebrows and said, ‘I like to WORK!’ I knew then there was no sense in even asking about it anymore.” ➤ 10

Chris has put 14,000 hours on the 2010 Cat, his first new loader; his dad, company founder Wayne Cates, bought it for him.

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From left, Donnie Collins and “TNT” Jonathan Hosner

Left to right, Carles Farr, Chris Cates, Matthew Anderson and Randy Williams

9 ➤ After the divorce, Wayne ached to be home to see his sons more, though he had no intention of giving up his trucks. He called Tobbie and informed her he planned to start a logging business so he could be home at night for the boys, and she agreed it was a good idea.

Wayne wasn’t entirely without a background in timber. His father had bought river land in the ’60s, during construction of the Smith Lake dam project. He wanted to farm it, but most of it was covered in timber. He and his sons, Cecil, Don, Cates stays on top of things.

Wayne and Mike, spent

years clearing that land with tractors and dozers. “They cleared about 300 acres, the old fashioned way,” Chris says.

Wayne had enjoyed that part of it, so when he made the choice to quit hauling over the road and be home more, logging was an easy fit. He started W. Cates Logging with Mike, his baby brother.

Tobbie remembers that her older son had always shown an interest in helping with the family business. Chris started helping at the shop when they were still hauling coal; she says even before he could walk, he was talking on the CB radio she used for truck dispatch. He recalls that even as a kid he always wanted to be at

work with his parents, in the shop after school and on weekends, and he worked in the woods with his dad every summer. In his junior and senior years, as soon as he turned 16 and could drive, Chris co-opted, leaving school after half a day to go to work on the logging crew.

After graduating, he says, “My dad had big hopes for me; he was going to send me to Auburn, to forestry school, and I would buy our timber.” The plan didn’t pan out. “I was 18, it was the first time I had ever been away from home and I didn’t have my priorities in line,” Chris admits. He made it about six months before Wayne told him, “You ain’t cut out for that, boy, you need to come on back to the woods.”

And that’s where Chris has been ever since. “It’s all I’ve ever done.”

Chris worked with his dad and uncle for years, gradually earning the foreman role. Eric also sometimes drove a truck for the business.

They’re all gone now, though; Eric was killed in 2015, and Wayne and Mike both died in 2016, leaving Chris and Tobbie to carry on the family businesses.

Operations

Cates loads set out trailers and moves to a staging area with an Army truck.

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Today, woods equipment includes a 2010 Cat 559B loader with 14,000 hours on it, still running well. “It’s a good machine,” Chris says. “Daddy bought that one for me; that was my first brand new knuckleboom.” Chris himself put most of the hours on this machine; he just hired its current operator, Jonathan Hosner, the first of this year so that Chris could start driving set out trucks.

When someone set fire one weekend to another old-but-good Cat, a 525C skidder, Chris set out looking for a replacement. “I wanted another Cat, but I had just bought a new 610E in October 2018, and I didn’t really want to stack two payments up,” he says. “So I looked around at

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auctions, but everything either had too many hours or was beat up, so I just wound up buying another 610E in May 2020.” Carles Farr, who has been on the Cates crew since 1991, mans the ’18 model, while Donnie Collins, with Cates since 2011, drives the newer 610E. Cates added a Tigercat 234B loader in 2019, run by Matthew Anderson, and a John Deere 843K handles felling. Cates keeps a 573 Cat cutter as a backup; in some cases they run both cutters, but most of the time operator Randy Williams keeps enough cut for both crews with just the Deere. The crews generally work on the same tracts but with separate loading ramps.

Cates Logging does business with dealers B&G Equipment in Northport for Tigercat, Warrior Tractor in Athens for John Deere and Birmingham-area Thompson Tractor's satellite branch in Dodge City for Cat machines.

Four full-time truck drivers haul for Cates Logging, but one of them, Ricky Boyd, has been hospitalized with Covid-19. “Ain’t no doubt about it, it’s bad,” Chris acknowledges of the disease. “It’s definitely a bad deal for anyone with any kind of health problems, and Ricky had a

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Left, patriarch Wayne bought his favorite truck in 2014; after Wayne’s death, Billy Joe Johnson, right, now drives it.

mild stroke right before Christmas.”

Boyd had been on a ventilator for two weeks when Southern Loggin’ Times visited in mid-January. The other drivers are Tony Watkins, Billy Joe Johnson and Paul Mote.

Chris uses Army trucks to move set out trailers to a clearing near the paved road so truck drivers can drop off empties and pick up full trailers without having to wait under the loader. It saves them about 40 minutes per load, Chris figures.

The crews work within a 50-mile radius from home, mostly in plantation pine, generally thinning to a 70

basal area. Cates cuts primarily for Heath Albright at Brighton Forestry of Holly Pond and Joey King at Jasper Lumber in Jasper. With five Kenworth trucks, ’97 to ’11 models, and eight trailers (Pitts, McLendon and OT), the crews average 60 loads a week.

When Wayne started his race track (see sidebar, p. 14) and left Chris in charge of logging, he continued to have a hand in the business. Driving—a truck or a race car—was always what he loved best, so most of the time that’s what he did. Just two years before his death, he

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bought a new truck that, despite some early problems with it, was his pride and joy. He had his picture made with the first load he pulled with it; Chris and Tobbie had that picture put on his tombstone.

“Some of these guys seem like they make pretty good money buying their own wood, but I tell you, this business, you ain’t gonna get rich doing it the way I’m doing it,” Chris admits. “I love it, I reckon.

I’ve thought about it and I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing,” he offers after a moment’s pause for consideration. ➤ 14

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Fast Track n 1990, Chris’ grandfather en-

I rolled his farm land in the CRP—

conservation reserve program, part of the Farm Bill that year—for 10 years. “They told him that he could plant it in pine and they would pay for 90% of it,” as Chris recalls.

“Well, hell, he’d spent his whole life clearing all that farm land, and he damn sure wasn’t going to plant trees on it again. So they paid him

so much a year just to keep it bush hogged. That’s about the time our government started selling us out to China. They went to paying our farmers to let their land sit there and do nothing so we could buy foreign products at a cheaper price and starve our folks out.”

When the 10 years was up, Mr. Cates was in his 70s. He was too old to work the farm—there comes a point in a man’s life when his body just can’t handle the physically demanding labor of farming, or log-

ging, even more so then than now. “If I had to do it the way my dad and uncle and papaw had to do it, I wouldn’t be doing it or I wouldn’t love it near as much, I promise you,” Chris is not too proud to admit.

Mr. Cates also didn’t get much in social security because he’d never worked for anyone else very much.

Looking at his limited income, he decided he’d sell each of his six children what they wanted of the land, 460 acres, for $1,000 an acre. The money went in a trust and he lived off

the interest. When he died, his heirs got their land and their money back.

“It worked out good for him and good for us,” Chris says.

Eventually, Wayne ended up with 160 acres. “We didn’t have time for cows with this logging stuff, so we thought about planting it back in timber, and I sometimes wish we had,” Chris admits. But Wayne decided on a different direction. He and Eric had gotten into dirt track racing. “Eric loved to race,” Tobbie says. By then a teenager, Eric had started going the

It was renamed after Eric's death.

wrong direction with the wrong crowd, and Wayne hoped this hobby might help keep him out of trouble. They had been racing at the Hanceville Speedway, but when it closed, Wayne decided to build his own speedway.

“He was always up for a project,” Chris says. “I had been in the woods long enough that I knew what to do, and daddy felt confident enough to let me run the dayto-day operations in the logging.”

The project, started in 2000, took a year to complete. The logging crew actually helped. “The market in logging had gotten pretty bad, and we just had all our stuff paid off already,” Chris recalls. “Daddy needed a few hands to move dirt, so we just halted operations on the woods work for about four months and helped finish the race track.”

River Valley Speedway, named for its location near the Mulberry River, opened in 2001.

Building it was one thing; managing it was slightly out of Wayne’s wheel house. “Daddy loved racing but he didn’t ever work with the public,” Chris explains. “He always worked for himself and didn’t answer to nobody. He wouldn’t go around and get sponsors. He didn’t tell me this, but I read between the lines: he felt like he was begging.

He didn’t want to ask nobody for nothing. So he tried to do it by himself.” That made it a tough row to hoe. Chris continues, “Some weeks you can do pretty good, if all the pieces fall together and you put 14

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together a pretty good race. But I learned from watching him: you have to promote and you can’t do it without help. You have to spend money making the place better for people to come.”

From April till Labor Day they run the speedway just about every Saturday night, usually with 70 cars. Spectator tickets are $10 a head in the general side and $35 in the pits. It usually starts about sundown and ends around midnight.

On October 31, 2020, the track— renamed to Eric Cates Memorial Speedway (ECM) after Eric died in 2015—hosted the first Forestry 40 race and logging equipment show.

Chris and his partner, Kelly Crawford, owner of K&K Logging, Inc., in Hanceville, organized the event, in which 14 drivers competed for $5,000 in a 40-lap single heat around the 3/8-mile track.

“We handle the race and Kelly handles the equipment show,” Chris says. “It did pretty good on short notice for a first time. Now since everybody knows, we are going to try to do it every year.”

The next Forestry 40 is tentatively planned for June 2021; they want to space it out some from the MidSouth Show in Starkville, Miss., in SLT September this year.

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No Justice, No Peace n March 21, 2015, a Saturday

O morning, a pair of turkey

hunters was walking behind the abandoned Empire School in Walker County, near Sumiton, Ala., when they came upon a grisly discovery: a burned-up Chevy S-10 pickup, its white paint blackened with soot. Their initial thought: might be insurance fraud. Then they peeked inside. What they saw must still haunt them: the charred skeletal remains of Eric Cates and his best friend, a bulldog named Gypsy.

The younger Cates son was taken from his parents and his brother just shy of his 33rd birthday. The night before, he’d been planning to attend a barbecue with people he must have thought were his friends. Eric and Gypsy can be seen in that white S-10 on security camera footage at the Blue Store, a service station in Empire, that Friday night, talking to people who later claimed to have no memory of having seen him.

“It was awful,” Chris reflects on his brother’s murder. “I guarantee you couldn’t find anybody in this country that would have a bad word to say about Eric. But, hell, all of us have our own problems. He got to

messing around with the wrong crowd. Those boys over there, with that dope, well, they just don’t have a conscience. But I don’t think it was planned, I think it happened and then they panicked and tried to cover it up.”

Premeditated or not, the act was savage. Tobbie believes Eric was stabbed first and had lost too much blood to escape. She also thinks they’d already killed Gypsy before starting the fire. “The window was down. She was very protective of Eric, but even animals have that selfpreservation instinct. When the fire started, Gypsy would have jumped out, had she been alive.”

A possible scenario: Eric got into a fight at the barbecue. Always protective of her human friend, the dog attacked and bit one of them, so they killed her, stabbed Eric, robbed him, loaded them in the truck, drove them to the school, set the truck on fire with them in it, Gypsy dead, Eric perhaps unconscious but still breathing as his body started to burn. The killers then threw their own bloodsoaked clothes into the fire, hoping to destroy the evidence. A button from a pair of Wrangler jeans was found in

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the ashes; Eric never wore Wranglers.

He did often wear a cap given to him by a Caterpillar salesman. Evidently he was wearing that Cat hat the night of his murder. In subsequent days, someone else was seen wearing it around town. This individual, according to one dubious account of events by a purported witness, was at the party and took the hat from Eric after he was stabbed. The hat was later said to have been burned in an apparent effort to destroy evidence.

That dubious account came from a letter someone sent to the Cates family. While it names people and gives a version of what happened that night, they’ve determined that much of it is false. “There was no mention in the letter of Gypsy, and I found that odd,” Tobbie says. They believe the letter was meant to misdirect from the truth.

Though it may have been a mix of truth and lies, curiously, the letter never seemed of much interest to investigators. Almost from the start, Tobbie and Wayne butted heads with the Walker County Sheriff’s Dept. over the investigation. It seemed to them that the crime scene wasn’t handled properly; they say evidence, even bones, were left in a mud puddle, the truck was left out in the rain for months. “People they should have

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been interviewing, they weren’t,” Tobbie laments. “It looked like the case wasn’t being worked. They kept putting us off. We couldn’t get a complete autopsy report, we couldn’t get the toxicology report. A lot of the people had been giving information to us, we’d give it to the sheriff’s department and they wouldn’t follow up on it.”

Frustrated, the family went to the DA in September 2015. According to Tobbie, he told them the only thing in the autopsy of any significance was that there was soot in Eric’s lungs, indicating that he had been breathing when the fire started. Whoever did this burned him alive. But he wouldn’t let them see the report. Tobbie asked, why? “He refused to answer. That made us more suspicious. He just said he was not going to tell us, he did not say why. That is the kind of stonewalling we got and it only continued to get worse.”

She is convinced police were covering up for someone, protecting someone. “It goes deep,” she believes. She contacted the office of the Alabama Attorney General, Luther Strange at that time, but found no help there either. “We were at a standstill. We had all this information but no one to give it to. This went on for a couple of years.”

Sometime later, a local man named Randy Hicks was arrested on unrelated charges. Allegedly, Hicks was there when Eric was killed. While in jail, he told multiple people that he wanted to turn states’ evidence and tell the truth about Eric’s murder. No one ever took his testimony; he was quickly released and promptly disappeared. His brother found him dead in the woods weeks later, his body too decomposed by the elements to reveal a cause of death.

Hicks’ was not an isolated incident.

Several others have come forward with information to Tobbie, only to disappear or die soon after, she says.

Tobbie, too, has received both subtle and overt attempts at intimidation, aimed at silencing her, at persuading her to stop rocking the boat. Early on, after a routine oil change, her car caught fire on her way home from work on Highway 280 in Birmingham. When she confronted the oil change shop, they told her the man she said did her car had never worked for them.

Investigators kept trying to tell her that Eric’s death was a suicide or an accident. But she kept asking questions, kept pushing, and soon found herself apparently being followed and surveilled by Walker County law enforcement vehicles, both marked

Father and son were buried side by side; at bottom, Wayne on the left and Eric on the right, each is pictured on the back of their headstones with their log trucks and Eric with his dog Gypsy, who died with him. Gypsy was Eric's faithful companion in life and in death. Left: an angelic boy and his dog

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and unmarked. The Sheriff’s Dept., she says, also reached out to her pastor, asking him to convince her to drop it. He told them what he knew: that telling her to shut up would only motivate her to turn up the volume.

Then Wayne fell ill in 2016. Tobbie and her ex-husband had reconciled by this point, but his struggle in this life ended a year and a half after Eric’s death. “Everything was put on hold for several months as he suffered with esophageal cancer,” Tobbie relates. “We focused then on him and what he needed. After he died, I picked it back up.”

Context Alabama generally has a higher violent crime rate than other states for

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its size. If it fell within the national average, a state with the population size of Alabama should have around 220 murders on average per year (roughly 5 murders per 100,000 people, times a population just north of 4.9 million people). But, in 2016, Alabama had the third highest per capita murder rate in the U.S., with 407 violent deaths categorized as murder or manslaughter.

No surprise, much of that crime stems from the illegal drug epidemic plaguing rural America, and Walker County, a largely rural area north of Birmingham, seems to be one of the epicenters of that epidemic. While there are plenty of good people here, the county has a fairly well known reputation in this part of Alabama as a cesspool for the illegal drug trade.

And it has a long history of unsolved murders and mysterious disappearances, at a rate higher than that of much larger, more urban areas.

Rumor has it that in some areas where it has gained a foothold, the meth mafia may operate in cooperation with and under the protection of local law enforcement. The scam is an old and obvious one: cops arrest the competition and look like heroes, while the real system remains untouchable. Small town cops with big time political ambitions brand themselves as law and order candidates, tough on crime…but it’s all smoke and mirrors. The cops turn a blind eye to the bigger criminals. Could this hypothetical scenario be part of the problem in Empire or other parts of Walker County?

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Evil Empire?

In March 2021, it will have been six years since Eric and Gypsy were murdered, and still no arrest has been made. Justice delayed is justice denied. Eric’s death was tragic in any circumstance; the subsequent failure to bring his killers to justice makes it an ongoing tragedy. That tragedy would only be compounded if it turns out, as Tobbie suspects, that that failure is, on some level, not entirely unintentional.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote that something was rotten in the state of Denmark. It smells like something may be rotten in the county of Walker. Some things look fishy; it’s why Tobbie fears some members of local law enforcement may have mishandled the investigation, perhaps even by design.

So what gives? Is this a story of honest cops doing the best they can to bring down an entrenched system of organized crime when no one will talk? Or a story of crooked cops protecting a corrupt system to advance their own agendas?

New hope came with a new sheriff two years ago. An article dated September 29, 2019 in the local Daily Mountain Eagle newspaper announced that recently elected Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith had hired retired investigator Mike Cole to look into cold cases, including missing persons and unsolved murders. Eric’s case was mentioned explicitly in the article, and Smith and Cole seemed to be actively trying to help. But for the Cates family, after some early encouragement, nothing seemed to come from it.

There is a theory that Eric may have been an informant for police, or at least that some of the wrong

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people might have believed that he was. It seems many of those mixed up in the drug underworld in Walker act as informants, usually giving only trivial information to earn a “get out of jail free card.” Might the brutality of Eric’s murder, a sickening public spectacle, have been intended as a warning to other informants?

In 2019, Tobbie and Chris met Amber Sitton, host of the Secrets True Crime podcast, and her partner, Michael Fleming, a retired Marine and licensed private investigator of

the firm Echo 7 Foxtrot, LLC. Tobbie says other true crime podcasters had contacted her before, but this one felt different. “I wanted to see where they were going,” she says.

“As the months went on, I saw that they were really working and diving into this. It has just been a godsend.

The work they have put into this, and have not charged us anything, has been absolutely wonderful.”

Eric’s case became the subject of season 2 of Secrets True Crime; find it online to hear a thorough explo-

ration of the story in all its twisted details. “When we first started talking to them they thought they’d get three or maybe five episodes out of it,” Tobbie reveals. “They got 13.”

The story has also been featured on season 3, episode 9 of the TV series “Still A Mystery” on the Discovery Plus streaming service.

Sitton is convinced that the irregularities in the investigation were intentional, not incompetence. “I hate to say that, because I’m in general a huge supporter of law en-

forcement,” she stresses. “But because of that I want it to be done right.” Naturally; when we place our respect and trust in authority figures, it makes it all the more offensive if that trust is abused. But Sitton says there can always be a few bad apples mixed in with the good. “There are bad people and good people in Walker County, but the good ones are being mistreated.

The victims and their families are scared to stand up and speak out because of threats and retaliation if they talk too loudly.”

Since the podcaster and private detective started digging into the case, Sitton has received her own fair share of veiled threats and harassment. The bad guys seem less inclined to directly confront Fleming, a former USMC gunnery sergeant. Instead, he received word that someone claiming to be from the Walker County Sheriff’s office had called Quantico requesting information on Fleming’s service record, ostensibly in connection with a criminal investigation. It seems they basically wanted dirt on him; had he ever been investigated for anything in his career as a Marine? The caller was directed to send the request formally to NCIS, but such a request was never filed.

In 2019, local news reported that Walker County had turned the case over to the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation. Those claims were apparently false; SBI had not been working the case at that time. Walker County Sheriff’s Dept. has since been taken off the case by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Tobbie says. The AG’s office has taken over and assigned a state investigator to Eric’s case, coordinating locally with the Chief of Police for the city of Sumiton, TJ Burnett. “He seems to be a very upstanding, honest chief,” Tobbie says. “He is an example of what a good law enforcement officer should be, and that is something that has been lacking in Eric’s case.”

The Secrets True Crime podcast did what it should do, Sitton thinks: it helped. “It brought attention, interest, awareness. It’s hard to ignore it with public pressure.

That’s what was needed, so it served its purpose.” She hopes and expects to post a follow-up podcast episode reporting on multiple arrests related to Eric’s murder and its cover-up in the hopefully nottoo-distant future.

If that does happen, it will be because this grieving mother refused to back down, stay quiet or let it be.

Until they give her justice, she’ll SLT give them no peace.

If you have any information about this case, plese contact Sumiton Police Chief Burnett at 205-648-3261.

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“First we overlook evil. Then we permit evil.

Then we legalize evil. Then we promote evil.

Then we celebrate evil. Then we persecute those who still call it evil.”

—Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Two things to make your day better: 1) Do not watch the news; 2) Stay off the bathroom scales.

Shop local because Amazon won’t sponsor your kids’ ball teams.

Adam & Eve: First ones to ignore Apple terms and conditions

This place has been accident-free ever since John left.

Q: If 2020 was a drink, what would it be called?

A: Colonoscopy prep

For the second part of this quarantine, do we have to stay with the same family or is the government going to assign us to another family?

(Just asking for a friend.)

People don’t want to hear your opinion.

They want to hear their opinion coming out of your mouth.

Dogs are welcome at this hotel.

We never had a dog that smoked in bed, causing a fire. We never had a dog that stole towels or played the TV too loud, or had a fight with a companion. We never had a dog that broke up the furniture. So if your dog can vouch for you, you’re welcome too.

NO

TRESPASSING. We are tired of hiding the bodies!

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.” —Will Rogers

Welcome Solicitors. This household charges $20 per minute to listen to sales pitches, religious messages, speeches and stories. Fees payable in advance. You agree to these terms by knocking on the door or ringing the bell.

(Legal) immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.

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FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW

Driftwood Many of the paths that I drive on daily spend a certain amount of time each year under water. Water from nearby rivers is the source of this cov- Antill ering. Actually, it might be more accurate to say the road and the river become one. The floodwaters sweep across the road into the surrounding forest; and now everything is covered with moving water. Wood floats. I know this because I went to college. As the floodwaters cover the woods and roads, it increases in depth.

Soon wooden objects begin to float.

Most things in the woods are made out of…wait for it…wood. Without an anchor, or a strong set of roots, or a large fat opossum holding it down, the various pieces of wood will begin to float. Since the forest and the road are now part of the river, it has a current. When the various pieces of wood begin to float, they also begin to move.

Logs lying on the forest floor, broken branches, limbs, even trees uprooted by the wind all create a giant floating mat. This mat is slowly banging its way through the

woods, snagging on bushes and rooted trees. They have floated into an opening in the woods that is actually your road; and now those same bushes and standing timber have formed a barrier designed to keep the mat floating along the road. Eventually, the water level begins to drop. Without water to sustain it, the various pieces of wood will settle on the ground as the flood recedes. Having been relocated, the large mat of woody debris has settled…on your road.

It can truly be an astonishing sight to see hundreds of logs and limbs laying on your once drivable road. It is drivable no longer.

Perhaps the most significant piece of drifting wood would have been the Ark. Built by Noah at God’s command, and according to his directions, the Ark stands as the benchmark for driftwood. Chunks of wood laying on the forest floor wish they had such a purpose. They dream of such a rain that would lift them to the greatest heights, that they too might have historical significance. The Ark was built for a purpose, to preserve life, yes; but it ultimately was to shelter the righteous from judgment. God’s judgment was coming, like storm clouds on the horizon; and while Noah preached and pleaded, none would respond. While the mallets would

tap, and while the neighbors witnessed the colossal construction project, it wasn’t enough to cause them to turn and consider that maybe Noah was right.

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

—Hebrews 11:7 The Ark stands as the reminder that judgment is coming again, a reminder that a Holy God will move to destroy those who have chosen to reject him! While we have painted it to be a décor in a child’s room or to decorate our nurseries, and to be a staple in any toy box, the reality of the Ark stands as an alarm against our rejection of God, and a foreshadowing of judgment yet to come. …and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly…

—2 Peter 2:5 When Hurricane Matthew slammed into southeastern North

Carolina, it brought record-level flooding to rivers and lakes. Dams teetered on the brink of collapse, rivers surged and spread across city and forest alike. Bridges were wiped out, roads cut in half. It was after the storm had subsided that I went to “recon” many of the properties I manage within those watersheds. Driftwood was everywhere.

Every road included scattered logs and limbs, a testimony to the fact that wood floats.

Driftwood gets its name because of its occupation; it drifts. Too many of us today live a life that resembles driftwood. We seem to have no purpose, no direction, and no destiny. We simply lie in wait, waiting for the next event to pick us up and move us to somewhere new, somewhere different. Like those in the days of Noah, we have turned off the voice of God, and we have ignored the approaching clouds.

Even as the water begins to gather around our ankles, we refuse to accept that Jesus is the answer.

While the doors of the Ark are open, we instead want to trust in our own forecast, and our ability to tread water.

Where the Ark differs from driftwood is in its purpose and direction.

Designed and created to provide a means to escape judgment, it had a purpose. And as to direction, God moved it through the storm. He had a landing point for the Ark. He had a place where the animals as well as the people would have the best access to be able to disperse into all the world. It would be the place of a new beginning.

The Ark certainly holds a high place in the “Wood Hall of Fame,” but it isn’t on the top shelf. That spot is reserved for the Cross of Calvary. The Cross never floats; it never drifts. It is solid and secure; it is the wood that held the Creator, our Savior, Jesus Christ. The next time you see a piece of driftwood, think of the Ark. It was a wooden structure, made to save a family that believed. It was the first piece of driftwood. But don’t forget about the other piece of wood that was needed to secure salvation, to rescue us from the perils of the storm of God’s wrath on sin. It was a cross of wood, not drifting, but secured on a hill.

Excerpted from Reflections on Rebellion and Redemption.

Brad Antill, author; find it at www.onatreeforestry.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP that have negative impacts on our As We See It: Let’s Get Started operations?

By Tim Christopherson There are many unknowns facing our logging families following the 2020 elections and for most of us, there are many unanswered questions for which we would like to have answers. Will the new

appointees installed by the new administration affect what we do as loggers? Will the changes in the agencies that are involved in logging and trucking reverse the gains that we witnessed in the last four years? Will we see more Christopherson regulations on our industry

Of particular interest to many of us in the Western states, and in other federal timber sale dependent communities across the United States, are the improvements that we have seen over the past four years in the ability of the U.S. Forest Service to put up timber sales with more success and to actually increase the volumes being offered.

Will that continue? Stay tuned.

As of this writing, we received notice that the COVID Relief package contains a $200 million dollar component that is being set aside for logging and log trucking businesses across the U.S. that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. How will this be distributed? What determines your eligibility? The American Loggers Council and its many state and regional associations have been working to have those logging and log hauling businesses included in the package, but with success comes more questions, again… stay tuned!

Now that the Presidential election is finally confirmed, we are beginning to find out who we are working with and we will start a plan of attack to get our logging and trucking issues back on the table, working with the new administration in the White House.

So far we have weathered administration changes over the past 26 years and have been able to work with decision makers on both sides of the aisle on multiple issues. Our job is and will remain to educate those incoming legislators on our industry while keeping those veterans in Washington, DC updated on the issues that are impacting us the most.

In the meantime, take a look at our web site, amloggers.com, and take the 2020 ALC Logger survey while you’re there. Our Facebook page also contains information on the American Loggers Council and what we are up to. Both these pages will keep you updated on what’s going on at the ALC. You can also find the latest information on programs and how to apply for relief allowed in the COVID Relief package as they becomes available.

Tim Christopherson is the coowner of Dabco, Inc., based out of Kamiah, Idaho and serves as the President of the American Loggers Council and Past President and Board Member of the Associated Logging Contractors, Inc. in Idaho.

For the past several years he has walked the halls of Congress in Washington, DC with members of the American Loggers Council advocating for issues that would benefit the logging and log trucking profession.

Louisiana Receives Big Investment, Upgrades Recent announcements by Weyerhaeuser and International Paper to invest in their respective Louisiana laminated veneer lumber 26

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(LVL) and paper and linerboard mill facilities are welcome news in a state that’s seen its forest resources battered by hurricanes and also the recent closure of a GeorgiaPacific paper mill that’s affected markets.

In November 2020 Weyerhaeuser announced a $16.1 million investment in its Natchitoches, La. LVL, structural header and beam mill.

The project will provide major equipment upgrades at the site, including control system modern-

ization of manufacturing presses and machinery.

The new project helps secure more than 200 existing jobs and potentially create as many as 20 new direct jobs over the next several years.

The 250,000 sq. ft. Natchitoches mill is the major customer for Weyerhaeuser’s Zwolle site, which provides materials that form laminated veneer lumber and structural headers and beams under the Microllam brand. The Arcadia/Simsboro mill

supplies the web portion of Weyerhaeuser I-joists manufactured under the Trus Joist brand at Natchitoches.

The state received additional good news in mid January when International Paper officials announced the company plans to invest up to $52.2 million in its Bogalusa, La. paper mill and an associated corrugated box plant.

The modernization program would enhance the paper mill’s efficiency by upgrading the recovery

boiler system, along with filtration, condenser and acid system enhancements in the papermaking process.

The investment means IP plans to retain the mill’s 492 direct jobs that provide an average annual salary of more than $86,000, plus benefits.

With the latest announcement, IP has invested $487 million in the plant since acquiring it from Temple-Inland in 2012. During that time, the work force there has grown almost 20%.

Highland Receives Capital Infusion Highland Pellets LLC announced a strategic capital partnership with Orion Energy Partners, L.P. to fund the expansion and upgrade of its existing wood pellet facility in Pine Bluff, Ark. as well as provide capital for additional longterm growth initiatives. The facility is supported by a long-term contract with a major European power producer and, when complete, will be capable of producing up to 675,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year.

Orion Energy provides capital solutions to middle market energy infrastructure businesses across North America and select international markets.

“Our partnership with Orion Energy puts us in position to become a top global supplier of sustainable wood pellets,” says Tom Reilley, Highland CEO. “This transaction will allow us to scale up our Pine Bluff facility and continue to execute our growth strategy. Orion Energy has been a collaborative capital partner and was able to execute the transaction in an uncertain market backdrop with speed and efficiency. We look forward to growing our platform with the Orion Energy team.”

Early in 2020 Highland Pellets revealed it had temporarily shut down the plant because the drying technology installed had not met the company’s demands, and that the company was purchasing new equipment. The mill delivered its first pellets in April 2017.

Enviva Reports New Blockchain Program Industrial wood pellet manufacturing leader Enviva and “blockchain” company GoChain revealed a collaborative pilot program designed to enhance the traceability of sustainable biomass.

The pilot program identified a select group of suppliers from Enviva’s wood sourcing regions in the U.S. Southeast to monitor various data elements such as forest 28

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Biewer Lumber Plans Second SYP Sawmill Biewer Lumber is constructing its second greenfield southern yellow pine sawmill in Mississippi, this one in Winona, about 100 miles north of its first one in Newton, and 130 miles south of Memphis. The $130 million investment, which is expected to create 150 jobs, will use BID Group as the turnkey supplier, which was also the case at Newton.

“We had just completed our expansion with the second production line with the BID Group in Newton at the end of 2019, so in 2020 we started to strategize our next move to grow our southern yellow pine sawmill business,” comments Biewer Lumber President and CEO, Tim Biewer, a former Timber Processing Person of the Year recipient.

Biewer Lumber was the first company to start up a turnkey BID SYP sawmill at Newton in late 2016.

“We have developed a great trust in the BID team’s ability to go above and beyond to deliver what they commit to,” Biewer says.

“Their dedication to our success is clear in all aspects of their performance. This has been evidenced through the course of two major successful projects together, including our first investment in BID’s industry-transforming mill design at our Newton facility.”

Biewer Lumber is also currently building a new planer line with BID Group at the Biewer Lumber started up a greenfield sawmill in Newton, Miss. in late 2016.

McBain, Mich. sawmill. Biewer Lumber is based in St. Clair, Mich. and currently operates two sawmills in Michigan, two in Wisconsin and one in Mississippi.

“My family’s passion for the lumber industry has prompted this expansion in the South,” Biewer adds. “There is no better place to grow the business than the fiber-rich state of Mississippi.”

The facility in Newton expanded in 2019 with a second line, increasing production to 350MMBF annually. The sawmill in Winona will have similar production capacity.

Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) is providing an Industry Incentive grant to assist with road infrastructure and rail and site prep. MDA also is providing a CAP loan to Montgomery County to assist with public infrastructure. The company also qualifies for the Advantage Jobs Rebate program, which provides a cash rebate to eligible businesses that create jobs exceeding the average annual wage of the state or the county in which the company locates.

Montgomery County is providing a “fee-in-lieu of property taxes.”

BID Group will manage, design, build, equip and provide full startup services for the project. BID reports the new mill will be fitted with BID’s leading product technologies, optimization software, and artificial intelligence, and will feature the new Comact Variable Tool Opening (VTO) debarker with in-line flare reducer, cant optimization system, and TrimExpert. The planer mill will feature a Miller planer, Comact GradExpert and the new SortPro lumber sorting software. Lumber drying will be performed with three DelTech continuous dry kilns.

“We would like to thank Biewer Lumber for their ongoing trust in BID,” comments Alistair Cook, President and CEO of BID Group. “We delivered our very first new generation greenfield lumber complex to the Biewer team in 2016. Since then, we’ve delivered several similar projects. We are humbled and honored that Biewer has chosen to partner with us again for their next major growth investment.”

Work on site will begin in first quarter 2021 and startup of the sawmill is scheduled for December 2021.

tract locations, load weights, fiber commodity types, and forest types.

Leveraging GoChain’s blockchain, Enviva was able to monitor the movement of wood fiber in realtime from select forest tracts at the time of harvest to Enviva’s wood pellet production plants with a unique QR code. The pilot provided real-time geofencing, data analytics, and notification capabilities. In total, more than 1,000 loads of biomass were delivered from the forest to the production plant and recorded “on-chain” during the pilot.

Given the pilot’s success, Enviva anticipates further exploration and piloting of blockchain technology.

Enviva elected to partner with GoChain on the pilot program because of their dedication to sustainability and innovative green technologies. GoChain has developed a unique, highly scalable and secure blockchain solution that is among the greenest and most energy efficient on the market, according to Enviva. It uses a “Proof of Reputation” consensus model for processing transactions.

The use of blockchain technology not only serves to eliminate unnecessary middlemen and provide transparency in supply chains but also enables real-time audit of secure, time-stamped transactions recorded on an immutable ledger.

Blockchain is quickly proving to be essential for accelerating certification milestones and ensuring the validity of sustainability governance.

Mission Forest Places Sawmill Order Mission Forest Products is proceeding with plans to build a $160 million 250MMBF annual production greenfield sawmill in Corinth, Miss. and has placed a substantial order with machinery supplier USNR. To take advantage of Mississippi’s abundant timber resources, attractive lumber pricing, and promising housing market, Timberland Investment Resources is investing to build a new greenfield mill at Corinth, Miss. The Mission Forest Products mill is targeting 250MMBF annual production.

USNR will supply the following for the sawmill: a complete edger line featuring the MillTrak lumber flow management system, edger Maximizer positioning infeed, 3saw edger with top reman head and close coupled picker tailer, and USNR’s edger optimizer with BioLuma 2900L sensors. The trimmer line will feature USNR’s trimmer optimizer with BioLuma 2900L sensors. Two Uniflow continuous dry kilns with 8-grate green

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fuel burners and Kiln Boss control system will be implemented.

In the planer mill USNR will install the Transverse High Grader (THG) automated grading system, integrated with the WinTally sorter management system.

Mid-South Engineering is contracted to handle the civil and building work. Installation is scheduled for the latter half of 2021, with startup in the first quarter of 2022.

Mission Forest Products is a subsidiary of Timberland Investment Resources, LLC. The stateof-the-art pine sawmill will be financed through capital provided by investors that TIR represents.

“Our objective is for this mill to become one of the lowest-cost and most reliable suppliers of highquality dimensional lumber products in North America,” says TIR Managing Director Christopher Mathis. “We intend to do this by capitalizing on three things—the abundance of high-quality timber in the area, Corinth’s proximity to the growing housing markets of the U.S. South and lower Midwest, and the low-cost, high-efficiency nature of the mill’s design.”

TIR decided to locate the mill in

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Corinth due to the rail and road access it offers to growing population centers like Memphis, Nashville, Birmingham and the lower U.S. Midwest—all areas where lumber demand is high and is projected to increase in the future due to commercial and population expansion.

In addition, the area surrounding Corinth, which sits where the state lines of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi intersect, also is a prime

timber-growing region that currently is underserved with sawmilling capacity despite the plentiful inventory of high-quality timber that is growing in its vast forestlands, which are generally owned by local families and large institutional investors, such as those TIR represents.

TIR also was attracted to the Corinth area because it has a skilled forest products workforce.

Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance for infra-

structure improvements. The company also qualifies for the Advantage Jobs Rebate Program.

Rambler Plans New Mill Operation Rambler Wood Products is moving into the 300,000 sq. ft. former Bush Furniture Industries facility in St. Paul, Va. and investing $7.6 million to establish a wood products

manufacturing facility that will create 73 jobs.

Rambler Wood Products founder Mark Wadams comments, “In addition to contributing to the economic rejuvenation of the region, we are committed to being thoughtful stewards of the region’s natural resources by implementing sustainable practices and a ‘waste nothing’ philosophy throughout our operations.”

Rambler will convert white oak into barrel staves for the West Virginia Great Barrel Co. and will use red oak and other lower value hardwoods to produce lumber for flooring manufacturers, pallet production and for mining usage.

Wood residuals will be sold to paper companies or further manufactured to biomass products.

IKEA Partner Buys More Timberland Ingka Group, a major franchise partner in the IKEA system, operating 380 IKEA stores in 31 countries, has acquired nearly 11,000 acres located in southeast Georgia near the Altamaha River Basin from The Conservation Fund.

Ingka Group, based in the Netherlands, now owns 136,000 acres in five states—Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma, and owns a total of 613,000 acres worldwide, including the U.S. and Europe.

Ingka Group’s forest management is audited by the Forest Stewardship Council. Between September 2019 and August 2020 Ingka Group planted 600,000 seedlings in the U.S. and close to 7 million seedlings worldwide.

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COVID Relief Act Includes Loggers Following months of political lobbying, America’s loggers finally have access to financial assistance.

The Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020, passed by a bipartisan vote in both the House and Senate in late December, includes language appropriating $200 million in funding for those logging and log trucking businesses that saw a greater

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than 10% loss in gross revenues from January 1 through December 1, 2020 related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as compared to revenues for the same period in 2019.

Contacted a few days after President Trump signed the legislation, American Loggers Council Executive Vice President Danny Dructor was excited about its passage, though he cautioned, “We may be a ways off before we can see any money on the ground.”

Going forward, he said, two big issues are how the funds will be administered and the qualifications for receiving assistance.

“The issue is the $200 million needs to go to those truly impacted

by COVID,” Dructor says. Administrators may want to roll the logger relief funds into an existing program. Two potential areas are the USDA’s Farm Service Agency or more recently created USDA Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) for agricultural producers whose operations were directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Compounding the uncertainty is the change in presidential administrations.

One of the most significant impacts of the relief fund passage is the recognition that loggers are their own industry, apart from pulp and paper or lumber. “Creating parity” between loggers and other commodity agricultural producers is a big objective that is beginning to be realized with the legislation, Dructor said.

Another big impact is the awareness of what’s possible when people get involved. “This happened because industry came together,” Dructor said. “When loggers do stand together they can get things done, and that’s important because we had people from all over get involved, and lots of people engaged their representatives.”

Logging and log hauling businesses were deemed to be essential service providers, but have struggled with making fixed cost payments as a result of reduced markets.

Many logging companies experienced severe losses when lumber and paper mills across the country reduced or ceased production in response to drops in demand. According to reports, raw material delivered to mills by loggers and truckers have experienced price drops greater than 5% in 2020 compared to 2019. According to a third party analysis by Forest2Market, a 6.7% (21.4 million tons) reduction in nationwide wood consumption reduced wood prices and generated a $1.83 billion (-13.0%) loss in revenue.

Insurance, equipment, fuel and

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other costs make up the vast majority of logging expenses as compared to payroll which some were able to take advantage of under the Payroll Protection Program issued earlier during the pandemic. “The amount of relief coming from the federal government is not meant to make these businesses whole, but rather to serve as a stop gap while they adjust their business plans to be able to operate under this new economy,” Dructor said.

Logging companies need to be able to take advantage of programs like other commodity producers, said ALC President Tim Christopherson of Kamiah, Idaho. “To see Christmas trees and other agricultural commodities and specialty crops included in the first and second versions of Coronavirus Food Protection Program (CFAP) while not including those same trees that can be turned into paper and other consumables simply did not make sense. We applaud members of Congress for recognizing and including the loggers and log haulers in this historic legislation.”

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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.

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A D L I N K ●

ADVERTISER American Loggers Council American Truck Parts Around The World Salvage B & G Equipment Bandit Industries Big John Trailers BITCO Insurance Carter Enterprises Caterpillar Dealer Promotion Cleanfix North America John Deere Forestry East Coast Sawmill Expo Eastern Surplus Equipment Linc Flint Equipment FMI Trailers Forest Chain Forestry First Forestry Mutual Insurance Foster Logging G & W Equipment G&R Manufactured Solutions Hawkins & Rawlinson Interstate Tire Service James G Murphy K&R Weigh Systems Kaufman Trailers Komatsu Forestry Division Mike Ledkins Insurance Agency LMI-Tennessee Loadrite East Texas Loadrite Southern Star Magnolia Trailers Maxi-Load Scale Systems McComb Diesel Mid-Atlantic Loadrite Moore Logging Supply Morbark Pitts Trailers Ponsse North America Prolenc Manufacturing Puckett Machinery Quality Equipment & Parts River Ridge Equipment Southern Loggers Cooperative Stribling Equipment Tidewater Equipment Tigercat Industries TraxPlus W & W Truck & Tractor Waratah Forestry Attachments Waters International Trucks J M Wood Auction Yancey Brothers

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COMING EVENTS February

August

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

1-3—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, WV. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianhardwood.org.

March

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

11-13—Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Expo, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 504-443-4464; visit sfpaexpo.com.

6-8—Kentucky Forest Industries Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Lexington, Ky. Call 502-6953979; visit kfia.org.

13-14—Southwest Forest Products Expo, Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501-2242232; visit arkloggers.com.

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

24-26—Louisiana Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Resort, Lake Charles, La. Call 318-443-2558; visit laforestry.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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31-September 2—Florida Forestry Assn. Annual Meeting & Trade Show, Sheraton Panama City Beach Golf & Spa Resort, Panama City Beach, Fla. Call 850-222-5646; visit floridaforest.org.

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.

Listings are submitted months in advance.

Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

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