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Vol. 51, No.3

(Founded in 1972—Our 594th Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S out front:

March 2022 A Hatton-Brown Publication

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

www.southernloggintimes.com 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

Cape, McClure Chipping In Georgia

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

Working on the Alabama/Mississippi line, Greg Adams went into business for himself, first as a contract log hauler in 2014, then with his own logging operation in 2018. And boy, did he hit the ground running. In less than four years, the young logger has grown to field five (and sometimes six) crews, in all hauling at least 250 loads a week. Story begins on Page 8. (Photo by David Abbott)

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

Special Focus: Chippers, Grinders, Etc.

Southern Stumpin’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 From The Backwoods Pew . . . . . . . 32 Industry News Roundup . . . . . . . . . 34 Trucking Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Safety Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Machines-Supplies-Technology . . . 46 ForesTree Equipment Trader . . . . . 49 Coming Events/Ad Index . . . . . . . . . 54

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 ® 2022. 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 David Abbott • Managing Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: david@hattonbrown.com

Meet Pat Weiler he first time I saw Pat Weiler was at the MidSouth Show in Starkville, Miss. in September 2018. The President and CEO of Weiler, Inc., along with his Vice President, Bill Hood, were there to introduce their company to the logging industry, their future customers. They’d announced a month earlier that Weiler would be purchasing Caterpillar’s purpose-built forestry division, though the transaction would not be finalized for almost another year. I’ve hoped to get an interview with Pat Weiler ever since, but it never worked out. Then one afternoon in January, I get a call from Sean Doyle, forestry sales manager at Puckett Machinery in McComb, Miss. I’ve known Sean since I first started at Hatton-Brown 17 years ago; I met him on one of my first trips. He and his dad Pat had their own dealership here, DM Equipment, before they sold to Puckett in 2010. Even earlier, when I was a teenager in the ’90s, I had actually been to DM Equipment with my own dad when he considered buying a Prentice loader from Mr. Doyle for Abbott Logging Co. Sean has set me up with stories on several occasions over the years. On this day in January, he tells me he’ll be taking Mr. Weiler to see some customers for a few days. This is something, I understand, that Weiler and Hood both do frequently: meet personally with customers, find out what they want and how they can make a product better able to meet their needs. Sean tells me he thinks they’ll be able to make time to have a meal with me, if I’m able to fit it in my schedule. Without hesitation, I drive right on down to McComb. We meet at the Mallard, a restaurant just outside McComb, near Dixie Springs Lake. As I walk in, I hear Tom Petty in the background, singing about that last dance with Mary Jane. Introductions are made, hands shaken. I recognize quickly that Mr. Weiler, 65, seems to have many of the character qualities I admire: down to earth, modest, soft spoken; keenly observant and intelligent in his analysis of what he observes; focused on getting the job done as best as possible; eager to share credit with others. Our waitress approaches. She and Sean seem to be first-name familiar; he’s probably a regular, I surmise. After shrimp appetizers, Sean orders a burger. Mr. Weiler had ordered the filet, but changes his mind, opting for the burger as well. He’s decided to trust the judgment of a local guy familiar with the place, someone who knows what’s what from first-hand experience. That seems to be a pattern for Pat Weiler: listening to and learning from others.

Background Pat Weiler, I learn, grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa, in a town called Remsen. After college at Iowa State, he went to work for Vermeer 6

Pat Weiler

Corporation. In 2000, he left Vermeer to start a small company: Five Star Industries, based in Knoxville, Ia. Later, the decision was made to change the name to Weiler. It was just shop work at first, until they bought a paving product from Caterpillar, just a small piece of equipment for the paving industry, something that wasn’t really worth it for the big company to make. “Vermeer didn’t do anything in paving, so it gave me a chance to get into an industry without competing against my friends,” Weiler explains. “I thought over time we would learn what contractors in that industry needed and start developing product.” His approach to an industry in which he’d had no prior experience emphasized actively seeking customer input. “That’s the fun part,” Weiler insists. “Learning new stuff and listening to what people want. It’s really not that hard if you just listen to what people tell you they want and build it.”

Forestry Weiler and his team seem to be applying to our industry the same philosophy that was successful for them in paving. It’s the same mindset I observe from him at dinner: trusting those who know more than he does about a subject.

“We don’t run the equipment, so why would we build what we want?” he points out. “If you’re not gonna operate it yourself you better do what other people want to do. I find that works pretty good over time: try to do what people are asking you to do. It’s early on yet to tell if we’re succeeding, but I think if you look at the things we have changed and modified over the last two years, it shows what we are trying to do.” Even before Weiler took on forestry, the Cat dealers were already selling Weiler paving equipment. Given Weiler’s history with Cat, it makes sense that the dealer network was behind the offer in 2018. “We had a good relationship with the dealers,” Weiler tells me, “so they encouraged Cat to seek us out because of what we had done in the paving industry.” Sean was part of that process. “We had a meeting with Pat and Bill, and they basically said if this core group of dealers is not on board, we’re not interested in pursuing it. They had to get the buy-in up front, and the dealer principals were interested in doing that.” I’m curious how logging compares to when he took on paving. “With forestry, we were really lucky that we could do a lot of due diligence beforehand,” Weiler points out. “Pretty much everything we did with paving, we started ➤ 43

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Rapid Growth ■ Young Greg Adams gambles big on logging. So far, he’s playing his cards right. By David Abbott LISMAN, Ala. aybe slow and steady doesn’t always win the ★ race. Greg Adams, 31, only started his company, Greg Adams Logging LLC, in May 2018. That hasn’t stopped him from implementing tremendous expansion of the operation in the few short years since starting up the logging side. As of early 2022, not quite four years into the venture, Adams already has six crews in total—five operating full-time and another in reserve, ready to jump on extra jobs as they come up. “People asked me if I was scared to get into logging,” Adams reveals. “I say a scared man can’t play poker. Logging is a gamble.” The business, he says, is not unlike a lot of other games: you can be ahead the whole time but you haven’t won till it’s over. “I have made it so far, but to me, I haven’t been successful in logging until I get ready to retire. There’s a chance you can go broke any day. You haven’t made it until you get out.” The town of Lisman is right on the

Alabama-Mississippi line, and Adams cuts and hauls in both states. He grew up just under 30 miles west, in Quitman, Miss. He moved across the line when he got married six years ago, because his wife Heather had a hair shop here. “It was easier for me to move my business than it was for her to move hers.” While Greg was growing up, his dad Bill logged part-time, hauling loads around his day job as a shop foreman working on busses for Quitman schools, and full-time from 2007 to 2009. When Greg told his dad he wanted to log, Bill was against it, but once he saw his son was going through with it, he quit his job to come help. He now oversees one of the crews.

Rough Start

Greg Adams and wife Heather with children Annalee and Rhett

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Although he’s relatively new to running a logging company, Adams has been in business for himself a little longer; he started Greg Adams Trucking LLC in October 2014. It took him a while to get that first enterprise going. He ran a cutter for a logger who let him use his truck to deliver extra loads at night to Alabama River in Monroeville,

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which was open 24 hours a day. Adams saved that extra money to buy his first used truck when he was 24. For $20,000 he got a truck, trailer, tires and scales, all in good shape, except the engine. “I had like $7,500 left to rebuild the motor, so I bought some aftermarket Cat parts and me and my dad rebuilt it in the backyard of his house.” Once they got the motor running, he ran the truck for two weeks before the transmission went out. He had the truck but couldn’t afford the insurance; his aunt and uncle, who have also been in the trucking business, graciously offered to loan him $3,500 for the insurance down payment. He ran that truck six weeks in all before a wreck one morning took both it and him out of commission; the truck went in the shop for another engine rebuild, and Adams went under the knife for shoulder surgery, keeping him out of work for three months. After that, though, that first truck ran with only minor problems for almost three years before he replaced it.

Adams is a bigtime fan of John Deere machines.

Aggressive Expansion By 2018 he had two trucks, and he was putting in insanely long hours. Looking to improve his quality of life, Adams told his wife he’d like to try logging. Heather’s response was similar to his dad’s: no. But her husband was confident. “I think I can do it,” he told her. “I won’t know till I try.” After she’d had some time to mull it over, Heather told him, “If that’s really what you want to do, then I support you.” She was even willing to give up her hair salon business to help him run the logging office. “It takes a good wife, and I have a good one,” Adams affirms. “She stands behind me.” With her blessing, he got going. In its first week, his first crew hauled 37 loads with two trucks. “I thought man, we’ve done it,” he says. After two weeks, he added a third truck, and six months later, replaced that one with a new model. Going into summer of 2019, he says, the crew was doing pretty well and was in high demand. With more work than he could handle, he added a second crew to keep up. He realized he had no spare machines and what a problem that could cause him if something broke down. So later that year he picked up spares of each. But then another logger, someone Adams knew, shut his company down. “He needed something to do, and I had people calling wanting us to cut their timber.” So he hired that logger to run a third crew using what had been his spare machines full time. Pretty

In some conditions, trucks need a little help getting under the loader or back out of the woods.

Adams uses a wide range of equipment across his six crews, including Barko loaders.

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Left to right, Greg Adams, Bill Adams, Don Gordon, Thomas Moss

From left: Austin Grice, Donald Grantham, Wayne Grantham, Chad Turner, Chris Turner, Greg Adams

soon he upgraded the equipment on that crew and put the spare stuff back in reserve. Adams kept repeating that pattern: putting spare equipment to work to tackle a job and then upgrading it to newer machines. He had plenty of work to do and plenty of people wanting to work, so why not?

Crews “There’s a lot more to running a logging business than just knowing how to run the equipment,” Adams cautions. “You’ve got to figure out what numbers you need to hit: what you need to spend, how much wood

From left: Corey McLaughlin, Cory Moffett, Michael Coody, Blake Fleming, Joey Sawyer

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this crew can move versus the equipment payments they have, and what their goal has to be. And you can’t just cut anything and everything; you have to have decent timber to cut. If you take trash timber, you’ll go broke.” One other essential key, he says: “You have to have good help. And I think I have some of the best guys around; they all do a good job.” Adams believes keeping good employees is largely a matter of treating them with respect. Quality of life has to be considered, too; what are you working for? “We get what we get done from 6 in the morning till 4 in the evening.

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We try not to work every weekend because people get burned out. These guys have stuff they need to get done at their house; they have a life, too, besides just working out here. They want to go hunting or fishing, they want to spend time with their family, they got to cut the grass or fix the shingles on the roof, and they can’t get it done during the week.” Staff forester Chuck Smith buys timber for some of the crews. Two crews contract for mills (WestRock and Westervelt) and one works exclusively for a private landowner.

On Crew 1, foreman James Davis (running a 2019 John Deere 843L cutter), Michael Abston (’19 John Deere 648L skidder), and Brent McInnis (’19 Barko 495B loader) mostly tackle first thinning jobs. Greg’s dad Bill Adams supervises Don Gordon (’19 Deere 648L skidder), Thomas Moss (2021 Deere 843L cutter) and Ronald Franks (’21 Deere 437E loader) on Crew 2, which does clear-cuts and first and second thins for a private landowner. Everybody on Crew 2 is over 60 years old. Bill is 63; Franks is 66 and

loads 12 trucks a day. “Some of these guys, you just can’t stop,” Adams says. Crew 3 specializes in swamp jobs with Frank Moffett supervising Michael Coody on a 2021 Tigercat 635 bogie skidder, Joey Sawyer on a 2020 Tigercat 845E track cutter and Ron Beasley on a 2021 Barko 595 loader. The equipment designated for Crew 4 is currently parked in reserve, with the operators temporarily moved to other crews. Spare skidder drive Austin Grice,

Donald L. Grantham and Paul Simon all float where needed. Crew 5 does clear-cuts on chip-nsaw size wood mostly, with foreman Chad Turner manning a 2020 Tigercat 234B loader with CSI 264 delimber, Chris Turner driving a ’21 John Deere 748L-II skidder and Donald W. Grantham running a ’21 Weiler B670 cutter. At Crew 6, John Goodman operates the ’21 Barko 495B loader, Colton Abston mans the ’20 Tigercat 620E skidder and Willie Ruffin handles the ’17 Tigercat 720G cutter to do clear-cuts most of the time. Adams also has several spare pieces, as well as bulldozers, motor graders and crew pickup trucks. On all his wheeled fellerbunchers, Adams uses saw heads well suited for bunching in smalldiameter thinning jobs (FD55 on John Deere and 5500 on Tigercat). Aside from equipment payments, Adams says, fuel is currently the biggest component of operating cost, while he says that insurance is not that bad on logging equipment. Trucking insurance is high for everyone these days, but he says he has as good a rate as he can get. Insurance Risk Managers of Brookhaven, Bitco and Liberty National provide insurance coverage for Adams Logging and Adams Trucking. Don Chennault of Southern Safety Solutions comes out to each crew once a month for a safety meeting and ensures all the employees are CPR certified and up to date on PLM requirements. Adams’ wife Heather and employee Katie Linder work in the office several days a week, taking care of all the paperwork, mill receipts, payroll checks, profit and loss statements, and so on. Adams pays production bonuses; for truck drivers, it is set up on a percentage. In the woods, every time a crew hits 50 loads, the men on that crew get $100, and another $10 a load after that.

Machinery Maintenance “I like a Tigercat, I like a Barko, I love a John Deere,” Adams says. “They have all been good to me.” He buys John Deere from salesman Craig Hare at Warrior Tractor in Monroeville, Tigercat from Doug Bates and Justin Webb at B&G Equipment in Philadelphia, Barko from Fred Fulton at Trax Plus and Weiler from Shaun Padilla at Puckett Machinery in Meridian. “All those guys have been good to help me, and all three places have real great service,” he says. Other than bulldozers, Adams never ran Caterpillar logging equipment. “I was scared to buy 12

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this Weiler cutter,” he admits, but he needed one and no one else had anything in stock, what with supply chain delays and order backlogs of the last year or so. “I said I would give them a try, and so far we have been pleased with it,” he attests. “I like the service I get from the places I deal with and that includes Puckett. The warranty was what really sold me on trying it. Travel time and mileage were covered; you couldn’t beat it.” Weiler is earning a reputation for being responsive to customer feedback. Puckett wanted Adams to try a skidder. “I sat in one, it had the joystick steering,” he says. “I am a pretty good size guy and I had no room; my knees were in the dash. They took that info and said they would make the cabs wider and deeper as a result.” Since he’s running newer equipment, Adams makes use of the manufacturers’ telematics systems (JDLink and Tigercat’s RemoteLog), and most of his equipment (90%) is under warranty, so dealers handle major repairs. For instance, when SLT was on-site with Adams in mid-January, Deere dealer Warrior Tractor had a service truck on the job working on his bogie skidder. Adams had just taken delivery of the brand new 2022 768L-II the week prior, and it had just a few

bugs that needed to be worked out. Adams has two full-time mechanics, Cory McLaughlin and Blake Fleming, at his 40x60 shop. “I figure I can pay them per week cheaper than I can go have all this stuff done,” he explains. They pack cylinders, do spot welding, tire changes and brake jobs there. In the woods, operators do routine service at 250 hours on Deere and 500 hours on the other brands, adhering to the manufacturers’ recommendations. They grease twice a week, at least. Adams took a chance on Weiler and hasn't regretted it.

Greg Adams Logging crews haul a variety of products to outlets in Alabama and Mississippi.

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Trucking Greg Adams Trucking has 19 trucks (mostly 2020-2022 models, and mostly Peterbilts, a couple of Western Stars and a Kenworth), 22 log trailers and two lowboys (FMI, Magnolia and Pitts). Saleswoman Rachel Fitts at Dobbs Peterbilt in Meridian has his business. “I’m very satisfied with their stuff,” he says. Adams has had great experience with FMI Trailers; he has nine of their log trailers and two lowboys. “If I need something, they jump on it and get it done for me.” Company truck drivers include Joey Redmond, Venci Wilcox, Travis Diamond, Rodney Dailey, Eric Fitch, Albert Nelson, Ron Johnson, Mike Stevens, Craig

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Boswell, Cordarius Pringle, Jeffrey Evans, AJ Gatlin, Melvin Blakely, Rodney Howard, Jimmy Mitchell, Ryan Jones, Jeremy Grice and Dexter Daniels. Contract haulers are Markell Smith, Greg Reynolds and Derrick Williams. Adams keeps his logging and trucking entities legally separate for liability purposes. When he first expanded into logging, he initially kept his logging operations under the existing company, Greg Adams Trucking, LLC. But, after attending a PLM business class, he decided to

split them up on paper. “There is so much liability in trucking,” he points out. “Even if it isn’t the truck’s fault, they’re gonna get sued.” To try to help prove when a truck driver is not at fault, he runs Samsara GPS/dash cam systems on most of his trucks. He also has SI onboard scales on every truck. “We try to stay legal,” he says. “For the most part in Mississippi we’re gonna haul 84,000 with a harvest permit, and in Alabama we’ll haul 88,000, because most of the mills are getting to

where you can’t haul in overweight anyway. Only problem I run into is if I have an Alabama tag, load up in Mississippi and haul to a Mississippi mill, I have to get a permit that is $25 per truck.”

Markets With all those late model machines and trucks, Adams has a large investment; at least $12 million, he figures. Equipment cost, he figures, has tripled in the last 30 years, while logging rates have not

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changed a lot, $1 or $2 more. That makes logging a game that requires high volume, he says: “You have to produce loads; there’s no way around it.” Prices are coming up a little bit, he says, at least in some places. “They’re getting a little better, but…trucking,” he sighs. “Trucking rates need to be higher. If you’ve got a brand new truck and trailer, you have almost $200,000 in equipment. On a 0-50 mile haul, they pay maybe $7 or $8 a ton; that’s just $200 or a little more to go to the mill. If they get four loads that day, that’s $800. By the time you pay the driver and fuel, there’s not a whole lot left.” He continues, “The trucking kills us. You’ve got to have nice trucks because if you don’t you won’t get good drivers, and you’ll be broke down all the time. But on a minimum 0-50 mile haul, a truck really needs to make at least $300 to make it worth our while. There’s no way to do that unless the rates go up. A truck needs to make a little over $1,000 a day to pay for itself. You got tires, tags, insurance, drivers to pay for. I spend more money on upkeep for trucks than I do equipment. It’s always something on a truck to be fixed, because the equipment is made for the woods, but trucks are made for the highway, really.” Greg Adams Trucking does regularly haul more than 50 miles to its markets, which pays a little higher rate; on three loads, trucks can get close to $1,000 a day, and a percentage bonus kicks in for the drivers. The crews send most chip-nsaw to Two Rivers Lumber in Demopolis and Westervelt in Thomasville, pulpwood to Louisiana Pacific in Thomasville, logs to Lassiter Lumber in Silas and poles to Clark County Poles in Thomasville. “We just got the Westervelt mill in Thomasville in 2021, and that has freed our chipn-saw market a lot,” he says. “It’s also helped pine pulpwood I think.” Overall, markets are good right now, Adams says, as good as he’s seen them since he’s been in logging. Other than the excessive amount of rain in the last two years, he has no complaints. “We’ve had some good weeks; in October we hauled over 40,000 tons.” The goal is for each crew to hit at least 50 loads a week, a level at which the company can turn a profit, and the employee bonus kicks in. They frequently hit that mark, and often enough, exceed it. On one five-day week, with six crews working, they hauled 385 loads; one crew got SLT 105 loads by itself.

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Pass It Down ■ At D&S Logging, David McClure and Shane Cape are a couple of chips off the old block. By Patrick Dunning COMMERCE, Ga. ★ ore often than not, logging is a profession passed down from one generation to the next, and usually when the next generation is still young. That only happens because men like David McClure, 83, serve as mentors to those who come after them. The veteran logger says the lifelong relationships he’s cultivated with equipment dealers and sawmill personnel over the decades of his career are second only to watching his adopted son, Shane Cape, 49, owner of D&S Logging, Inc. develop a love for logging at an early age and follow in his footsteps. McClure grew up in a blue-collar family in Andrews, NC, watching his dad fell chestnut trees with a

Shane Cape, left, and his father, David McClure, sporting matching overalls on the job site.

Approximately 50% of D&S Logging’s production is 5/8 in. dirty chips, with 50 loads per week on average hauled to biomass outlets.

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Above, Cape and McClure currently run a ’17 Bandit 3590 and ’16 CBI 484 drum chipper, sourcing brush knives from Smith & Turner and grinder from The KnifeSource LLC in SC. At right, D&S runs an exclusive Tigercat lineup and credits Smith & Turner Equipment, Gainesville, for over 40 years of exceptional service. Below, some of the company’s newer biomass markets include GRP Franklin’s renewable energy facility, Carnesville, and GRP Madison, Colbert.

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crosscut saw and use horses to skid cut-to-length logs along the Appalachian Trail. As an adult, after a fouryear stint doing construction in New York, McClure moved to Banks County, Ga., in 1958. There, he logged shortwood pulpwood by hand for more than a decade—that’s a job, he admits, not for the faint of heart. With the advent of mechanized logging in the ’60s, McClure says folks would come from all around to witness his first-generation two-bunk pulpwood Big Stick loader in action. In the early ’80s, McClure married

Cape’s mother, Patricia Anne, and raised her son like his own. “When Shane was 12 years old, he went with us to the woods one Saturday,” the elder logger recalls. “I was running a chain saw and he came down to where I was and asked if he could get on the loader and move some sticks around. I said be careful. Then he asked me if he could do a couple drags on the skidder.” McClure continues, “His mom, Mrs. Pat, came to the woods and asked where Shane was. I said ‘He’s down there on the skidder, he’ll be

back in a minute.’ She started throwing a hissy fit saying he’s going to get hurt. I told her I’d try to keep him from getting hurt but if he wants to do something I’m going to let him; if you don’t like that, take him home and give him some pretty pink ribbons and an apron. She peeled out and didn’t take Shane with her.” As Cape got older, his fascination with tractors and woods equipment grew and he never wanted to pursue anything else. His stepdad continued to log under the McClure Logging banner until 1991, when Shane came

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of age. At that point he dissolved McClure Logging and from it formed D&S Logging for David and Shane. “Me and Shane knew it was always going to be me and him side by side,” McClure says. “He was crazy about the woods and if he wasn’t in school he was with me.”

Chipping McClure and Cape purchased their first Bandit whole-tree chipper at the end of 2009 to diversify the company’s portfolio and take advantage of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). The government incentive matched payments at a rate of $1 for each dry ton paid by qualified biomass conversion facilities up to $45 per dry ton to inject liquidity into U.S. biomass markets. With U.S. housing starts lacking following the ’08 Recession, D&S says its chipping business saved the company. “The main reason we decided to get a chipper was the Obama administration,” Cape says. “There wasn’t much else to do. Building was terrible and we couldn’t get rid of anything, but energy was in constant demand,” Cape says. “It was great, but didn’t last but three months. Paper mills were BCAPing their black liquor and scraps; handled so much volume they sucked the account dry.” The recession may have ended, but D&S still runs a chipper, now a ‘17 Bandit 3590, dealing directly with Bandit Industries, Inc. and their southeastern salesman, Kevin Wood. The company also utilizes a ’16 CBI 484 drum chipper on its second crew. “Our Bandit chipper was almost brand-new when we bought it; only had 300 hours logged,” Cape says. “It’s got close to 2,000 hours now. When we replace the CBI we’ll probably get a Bandit. Our first Bandit was a ’09 model, then we downsized with a ’13 model. Had an opportunity to sell them locally at a good price and updated.” Chipper knives are replaced every 50-60 loads when chipping pre-merchantable pine pulpwood and every 25-30 loads when chipping hardwood. The company sources its brush knives from Smith & Turner and its grinder is from The KnifeSource LLC, Fountain Inn, SC. Approximately 50% of D&S’s production is currently dirty chips, with 50 loads per week on average hauled to biomass outlets. Cape says they tried delivering clean chips before but that it’s hard to satisfy the mills and the haul was long so they reverted back to 5/8 in. dirty chips and haven’t had issues since. “It really hit or miss now,” Cape acknowledges. “We just came off a

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job that was 98% ply logs with probably 250 loads of roundwood and 15 loads of chips. Saw logs vary too; it’s all over the place sometimes. If we’re in a hardwood stand we generate so much brush from the tops, when they pull the brush off the delimber they’ll just circle around to the other loader, stack it and only have to panel it once.”

Industry Friends When Southern Loggin’ Times visited D&S Logging in November

2021, one crew was operating on a 120-acre block conducting a selectcut prescription on 15-year-old pines in Jackson County, about 15 miles north of Athens. Investment group Big Sandy Creek LLC requested 100 trees per acre be left with plans to sell 10-acre lots for residential construction. On both crews, D&S runs exclusively Tigercat machinery because of McClure’s longtime relationship with Smith & Turner Equipment, Inc., Gainesville, which goes back 40 years to when Rex Smith owned

the north Georgia dealership. Woods equipment inventory features a ’17 and ’21 Tigercat 250D loader, ’17 and ’20 632E skidder and ’16 724G feller-buncher. Cape and McClure like to run their equipment 10,000 hours before trading for newer iron. “The reason we run Tigercat is because of Smith & Turner all the way,” McClure confirms. “I’ve known Bobby Miller, who owns it now, since he was 18 years old. We do routine maintenance like hoses and oil changes in the field but any-

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thing major Smith & Turner will come to the job site, or we’ll haul it to their shop.” Cape says Bobby or his son Josh Miller are available around the clock and will drop off parts on his doorstep if needed. “If we need anything, the first thing I’ll do is text Josh and he knows what we need to do, even if they’re closed.” D&S owns seven trucks and maintains one contract hauler. An ’07 Freightliner is the oldest in the fleet and driven by their oldest employee, 77-year-old Kenneth Arrant, otherwise known as Hacksaw. “Someone asked Shane how long he’s going to keep that Freightliner before retiring it. He said ‘I hope I retire the driver first,’” McClure laughs. Other trucks include a ’15 Mack and three (’18, ’19, ’20) Kenworths. LubeZone Truck Lube Center in Carnesville changes oil on company trucks every 10,000 miles and keeps an up-to-date service record. A mix of McLendon and Pitts trailers and eight ITI chip vans haul near 100 loads weekly to seven mills. Cape says local outlets are practically begging for wood products right now, but their product mix depends on market conditions at the time. D&S delivers woody biomass material to Georgia Renewable Power (GRP), Franklin’s renewable energy facility, Carnesville, and GRP Madison in Colbert. Both biomass plants were constructed 32 miles apart and opened mid-2019. D&S also hauls chips to Georgia’s first biomass fueled generating plant, Rabun Gap biomass facility, which utilized an old textile mill and boiler and came online 2010. “The plant in Rabun Gap was a Fruit of the Loom facility forever,” Cape says. “It’s changed hands so many times I don’t remember who started it but the boiler is still there. When they rebuilt it we started hauling there.” Plywood is hauled to GeorgiaPacific locations in Madison and Warrenton, hardwood to Battle Lumber, Wadley, and pine pulpwood to Huber Engineered Woods, Commerce. McClure and Cape helped found Premier South Timber LLC, Commerce, in 2011 and partnered with two other forestry companies to better position themselves in an evolving industry. Premier South specializes in timber services, including pine and hardwood thinning, biomass utilization and clear-cut harvests. On-site forestry services encompass erosion control, reforestation and timber management planning. Cape delivers hardwood pulpwood to Premier’s woodyard and says the business endeavor helped expand their reach in northSLT east Georgia.

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Spotlight On: Chippers, Grinders, Etc. Southern Loggin’ Times invited manufacturers of in-woods chipping and grinding machines, as well as related components and supplies, to submit material for this section. The submissions of those who participated are presented below, edited only for style.

Bandit Since 1983, Bandit has manufactured equipment for a multitude of wood waste processing markets. The vision since the beginning has been to build quality, highly productive, easy to maintain equipment providing years of dependable service. The commitment for quality, innovation, and dedication is instilled in every employee and is one of the main reasons why Bandit became an Employee-Owned Company (ESOP) in 2018. These core values ensure each Bandit machine will leave the factory ready to exceed your expectations. In the Southeast, Bandit’s horizontal grinders and whole tree chippers are supported by a highly trained dealer network. Each dealer has qualified sales, parts, and service personnel that receive ongoing training from Bandit. These dealers carry a wide variety of parts and machines to meet your needs and are supported by Bandit regional sales and parts representatives. A full line of whole tree drum-style chippers are available with capacities ranging from 20 in. to 36 in. diameter. Most models can be ordered as towable or track and some models are offered with a cab and loader option. Each Bandit chipper is known to provide unmatched pulling and compressing power reducing the time needed to reposition material. With tremendous chip throwing capabilities, chips are filled to max capacity. In December of 2021, Bandit purchased the Trelan Company adding more versatility to the whole tree chipper line. Trelan chippers serve as a great solution to produce a dimensional clean chip ranging from 3⁄4 in. to 11⁄8 in. Bandit’s line of horizontal grinders known as “The Beast” are the most versatile units available on the market today. The heart of each Beast Recycler is the Patented Cutter mill that will cut material apart opposed to the beating action of competitive grinders. This process is best described by comparing an axe to a sledgehammer; which would you prefer to use to cut down a tree? A wide variety of models are available ranging from 14 in. to 45 in. diameter capacity. Each model offered can be manufactured as tow-behind or track. Please visit banditchippers.com to contact a local dealer or for additional information.

Morbark Morbark recently introduced a new, patent-pending Vtection System option for their 3000, 3400, and 6400 series Wood Hog Horizontal Grinders. The VTECTION system monitors rotor vibration to reduce damage from contact with unshreddable objects or other causes of damaging vibration like an out-of-balance rotor, broken insert, defective bearing, or extremely hard wood. The system features two operating modes: grinding protection mode and service and maintenance mode. When coupled with Morbark’s BreakAway Torque Limiter, these devices provide customers with the best solution in the industry for hammermill protection. To use the VTECTION system, the operator sets an acceptable operating vibration level through the electronic controller. Since different feedstocks produce different vibration levels, the operator can quickly fine-tune the trip point to match the grinding application. Adjusting the trip point based on the feedstock can help avoid unnecessary stopping of the infeed from normal operating vibration. If an unshreddable object enters the grinding chamber while in grinding protection mode, the VTECTION system will sense the spike in vibration or trip point and instantly stop and reverse the infeed conveyor. By reversing the infeed conveyor, the VTECTION system lowers the rotor’s chance of repeatedly striking the foreign object. Once the VTECTION system is triggered, Morbark’s Integrated Control System (MICS) initiates several actions to remove the tramp material out of 26

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the rotor area. The sequence of these actions includes: reversing and stopping the infeed, bringing the engine speed to idle, disengaging the clutch, and a warning message is displayed on the MICS screen. At this time, the operator can inspect the grinder and remove the object that caused the trip point before resuming operation. During the service and maintenance protection mode, a user can hook up to the system software and monitor vibration levels during different engine loads (Low idle, High Idle, Clutch engage, No Clutch, etc.). Vibration specifications will vary based on the machine model. The system can be programmed to monitor and extract data. These signals can then be visually observed, and various readings can be recorded to verify that the machine is within acceptable vibration levels. Multiple programs can be used to evaluate the system data. This system cannot guarantee a machine is without defect. Please use caution after the system trips and service work begins, as other components may have experienced damage. Ship-out kits are available for in-field installations on preexisting 3000X, 3400X, and 6400X horizontal grinders. Please contact Morbark sales at 800.831.0042 or your local Morbark dealer (morbarkdealers.com) for additional information and pricing.

Wallingford’s Over the last 30 years Wallingford’s has developed and delivered oval link design flail chains that have set the standards for long life and consistent quality. Rigid quality control and exact steel and hardness specifications have given contractors clean chips at an affordable price. Wallingford’s has since introduced a square link design that provides for even longer life, often times upwards to 45% as compared to other manufacturers. This unique design and larger chain diameter allow for the contractor to reduce flail RPMs, which results in longer chain life and less fuel consumption, while maintaining a low bark content. Call 800-323-3708 or visit us online at: wallingfords.com/ product_category/flail-debarking-chain/ for more information.

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If you ever feel useless, remember that it took 20 years, trillions of dollars and four U.S. Presidents to replace the Taliban with the Taliban. Hmmm…

Apparently, there is a third option beyond burial and cremation.

Finalists In Miss Clogged Drain Pageant

You think your job is hard? Try being the sign language interpreter for Biden.

Just to be clear, some of today’s “Old White Men” are the reason why Americans are not now speaking German or Japanese.

Logger Inspiration DOCTOR: “How’s that kid doing who swallowed those coins?” NURSE: “No change yet.”

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FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW

Forestry Olympics The Olympics just finished. I know while they were in progress, it was keeping some loggers up at night. I am sure the wonder of the luge had them staring at the ceiling…right after wondering if any of his trucks

will show up in the morning…and if any of his workers will show up to get Antill them loaded…and if the mill will give him any loads this

week…and how many flats his skidder will have…and will he be able to keep the mud off the highway…and where will the weigh-man be parked …and how will he pay for his kids to go to college? I guess maybe the Olympics weren’t high on the worry list for most loggers or foresters. But, if they did have an Olympics for those of us who wander through the

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woods each day, then maybe we could sign up for some of the following events. ONE-HUNDRED YARD DASH: The average distance a forester must race in order to outrun the average ground bee. Competitors must wear boots and jeans. Judges award extra points for style of dance performed over a ground bee’s nest, as well as the rhythmic timing of slapping his or her hat at the bees while dancing. Forester must not fall down, particularly while dashing through the wooded course, nor collide with trees in any manner that would be described as a “face plant.” RELAY: While being pursued by an angry horde of ground bees, the forester runs to others who may be in the woods with him, handing off as many of the aforementioned bees as possible. Each participant then engages in a one-hundred yard dash, or continues the relay. Competitors are disqualified in the event they include their boss in the relay. MARATHON: What the forester passes while driving into a massive expanse of timber, knowing he needs gas, but deciding instead to get some on the way out. He then must hike out to the marathon with a can to get gas to drive his truck and himself home. It also may refer to a series of races between the truck and the woods, if the forester also ate lunch at the marathon. SPRINT: The result of the forester’s smart phone having no signal, and thus his hopes of finding his position on any Google Map and getting out of the woods before darkness falls. Judges award points based on the amount of sweating

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and praying engaged in by the forester, as he races darkness to find his truck. Additional points are awarded for any “conversions” he promises, including: attending church, visiting the mission field, and entering the clergy. Points are deducted for “face plant” should forester run into a tree during the sprint. HURDLE: Any of a series of obstructions that can be playfully placed in the path of contestants engaged in the one-hundred yard dash, sprint, or portions of the marathon, just to make it more entertaining. Obstacles can be large, blown-over trees, barbed-wire fences, bogs, rivers, or ditches. Contestants earn bonus points for any successful broad jump or pole vault. BROAD JUMP: What the forester used to do when he was young, and ditches were narrow and logs were small. Time has broadened the ditch, and inflated the logs. Points are deducted if contestant engages in a “face plant.” POLE VAULT: Advanced form of broad jump. The forester uses a cut sapling, or piece of rotten wood to leverage himself over a hurdle. Judges award points for creative reasoning, as to why the forester thinks this is a good idea. The judge must deduct points for any applications of first aid, or if pole vault leads to butterfly. BUTTERFLY: Stroke used by forester after attempting broad jump or pole vault over a canal that has a working ferry just a mile downstream. THROWING THE DISC: This event requires the pulling of a 70pound, water-soaked beaver out of a culvert, while wearing chest waders on a cold winter morning, with the water level in the ditch at least hip deep. The event will result in shooting pain in the back of the forester. Points are awarded based on the number of discs thrown. Points are deducted should water be allowed to enter the chest waders. TRIPLE JUMP: The number of times the forester will jump as he nearly steps on a snake in the woods. Judges award points based on height of the individual jumps, as well as a smooth transition from triple jump to the one-hundred yard dash. Extra points are available if the forester actually encounters a snake, and not a stick that looked like one. Judges may deduct points for any words emitted by forester during the jumping sequence that could not be repeated in front of the clergy. Points are to be deducted should participant need a new change of clothes after the event. FINISH LINE: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told

you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the

way you know.” John 14:2-4 STARTING LINE: Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and

the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:5,6 Excerpted from Pines, Prayers, and Pelts, Bradley Antill, author. Visit www.onatreeforestry.com for more information.

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP As We See It: Inflation Threatens Industry By Scott Dane With pandemic illnesses and hospitalizations falling, and restrictions being lifted, it appeared that the worst might just be behind us. The timber industry was deemed Dane essential and worked

through the COVID crisis providing the resources to support the production of forest-based products. Most survived, both literally, and businesswise. However, after over two years of pandemic economic impacts to the U.S. econo-

my, studies concluded that over $1 billion in negative economic impact occurred within the timber industry, due to some mills closing and others taking downtime. Now hyperinflation has reared its ugly head. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation was 7.5% compared to a year ago, the highest in 40 years. I do not know what type of “new math” or formula they are using, but it doesn’t take a con-

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voluted calculation to feel the “real” inflationary impacts. Just fill up the tank of your logging truck, buy consumables or parts— they’ve all increased by at least 3-4 times the 7.5% rate being reported (this assumes the products are even available due to the breakdown in the supply chain). Additionally, labor costs are increasing as the logging industry competes to attract and retain workers. The Department of Energy (DOE) documents fuel prices. These are the average diesel prices reported by the DOE across the country: February 2020—$2.95; February 2021—$2.71; February 2022—$3.95 (with California reporting $4.94). “The cost of fuel has now risen to $4.30/gallon in northern Wisconsin,” according to a Wisconsin logger. “I have been in the trucking business for over 40 years. The availability of parts, tires, filters are at a level not seen in the past,” a Minnesota trucker says. “A set of four tires for a F-350 pickup cost $2,012 two weeks ago, $400 more than at this time last year,” adds an Idaho trucker. “A pallet of bar and chain oil last year was $1,300, today it is $2,000,” a Missouri logger laments. “Slasher saw blade was $1,888, now it’s $2,958. Tracks and chains for six-wheel skidder were $20,300, now they are $27,300. Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) was 95 cents per gallon, now it is $2.64 per gallon,” according to a Maine logger. “The prices being paid to loggers and truckers are not keeping up to the increased cost of doing business,” emphasizes a Minnesota trucker. The numbers don’t add up. At this point, the timber industry would embrace a 7.5% inflationary increase compared to what we are really paying! Unlike other industries that can pass on the additional costs to the consumers, the timber industry does not have that option in most cases. In an industry where half operate at a breakeven or loss and the largest percentage of profitable companies (24%) operate on a 1%-3% profit margin, absorbing these additional costs is not sustainable. The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine has conducted a survey comparing the cost of specific industry items between 2020 and 2022. That data will be available on their web site. American Loggers Council is going to utilize that survey, with a couple of additions, and distribute it nationwide

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through our databases and state associations. It is imperative that the real inflationary numbers be documented and verifiable to provide credibility when demonstrating the impact to operational and production costs. When the survey is released, please take a moment to complete and submit it. Your participation will assist in developing quantifiable proof of the level and impact that inflation and supply chain interruptions are having on the U.S. timber industry. Scott Dane is Executive Director of the American Loggers Council. ALC is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests of timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses across the United States. For more information visit www.amloggers.com.

Chunk Of Timberland Sold In U.S. South Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board’s Tamarack Timberlands LLC, an investment vehicle owned by Ontario Teachers, has assumed ownership of 870,000 acres of timberland in the U.S. South from Resource Management Service (RMS). The large-scale timberland port-

folio of high-quality loblolly pine is spread throughout the U.S. South and is third-party certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards. The timberland portfolio provides significant diversification benefits to Ontario Teachers, including diversity of locations, customers and tree age classes. The transaction gives Tamarack Timberlands LLC full control and governance of the assets. RMS, one of the world’s largest providers of timberland investment services, will continue to act as the timberland investment manager for the asset. The timberland will continue to be operated using best-in-class management practices to ensure the sustainability of the forest over a long-term horizon, and to preserve the ecosystems and biodiversity of the forest.

It’s Pellets Galore For Enviva Inc. Enviva, already the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets, is accelerating its plans to double its production capacity over the next five years, from 6.2 million metric tons per year (MMTY) to 13

million. To capitalize on this momentum, Enviva is broadening and deepening its development capabilities and leveraging relationships with key equipment suppliers and construction partners to enable it to build and commission two plants per year, up from its historical rate of one plant per year. Enviva plans to continue utilizing its “build and copy” approach to plant design while increasing the nameplate production capacity of its new plants to 1.1 million, up 45% from the previous standard of 750,000. Meanwhile Enviva expects its plant in Lucedale, Miss. to ramp up production throughout 2022, exiting the year at its designed run-rate of 750,000. Additionally, in the first half of 2022, Enviva plans to commence construction of the fully contracted plant in Epes, Ala., the second plant in the company’s “Pascagoula Cluster.” Enviva plans to accelerate the construction of a third wood pellet production plant in its Pascagoula cluster in 2023, along with other proposed plants in the Savannah and mid-Atlantic regions. Additionally, Enviva plans to commence and complete a 300,000 MTPY expansion of its Lucedale plant during 2023. In 2024, Enviva plans to place both the proposed third and fourth Pascagoula cluster plants in service and begin construction on two additional plants expected to be located near Savannah, Ga. and Wilmington, NC. In 2025, Enviva expects all of its Pascagoula cluster plants will be operating at their full run-rate, in addition to having the new Savannah cluster plant in service. In 2026, Enviva expects to have both proposed Wilmington and

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Chesapeake plants in service, with the proposed Savannah plant and Lucedale expansion ramping to full run-rate by the end of the year.

Texas Log Theft Suspects Indicted Three suspects were indicted in Liberty County, Texas for Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, a second degree felony, accused of conspiring together to steal $102,776 of timber revenue through their employer, Alvin Laird Logging. The indictment follows a twoyear investigation that determined the defendants, all drivers for Alvin Laird Logging, were selling timber, harvested from the Laird’s logging sites, to a mill under a third-party contract then obtaining the revenues in cash without the consent of Laird or the landowners. There were numerous victims identified in the investigation as the logging contractor was a sub-contract under another company and working for sever landowners. The three suspects could face from two to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine not to exceed $10,000 if convicted. Meanwhile, Mizrany can’t stress enough the importance of involving Texas A&M Forest Service in any case of suspected timber fraud or timber theft.

Alabama Pursues New Truck Weight Limits In response to trucking capacity issues that include labor concerns and lack of qualified young drivers, the Alabama Forestry Assn. (AFA) is

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promoting legislation to increase weight limits for certain axle configurations and for rigs that are weighed when they’re loaded with either onboard scales or in-woods systems. The Rural Logging Support Act would increase weight limits for qualified trucks with a gross vehicle weight increase from 80,000 lbs. to 84,000 lbs. for 5-axle trucks and 84,000 lbs. to 90,000 lbs. for 6-axle trucks. The legislation provides single axle weight increase from 20,000 lbs. to 23,000 lbs. and tandem axle weight increase from 36,000 lbs. to 46,000 lbs. A longestablished 10% weight enforcement tolerance applies to increased weight limits. To qualify for higher limits, trucks

must be weighed when loaded using on-board scales or in-woods platform scales. The legislation also sets up a system of grants to non-profit groups that would pay for scale installation. The AFA notes the legislation would result in as many as 185,000 fewer truckloads of logs on Alabama roads each year.

LOTS Group Acquires SC’s Bellwether FP Integrated transport company LOTS Group has acquired Bellwether Forest Products based in Camden, SC. Bellwether is a fullservice timber transport company

working throughout the state, with the aim of inspiring a new generation of loggers and building longterm partnerships with wood markets and timberland owners. The acquisition will enable the company to extend its service offering to new and existing clients, leveraging Bellwether’s extensive experience in the region. Officials with both companies say the transaction reflects the future of forest products transportation in the Southeast, which has a huge but highly fragmented market served primarily by trucking capacity that lacks technology and professionalization. The LOTS Group is offering a model that improves efficiency, says Max Blatt, CEO.

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GP Plans Output Hike At OSB Mill Georgia-Pacific announced a planned $20 million addition to its oriented strandboard (OSB) facility in Alcolu, SC. The project will add a third strander, which will increase annual output by 150MMSF. Construction on the project is slated to begin in April, and the new addition is scheduled to come online in the first quarter of 2023. “The addition of a third strander has always been in the plans for Clarendon,” says Tobey Elgin, Georgia-Pacific’s Director of Operations for OSB. “The site was originally designed for additional capacity, so adding this third strander will maximize the efficiency and output for the operation.” “The Clarendon facility is a tremendous asset in our OSB portfolio of five facilities,” adds Andy Konieczka, President, Georgia-Pacific Structural Panels. “Seeing it get to its full potential has been a vision that will soon be a reality.” Purchased from Grant Forest Products in 2010, Georgia-Pacific completed the construction, and the site began operations in 2013. “The multi-million dollar improvement project will be a plus for the local economy,” Konieczka says. “Approximately 100 contractors are expected during the construction phase. Once the new strander is on-line there will be an increase in log trucks arriving and trucks departing with finished goods.”

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TRUCKING SAFETY

Distracted Log Truck Driver Dies After Treelength Load Crushes Cab During Rollover BACKGROUND: A log truck driver was traveling on a paved road in the Southeastern U.S., hauling a load of treelength pine pulpwood to a local paper mill. It was their second load that morning. Weather conditions were mostly cloudy, with a temperature of 55° F. A light rain occurred earlier in the day. Weather was not believed to be a cause for the accident, although it could have potentially contributed to the rollover once the truck entered the ditch after leaving the road. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The driver had almost three years of experience driving for their employer at the time of the accident and had a valid Commercial Driver’s License. ACCIDENT: The logging business owner indicated that the driver secured the load with binding straps prior to entering the roadway. A driver-facing and forward-facing dash cam was installed in the cab. Video

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footage confirmed that the driver was traveling 35 mph at the time of the accident and was not wearing a seatbelt. After traveling approximately 1.5 miles from the logging deck, the dash cam footage shows the driver beginning to cough and reaching up to adjust the heat settings inside the cab. When the driver took their right hand off the steering wheel to reach for the temperature control settings, the truck drifted to the right and traveled off the paved road and into the ditch. There was no shoulder present on this section of the road, and there was a 3-inch drop off from the pavement to the ditch. The ditch was soft and slightly muddy from the rain that had fallen earlier in the day. As the truck left the road and entered the ditch, it overturned onto the passenger side. While overturning, the treelength pine load continued to travel forward, pushing the aluminum headache rack into the rear of the cab. INJURY: The driver was crushed between the seat and the steering

wheel. A passing motorist called EMS and then stopped by the logging deck to notify the crew of an accident a short distance away. When the crew arrived at the accident scene they discovered that emergency responders were working to extract the driver. The driver was initially alert and communicating with emergency personnel. It took approximately 30 minutes to extract the driver from the wreckage. The driver remained conscious for about 20 minutes of the extraction period, but was unresponsive when pulled from the overturned truck. After immediately attempting CPR, the driver was pronounced dead at the

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scene. After cleaning up the pulpwood post-accident and delivering it to the mill it was determined that the load was within legal weight limits. Inspections were current for both the cab and trailer. It was also determined after the accident that the binding devices used were the handratcheting type and hooked onto the trailer, not the trailer-mounted binding system designed to properly secure the load. UNSAFE ACTS/ CONDITIONS: l The driver was operating a moving vehicle while distracted l The driver took their eyes off the road and did not maintain two hands on the steering wheel during operation l The driver was not wearing a seatbelt RECOMMENDATIONS: l Heavy-duty steel headache racks should be mounted directly onto the trailer to keep shifting loads from gaining momentum and becoming projectiles during an accident l Always use an appropriate load binding system designed to safely secure a load during transport

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6 ➤ with zero. We built a prototype, something we didn’t know anything about, grew it and pretty soon we were building a bunch of them. This time it is a little different because we jumped in with existing production going on. You’ve got to take care of all those products you’re shipping. We don’t want to be shipping product that the customer can’t make money with. Because once you cash a guy’s check, you have a responsibility to him.”

Changes Speaking of the product, it’s inevitable that there would be some changes to the line, like name and nomenclature, the numbering of different machines, and so on. According to Jared Dunn, Weiler Forestry sales manager, all Weiler Forestry products are sold under the Weiler brand name, to maintain consistency and grow brand awareness. All, that is, but one exception. When Weiler acquired Caterpillar Forest Products in 2019, the Prentice brand name came with the deal. Weiler continues to sell one type of Prentice-branded loader: the 2124 A-frame knuckleboom loader, the kind often mounted on cabs or trailers for self-loading. “Prentice built

a legacy with the A-frame loaders since 1956, by listening to customers,” Dunn says. “The Weiler manufactured Prentice 2124 continues that history.” Change isn’t in name and paint only. There have been engineering/design changes—about 90 to the skidders alone. It all stems from trying to be responsive to customer feedback. “If anybody said they didn’t like something, we corrected it,” Weiler says. “Some of those are pretty small changes like adding or taking away a gusset, moving a grab handle or a hose.” Sean interjects here: “He says it’s small, but, for us, it’s a huge thing, because he can get it done like that,” he says with a snap of his fingers. How can this smaller company react so quickly to input from operators? “If I built something like skid steer loaders, or excavators or dozers, it would be a big mess,” Weiler explains. “That’s high volume, and I’m not good at that. I am better at the niche type stuff. When you’re in that mode you can be more flexible. The forestry business is a much smaller universe so we can control what we are doing better from a parts standpoint.” By the way, Weiler is quick to

point out, he’s not the one making changes; it’s the engineering guys and the production guys. “Bill and I just try to stay out of their way and let them do what they do.” He and Bill Hood do now what they did with paving: visit the customers, like he was doing this week in Mississippi with Sean Doyle, listen to them and learn how to improve their product. Then they bring that back to the design team. “I like talking to engineers about what they’re doing and I just try to keep the guys focused on developing product based on what the customer wants.” Very often, he says, the engineers already know, and they’re already on it.

Economy I wonder if it was unfortunate timing, getting into a new industry months before a global pandemic and its fallout, but Weiler says the impact is only short term. Sean concurs: logging and construction equipment sales have been very active. “We can’t keep anything in stock; we sell it almost before we get it,” he says. “There’s a housing shortage; people need wood products, bad. They need equipment to produce that raw material to make

that final product.” To me, I add, it looks like the economy is actually booming. “In our world, it is,” Sean agrees. “We’re as busy as we’ve ever been.” “Who says there’s an economic slowdown?” Weiler asks rhetorically. “I don’t see it. Do you see it? If I owned a restaurant I’d probably see it; I’m sure there are pockets. In what I deal with—and again it is a very small world I live in—all the way through Covid, people kept using equipment and wearing it out. They aren’t buying stuff because they just want to buy stuff; they’re wearing stuff out.” The supply chain is under stress, Weiler admits. “I think a lot of people blame Covid but it really goes back to supply and demand. The demand is so high, no supply chain can keep up with that, and then you add a Covid production slow down on top. I think it will normalize over time. It is just a little overheated.” He predicts, “People will overbuild eventually and be stacked with inventory. Interest rates go up and then it will stop for a year, then it will be a big crisis. So we are trying to be a little more even keeled about this.” Sounds like a wise plan, I tell him. “Well, we’ll see,” he SLT shrugs.

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Fatality From Rotating Disc On Excavator BACKGROUND: On a winter day in the Pacific Northwest an equipment operator trimming brush alongside a logging road died after he was apparently pulled into a rotating disc used to cut brush. He was using an excavator with a disc cutting attachment on the boom. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The victim was an experienced equipment operator. He was working alone. UNSAFE ACTS AND CONDITIONS: The engine of the excavator was idling. The 400-lb cutting head had power to it and was rotating just above idle. At some

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point, the victim left the operator’s seat of the excavator and approached the rotating cutting disc attached to the end of the boom. ACCIDENT / INJURY: It appears the victim may have grabbed a tree branch stuck in the cutting head and was likely pulled into the rotating disc, suffering injuries that were immediately fatal. Because the victim was working alone, he was not found until three hours after the end of his shift. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CORRECTIONS: l Make sure workers are trained on and use lockout/tagout proce-

dures for machinery they will be using. l When operating machinery powered by a hydraulic system, make sure all the hydraulics are disabled before getting out of the cab, particularly if the engine is left running. l Have workers inspect and maintain equipment before using it. l Train workers who operate equipment like that used in this incident on the hazards posed by getting too close to any rotating disc. l For employees who work alone, develop a check-in/check-out procedure. A formal plan for checking

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on employees working alone can be critical for adequate emergency response time. Supplied by Forest Resources Assn.

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MACHINES-SUPPLIES-TECHNOLOGY Hearing Protector Cardo Crew, a division of Cardo Systems, unveils Comm-Set, a noise protection communication solution that increases productivity and safety by enabling work crews to stay connected in noisy and hazardous environments. Powered by Cardo’s mesh intercom technology, Dynamic Mesh Communications (DMC), Comm-Set can be whitelabeled by PPE manufacturers and provide truly ground-breaking team communications technology. Comm-Set helps keep boots-onthe-ground teams protected and connected effortlessly while they work in hazardous environments or remote work sites like construction areas, tree services/forestry, utilities/public work, and industrial manufacturing. In addition to connecting anywhere from 2 to 15 users via wireless mesh technology within a 2mile range, the hands-free CommSet provides situational awareness and is equipped with a plug to easily connect 2-way radios. It complies

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with the American ANSI standard and the European EN352 hearing protection standards. The system guarantees the user’s protection against impulsive and loud environmental noises. Eight different channels enable a seamless co-existence of multiple intercom networks within the same terrain for unparalleled performance. Offering many options, users can connect their mobile phone via Bluetooth technology and use the dedicated mobile app, plus easily operate such features as built-in FM radio and music streaming. Visit cardocrew.com.

Magnum Saw

Professionals can find the durability, dependability and performance they need in Stihl MS 881 R Magnum chain saws. With an updated engine design, these models have the same power as the previous model while using less fuel and reducing exhaust emissions, saving

time and money while also being better for the environment. As one of the most powerful saws in the Stihl lineup, the MS 881 R Magnum is built for the most demanding tasks, including logging, thinning and land clearing. Built with professionals in mind, features of the MS 881 R Magnum saws including Stihl Quickstop, the chain brake safety feature designed to reduce risk of injury in certain kickback situations by stopping the rotation of the chain if activated by operator’s hand or by inertia if the saw kicks back with sufficient force. An anti-vibration system minimizes user fatigue and provides a more comfortable working experience by reducing the vibration levels of the chain saw, while the simplified design of the carburetor settings allows for easy manual adjustment. When used with Stihl Oilomatic saw chain and Stihl Ematic guide bars, the high output oiler supplies additional lubrication if needed for longer guide bars and/or dry, dusty cutting conditions. The HD2 air filter is washable, providing long filter life and lowering maintenance costs. Stihl MS 881 R Magnum comes equipped with a wrap handle,

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allowing the chain saw to be used in multiple positions for felling or limbing while hands stay in the proper position. Visit stihlusa.com.

Camera Connector

Samsara, a pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, announces Camera Connector, a new product that connects side, rear, and interior vehicle camera feeds to Samsara’s Connected Operations Cloud. By bringing cloud connectivity to third-party cameras for the first time, Camera Connector allows organizations to leverage existing vehicle camera investments to reduce safety incidents, protect against not-at-fault claims, and enhance the driver experience. Companies across the commercial transportation industry, from long-haul trucking to field services

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to passenger transit, are at risk for high-cost incidents on the road, such as sideswiping and back-up collisions. In fact, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety claims that 242,000 sideswipe crashes occur every year. While some fleets may have camera systems with in-cab monitors to help drivers eliminate blind spots, these systems commonly use onpremise, local memory-based storage without cloud connectivity or don’t record footage at all. This means fleets miss out on powerful video evidence to exonerate drivers in the moment and provide valuable video-based coaching after the fact. Camera Connector addresses these challenges by bringing side, rear, and interior camera feeds into a single view within the Connected Operations Cloud. When combined with Samsara’s AI Dash Cams, customers gain 360° visibility of safety incidents in a single dashboard. This increased visibility combined with cloud connectivity allows managers to access the right footage in minutes and exonerate drivers from false claims. In addition to providing ondemand video evidence, Camera Connector integrates third-party camera feeds into Samsara’s video-based workflows for coaching and safety insights. Visit samsara.com/products/ safety/camera-connector.

tire’s rolling resistance, but also enhances skid and wear resistance producing a stronger, safer, more energy-efficient tire that delivers a comfortable ride. The EcoPoint3 technology also represents a breakthrough in green and low-carbon tire development, from the selection of raw materials, manufacturing, and product life cycle, while significantly reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions. This leap in superior rubber compounding combined with worldclass manufacturing technology will

result in significant performance enhancements for MAXAM customers. Visit maxamtire.com.

Harvester Head Ponsse strengthens its position as one of the leading harvester head manufacturers by introducing the PONSSE H8 harvester head. The next generation harvester head when equipped with the Active Speed function raises effectiveness and productivity to a whole new level. With Active Speed, the harvester

head’s operating speed can be adjusted based on the tree species and stem diameter. Equipped with this new function, working with the H8 harvester head is smooth, no matter what the tree diameter is. Visit ponsse.com.

Rubber Compound MAXAM Tire launches the all-new proprietary compound, EcoPoint3, to be fully integrated into its solid tire lineups at the new automationheavy factory. This innovative compound combined with stateof-the-art automation and manufacturing technology revolutionizes the performance and durability of MAXAM’s material handling products. In addition to encompassing the new rubber compound into its solid tires, MAXAM’s new factory will increase existing production volume, efficiency, and consistency through advanced automation. Compared to carbon black compounds and conventional drymixed silica compounds, the EcoPoint3 process provides superior distribution of ingredients during the mixing process. This innovative process allows for MAXAM’s compounds to contain less inert filler, higher ratios of stress at elongation, and minimal proportions of impurities resulting in next generation products. EcoPoint3 not only improves a Southern Loggin’ Times

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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.

Click. Connect. Trade.

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CONTACT: Call Bridget DeVane at 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613, email bdevane7@hotmail.com or visit www.southernloggintimes.com

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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

TIGERCAT 630C SKIDDER, Dual arch & winch, right out of the woods, New center pins and new boom pins.......Call for price

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Call or Text Zane • 334-518-9937 6288

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Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

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Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!!

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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.

WE ALSO BUY USED DELIMBINATORS Call: 662-285-2777 day, 662-285-6832 eves Email: info@chambersdelimbinator.com 1123

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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.

Name ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City ______________________________________________________________________________ State________ Zip ___________________________________ Phone___________________________________________________________ E-mail _______________________________________________________________

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A D L I N K ●

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ADVERTISER American Loggers Council American Truck Parts Around The World Salvage B & G Equipment Bandit Industries Beard Equipment Big John Trailers BITCO Insurance Caterpillar Dealer Promotion Cleanfix North America John Deere Forestry East Coast Sawmill Expo Eastern Surplus Firestone Agricultural Tire Flint Equipment FMI Trailers Forest Chain Forestry First Forestry Mutual Insurance G & W Equipment Golden Rule Equipment Hawkins & Rawlinson Interstate Tire Service Kaufman Trailers Mike Ledkins Insurance Agency LMI-Tennessee Loadrite Southern Star Logger Associations Magnolia Trailers Maxi-Load Scale Systems McComb Diesel Mid-Atlantic Logging & Biomass Midsouth Forestry Equipment Moore Logging Supply Morbark Olofsfors Pitts Trailers Ponsse North America Quadco Equipment Quality Equipment & Parts Smith & Turner Equipment Southern Loggers Cooperative Stribling Equipment Tidewater Equipment Tigercat Industries TraxPlus Tri-State Auction & Realty W & W Truck & Tractor Wallingford’s Waratah Forestry Attachments Waters International Trucks Yancey Brothers Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America

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PG. NO.

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38 32 52 23 35 14 5 37 13 38 28-29 47 42 22 37 24 32 49 2 32 31 12 50 3 39 41 33 36 45 34 33 40 39 36 1,11 55 56 17 27 50 25 42 51 51,52 7 10 18-19 48 44 15 50 44 16

202.627.6961 888.383.8884 936.634.7210 601.656.7011 800.952.0178 800.848.8563 800.771.4140 800.475.4477 919.550.1201 855.738.3267 800.503.3373 804.737.5625 855.332.0500 515.242.2300 229.888.1212 601.508.3333 800.288.0887 803.708.0624 800.849.7788 800.284.9032 717.933.4007 888.822.1173 864.947.9208 336.790.6807 800.766.8349 800.467.0944 256.270.8775 800.738.2123 877.265.1486 601.783.5700 919.271.9050 870.226.0000 888.754.5613 800.831.0042 519.754.2190 800.321.8073 715.369.4833 800.668.3340 386.487.3896 770.536.7521 318.445.0750 855.781.9408 912.638.7726 519.753.2000 601.635.5543 800.334.4395 843.761.8220 800.323.3708 770.692.0380 601.693.4807 800.282.1562 800.343.3276

COMING EVENTS March

July

3-6—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers annual meeting, The Diplomat Beach Resort, Hollywood, Fla. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianhardwood.org.

25-27—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, The Homestead Resort, Hot Springs, Va. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianhardwood.org.

11-13—Carolina Loggers Assn. annual meeting, Hotel Ballast, Wilmington, NC. Call 828-4218444; visit ncloggers.com.

29-31—Georgia Forestry Assn. Annual Conference, Hilton Head Island, SC. Call 478-992-8110; visit gfagrow.org.

16-18—2022 SLMA & SFPA Spring Meeting & Expo, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, La. Call 504-443-4464; visit slma.org.

August

29-30—Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334-834-1170; visit bioenergyshow.com. 29-31—Kentucky Forest Industries Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Lexington, Ky. Call 502-695-3979; visit kfia.org.

April 29-30—Mid-Atlantic Logging-Biomass-Landworks Expo, near Laurinburg, NC. Call 919-271-9050; visit loggingexpo.com.

May 20-21—Expo Richmond 2022, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com.

ADLINK is a free service for advertisers and readers. The publisher assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

11-14—Virginia Loggers Assn. annual meeting, Williamsburg Lodge, Williamsburg, Va. Call 804-677-4290; visit valoggers.org. 23-26—IWF 2022, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 404-693-8333; visit iwfatlanta.com. 29-September 2—Louisiana Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Resort, Lake Charles, La. Call 318443-2558; visit laforestry.com. 30-September 1—Florida Forestry Assn. Annual Meeting & Trade Show, Omni Amelia Island Resort, Amelia Island, Fla. Call 850-2225646; visit floridaforest.org.

September 9-10—Great Lakes Logging & Heavy Equipment Expo, Resch Expo, Green Bay, Wis. Call 715282-5828; visit gltpa.org. 11-13—Alabama Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach, Ala. Call 334-265-8733; visit alaforestry.org.

October 26-28—Texas Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center, College Station, Tex. Call 936-632-8733; visit texas forestry.org. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

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Articles inside

Southern Stumpin’

Safety Focus

From The Backwoods Pew

Coming Events/Ad Index

Machines-Supplies-Technology

Trucking Safety

Industry News Roundup