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Vol. 50, No. 8
(Founded in 1972—Our 587th Consecutive Issue)
F E AT U R E S out front:
August 2021 A Hatton-Brown Publication
Phone: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525
www.southernloggintimes.com
Michael Hutchins has raised his kids with the same time-tested, old-fashioned values by which he has lived his entire life and that have guided him throughout his career. It’s no surprise he was Alabama’s Logger of the Year and an FRA regional finalist. 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
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Pitts Brothers Solid Family Heritage
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
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Bill Harrison Power Plant Supplier
Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 From The Backwoods Pew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Industry News Roundup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 ForesTree Equipment Trader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Coming Events/Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Western Canada, Western USA Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook Tel: 604-619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com International Murray Brett Tel: +34 96 640 4165 +34 96 640 4048 58 Aldea de las Cuevas • Buzon 60 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
Bridget DeVane
Tel: 1-800-669-5613 • Tel 334-699-7837 Email: bdevane7@hotmail.com
Southern Loggin’ Times (ISSN 0744-2106) is published monthly by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—SLT is sent free to logging, pulpwood and chipping contractors and their supervisors; managers and supervisors of corporate-owned harvesting operations; wood suppliers; timber buyers; wood procurement and land management officials; industrial forestry purchasing agents; wholesale and retail forest equipment representatives and forest/logging association personnel in the U.S. South. See form elsewhere in this issue. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $65 annually; $75 in Canada; $120 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries— TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.southernloggintimes.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Southern Loggin’ Times magazine are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Southern Loggin’ Times. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed In USA.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Southern Loggin’ Times, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, AL 36102-2419 Member Verified Audit Circulation
Other Hatton-Brown publications: ★ Timber Processing ★ Timber Harvesting ★ Panel World ★ Power Equipment Trade ★ Wood Bioenergy
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Woodworking Network Has Interesting Report Located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, Fiddlehead Casket Co. has added a modern-day twist to the old pine box. The small outfit’s caskets are manufactured and shipped ready-to-assemble Fiddlehead Casket Co. owner Jeremy Burrill assembles one of his caskets. for the dearly departed. Fiddlehead’s owner, Jeremy Burrill, says anyone who can assemble IKEA furniture can easily put together one of his caskets in about 30 minutes. The only tool skill required is the ability to pound wood dowels into the pre-drilled holes of the pine components. Instead of an Allen wrench, a rubber mallet is included with each RTA casket kit, along with 10 pine panels, 38 cherry pins and step-by-step instructions. No glue or metal fittings are required to construct unembellished units, which also make them fully biodegradable. The company’s website notes that the RTA caskets are “ideal for both immediate use or future planning.” It adds that the caskets are “the only handcrafted, environmentally friendly option for your loved one. Locally made with New Brunswick pine.” As of mid 2020, the caskets cost about $700, but by now have likely gone up. Fiddlehead more recently added an RTA bookcase that can be converted into a casket. “Love the idea of a simple pine casket but won’t need it for a while? Put it to work right now! This bookshelf option adds five adjustable solid pine shelves.” For more info, email burrill@fiddleheadcaskets.com or phone 506-262-2211.
Monday Motivational Quotes From YourPositiveOasis.Com 1. Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.—Jim Rohn 2. Why fit in when you were born to stand out?—Dr. Seuss 3. If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.—Isaac Newton 4. Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.—Wayne Dyer 5. There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.—Albert Einstein 6. Negative people need drama like oxygen. Stay positive; it’ll take their breath away.—Tony Gaskins 7. There is a direct correlation between positive energy and positive results.—Joe Rogan 8. People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.—Paulo Coelho 9. I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves.—Louise Hay 10. You have within you right now everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.—Brian Tracy 11. If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.—Martin Luther King, Jr. 12. Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.—Og Mandino 13. Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself.—Rumi 14. There will always be someone who can’t see your worth. Don’t let it be you.—Mel Robbins 15. Decide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe that you deserve it, and believe it’s possible for you.—Jack Canfield 16. Today’s a great day to behave as the person you’ve always wanted to be.—Robin Sharma 17. Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way 6
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things turn out.—John Wooden 18. The most important conversation is the one you have with yourself.— David Goggins 19. True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving.—Mark Manson 20. People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.— Dale Carnegie 21. You will never change anything that you are willing to tolerate.—Myles Munroe 22. You never know how or when you’ll have an impact, or how important your example can be to someone else.—Denzel Washington 23. Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.—Robert H. Schuller 24. Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.—Socrates 25. We cannot become what we need by remaining what we are.—John Maxwell 26. Each day is an adventure in discovering the meaning of life.—Jack Canfield 27. Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.—Denis Waitley 28. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.—Mark Twain 29. Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.—Maya Angelou 30. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.—James Clear 31. You don’t get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.—Les Brown 32. Life’s biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.—Benjamin Franklin 33. We can only love others as much as we love ourselves.— Brené Brown 34. Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.—George Bernard Shaw 35. Every day, some ordinary person does something extraordinary. Today, it’s your turn.—Lou Holtz
Innovative Farmer Farmer Jack once lived on a quiet rural highway, but as time went by, the traffic built up and eventually got so heavy and so fast that his free-range chickens were being run over at a rate of three to six a week. So he called the local police station, complaining, “You’ve got to do something about all these people driving so fast and killing my chickens,” he said to the desk sergeant. “What do you want me to do?” asked the policeman. “I don’t care; just do something about those crazy drivers!” the farmer declared. So the next day the policeman had the traffic department erect a sign that said: SCHOOL CROSSING. Three days later farmer Jack called the policeman and said, “You’ve still got to do more about these drivers. The ‘school crossing’ sign seems to make them go even faster!” So up went a new sign that said: SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY. But it did little good, leading the farmer to ask if he could put of a sign of his own, which he did. When a week went by with no call from the farmer, the desk sergeant became curious and called the farmer. “How is the problem with the speeding drivers?” he asked. “Did you put up your sign?” “I sure did and not one chicken has been killed,” the farmer replied. The policeman became so curious that he went out to see the sign for himself. His jaw dropped the moment he saw the sign, which boldly proclaimed: NUDIST COLONY. SLOW DOWN AND WATCH FOR CHICKS!
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Family Values ■ Michael Hutchins was FRA’s Southcentral Region Logger of 2020.
By David Abbott LIVINGSTON, Ala. elling pine 30 miles ★ west of Eutaw, and about five miles east of the Mississippi state line, logger Michael Hutchins counted himself lucky to be working the day Southern Loggin’ Times caught up with him in early July. “We were fortunate,” says Hutchins, 53. Unlike a lot of other loggers in the Southeast that week, the owner of Hutch Trucking, Inc. was able to work in between thunderstorms that brought heavy rainfall while Hurricane Elsa made her way up from Florida through the MidAtlantic region. “The last few days both our crews have been able to work when everybody around us was rained out.” A lot of times it’s been the other way around for him. It’s easy to see why Hutch Trucking was selected as both the Forest Resources Assn.’s Southcentral Region Logger of the Year and as Alabama’s Outstanding Logger of the Year for 2020. For one thing, Hutchins takes special care to look out for SMZs and to protect against erosion.
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“I look at it in the long run: if we destroy the earth, what are my boys going to cut 40 years down the road?” Hutchins has been helping manage this 500-acre privately owned tract for 24 years. The owners, he says, never want to cut any of the hardwood here, just the pine, which they replant. This summer, Hutchins was removing some of the older standing pine. “It’s like this old pine is sitting in a nursing home, just waiting to die. First good wind that comes along will blow it down.” Hutchins has salvaged storm-damaged wood off this property many times. Taking care of the land is good business in more ways than one. Landowners for whom he’s been cutting for years keep asking him to come back.“We had so many landowners calling who didn’t want to advertise it, they wanted me to cut it,” he says. He’s established relationships and a good reputation, with much of three decades of logging behind him, and it pays off. “I am probably 10 tracts behind right now.” To keep pace with all the demand, he started a second crew last fall, though he had to shutter it for a while due to wet weather and
quotas. They just fired it back up this summer. He also wanted to set the second crew back up to help his sons, he says, “So that when I get ready to retire, I can just walk out the door. Maybe in eight or 10 years when they have a good foundation under their feet and can run it, I’ll be out of it.”
Markets
Michael Hutchins
The newer crew stays busy taking on jobs from landowners who know him from past experience, while the old crew has been working on Westervelt land for 18 years. In his experience, logging was largely unaffected by the pandemic. “It didn’t slow down, and then lumber markets got great, better than they’ve ever been,” he notes. Still, even with the lumber boom this year, loggers and landowners haven’t benefited. “I was real concerned stump-
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age might go up, but it didn’t,” he reports. “It irritates me that logging rates haven’t gone up. It would have helped, and with fuel and everything else going up, I would have they thought they would see it. There’s nothing you can do but keep rolling with the punches, though.” Speaking of rolling, Hutch Trucking keeps three trucks rolling on the main crew and two on the newer crew. The main crew hauls 50-60 loads a week, and the new crew 20-30. It’s about 70 miles from the tract the new crew was on in July to all of the mills to which Hutchins hauls: Lassiter Lumber in Silas, Ala., Westervelt Lumber in Thomasville and Moundville, and Rooster Bridge in Cordoba. The main crew stays on Westervelt jobs all the time, and they generally have to make only about a
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35-mile trip to the mill. The logging business can’t help but have its ups and downs, Hutchins admits. “Mills still put you on quota; it has always been that way and that is never going to change. If they don’t need the wood, they don’t need it; if you can’t move it finished then there’s no need to put it in unfinished.”
Labor Finding good help—or any help at all, it sometimes seems—has never been harder, the veteran logger laments. Asked where he finds operators, Hutchins shakes his head. “You don’t find them; they’re not out there. You may have somebody out of the blue call you wanting to work, but 90% of the time he just wants a hustle.” It used to be that when he stopped at a fueling station in the mornings, younger guys would flag him down to ask for a job. Nobody does that anymore, he’s sad to report. He’s not sure why it’s this way, but he has a few theories. “I think the younger generation just hasn’t been raised up around logging and they just don’t know anything about it,” he reasons. “They get out of school and go another way, or to an easier job. And the older employees have retired. Nobody wants to get up and come to work anymore out here in the woods.” He can’t understand it, either; seems to him they’re missing out. “You make a good living out here; that’s the reason the older employees stayed out here as long as they did. They took care of their families out here. It’s a little difficult sometimes when you get a rainy week, but you can work pretty much as much overtime as you want and make a good paycheck. So I don’t understand.” With that in mind, he feels lucky to have the crew he has. On the main crew, loader man Darren Danner serves as foreman, working with cutter and skidder operators James Giles and Whitney Brown, Jr. On the new crew, Hutchins runs the cutter and loader, and he has a part-time skidder driver to help out. Oldest son Michael Hutchins, Jr., also drives a skidder and a truck, along with three other drivers. The crew wears hard hats and green safety vests. If anything needs to be cut with a chain saw, Hutchins handles it himself. “You wont find anybody to do that anymore,” he says, pointing out that few people today have the experience to run a chain saw skillfully and safely.
Hutchins prefers Tigercat machines, buying from B&G Equipment in Moundville.
630E skidders, and 726G fellerbuncher. Equipment on the new crew is a Prentice 384 loader, Tigercat 632 skidder, Tigercat 726 feller-buncher, and John Deere 850J dozer. Hutchins buys from B&G Equipment in Moundville, Ala., and he only buys new machines.“I don’t buy used; I don’t want anybody else’s worn out equipment,” he explains. Once he has it, though, he gets his money’s worth. The Prentice loader on the new crew has over 40,000 hours on it and still works every day. He bought it new in 2005—bought two of them that year in fact. “I bought one and the next day I called the salesman and told him to bring another one just like it,” Hutchins recalls. “It was so phenomenal, I had never run a
loader as good as that one and I wanted another one just like it.” He ran both of them till 2016 when he sold one, and even then there was nothing wrong with it, he says. “My loader man just wanted to try something different, so we got a Tigercat.” He sold the Prentice to a logger from Kentucky, who called back wanting to buy the other one, too. What’s the secret to keeping a 16year-old machine running smoothly for more than 40,000 hours? Simple maintenance, Hutchins says—routine service at regular intervals and greasing twice a week. He has operators grease machines on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “I figured it out a long time ago,” he says. “On Monday he’s still on the weekend time, and on Friday he’s ready to go start his weekend.”
Roots After working other jobs here and there, Hutchins and a partner, Wayne Springfield, started their own company, S&H Logging, in 1993. They worked together for four good years before deciding to go their separate ways in 1997. Springfield kept S&H Logging while Hutchins branched off to start Hutch Trucking. He had in mind at the time to start a trucking business; it only took one load to convince him that hauling for others wasn’t the right direction for him. He started logging operations again the very next day. Why did he choose logging? “I grew up around a sawmill and that was pretty much the only job after farming and cotton picking and plowing a mule, and that was disap-
Machinery Other than a 700J Deere dozer, the main crew runs exclusively Tigercat machines: a 250 loader, 630H and
The Prentice is a 2005 model with 40,000 hours on it and still going strong.
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pearing. I would go around that sawmill and tinker with a font-end loader or measure a log for the boss. I got used to running knuckleboom loaders and running power saws. I learned how to merchandize pine and hardwood there.” As he got older, he grew to hate school with a passion. The way he saw it, “It was holding me back because I had another goal I was working towards.” He left school after 9th grade to work at the mill, and says he never missed school at
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all. “Everybody told me, you need to go back to school,” he recalls. “I had a girlfriend who told me I needed to go get my GED; I said, what does it pay?” Instead he did it his own way, and that’s worked for him. “If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Family Matters The Hutchins family, from left: Chanse, Kannon, Tonya, Michael Sr., and Michael Jr.; photo courtesy of Alabama Forestry Assn.
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Hutchins and his wife Tonya have three sons and a daughter; they had a fifth child, a daughter they lost. All three sons are active in the logging business. Michael Hutchins, Jr. has been a skidder and truck driver for a while, while middle son Kannon just came on board and youngest Chanse is now old enough to help work on things or run for parts. Along with logging, the Hutchins family farms and cuts hay on the side. “We were doing it because the boys were underage and couldn’t come to the woods, and that kept them busy and out of trouble,” he says. “All the boys are old enough now to come to the woods, so I’m telling all my customers we are not selling hay out of the field next year. We will have our barns full, so there will be some hay for sale. But we are not going to be running day and night.” Cattle, horses and hay fields cost a lot, but he’s not really doing it primarily as a business venture. “There’s not much money in cows but it is a lot of enjoyment,” Hutchins says. “People need to be raised on a farm to learn common knowledge. A cow will pretty much teach you what you need to know; a horse will too. If you don’t have common sense, they’ll teach you some.” Hutchins suspects an addiction to technology is part of the problem with today’s young work force: people are too much into their phones. Practicing what he preaches, Hutchins uses a flip phone only for making calls, not scrolling social media. He didn’t allow his sons to have video games or toy guns when they were growing up. “I didn’t want them to learn to shoot anybody and I didn’t want them to get caught up in technology when they were kids till I can’t teach them anything.” Looking to the future, Hutchins plans more of the same: keep plugging along and training his boys how to work safely and make a living from the land. He expects to put another decade or so into Hutch Trucking and then sell it to his sons. Hutchins and Tonya are the proud grandparents of two boys, ages six months and six years, and a three-month-old girl. “They might come out here one day, SLT too,” he hopes.
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Family Heirlooms ■ Brothers Mack and Rickey follow their calling in the timber-rich Peach state.
By Patrick Dunning WAYCROSS, Ga. hird generation logging company Pitts Logging, Inc. has deep roots in south★ east Georgia. Brothers Mack, 43, and Rickey Pitts, 46, manage four pine crews and 16 trucks each day. They always keep in mind their family’s motto: give credit where credit is due. Their grandfather incorporated the business in 1956, topping pine trees with a chain saw and dragging logs with mules and oxen. “That’s the old-fashioned way,” Mack says. “Granddaddy worked on the railroads until our dad was born in ’55. He didn’t like staying gone all the time so he bought a shortwood truck and started hauling logs to be closer to home.” The boys’ uncle, Ben Jolley, had worked at a container pulp mill in Fernandina, Fla., but came home to work with his dad, their grandfather, Mack recalls. When their father, Richard Pitts, Sr., graduated
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high school, he and his brother, their uncle Jolley, stepped up and ran the day-to-day operations of the business together for several years. Back then, the elder Pitts brothers were using a 1980s Franklin hydraulic felling shear, which was state-of-the-art at the time, the brothers recall. The business was known as Pitts and Jolley Logging Co., Inc., until Jolley passed away from cancer. Now having stepped up to follow in the footsteps left by their dad and his brother, Mack and Rickey also run the business together equally as co-owners. The brothers procure the company’s timber and oversee their dedicated fleet to maximize productivity efficiently. “We’re still in the woods every day,” the brothers agree. “We buy the wood and keep our trucks running and if somebody’s out we jump on a piece of equipment.” At the Pitts Logging headquarters, located in the western portion of Brantley County, the brothers have decorated the halls with vintage photos of the company’s hum-
ble beginnings. Blown-up onto canvases, the visual history serves as a daily reminder to Mack and Rickey of their heritage. Part of that heritage is their faith. Yes, hard work is necessary and making a living is important, but their top priority is to serve Jesus Christ and be an example for their families and workers. “We love to work and make money but our number one goal is to serve him and give him all the glory because we didn’t do any of this,” Mack declares. “God has given us the ability to grow the business to what it is now and we never forget that. Without him, we are nothing.”
Trucking The Pitts brothers started building their own dedicated trucking fleet in 1993 to circumvent higher contract freight prices and insurance premiums. “Trucking insurance was a big deal four years ago when our rates jumped 75% because of Hurricane Irma,” Mack says. “But having our own fleet alleviated some of that
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cost and gave us more freedom to send our drivers and maintain low gatewood prices.” A collection of Big John trailers complement their Peterbilt lineup. Of the company’s 16 total trucks, the last six are Western Star with glider kits purchased through Four Star Freightliner of Valdosta, a Western Star truck dealer. The remaining 10 trucks are 389 model Peterbilts. When they found out that Peterbilt (like Mack, Volvo and Kenworth) would be discontinuing glider kits after 2019 due to emissions regulations, the brothers jumped at the chance to stock up, in an effort to avoid regen cycles, DFP and EGR, before it was too late. “Last year was the last time you could buy them,” Rickey says. Glider kit trucks matched a brandnew shell and rear ends with a remanufactured transmission and engine, offering a product the Pitts brothers very much liked. “You get a new truck but it’s the old Detroit engine so it’s easier to work on them,” Mack says. “You don’t have all the DEF fluid and electronics.”
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Pitts Logging runs four crews, each averaging 70 loads per week.
Rickey adds, “These are the engines they put in trucks 15 years ago.” Each crew averages 70 loads per week and supplies a variety of mills. Pulpwood is hauled to pellet producer Enviva Biomass in Waycross, West Fraser in Blackshear, Langdale Forest Products in Valdosta, Georgia Pacific in Brunswick and Dupont Yard, Inc., in Homerville and Alapaha. Hardwood logs go to Rayonier Inc. in Patterson, while larger DBH logs go to Ace Pole Co. in Blackshear and Meredith Pole & Timber Co. in Fitzgerald. Local pulp markets have been fair lately, Mack says, and it helps being able to negotiate timber sales and transportation.
From left: Ricky Pitts, co-owner; Allen Mercer, skidder operator; Joe Still Jr., cutter operator; Dalton Lee, loader operator; Brian Howell, setout man; Mack Pitts, co-owner
Timber The company began purchasing its own timber in 2006. Rickey says it allows them to negotiate commission on tonnage and not be under another’s thumb. “We prefer to buy our own wood that way we can control where we want to haul our wood to maximize production,”
The Cat 559D loader is outfitted with a circle saw slasher package.
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The Pitts family
Rickey says. “Some of the bigger timber companies beat prices down so much there’s not much skin left. You can make a living contracting but you’re not going to make money.” When Southern Loggin’ Times visited Pitts Logging in May 2021, crew number three was operating on a 270-acre private tract in Ware County, conducting a clear-cut prescription on 40-year-old slash pine. The company’s biggest hurdles recently haven’t come from fuel shortages or supply chain breakdowns, but instead from Mother Nature. “We try to stay on hills but with all the rain we’ve had recently it looks more like a swamp,” Rickey says. “The weather has been a challenge. We have one crew sitting on a hill and got eight inches two weeks ago. We’re having to mat on the hills to get wood and if we get in a spot that’s 15 acres of swamp we can use our track cutter so it doesn’t slow us down.” Last year they had to run their Tigercat 822 track cutter six months to keep wood moving.
Machinery Six months ago they purchased a 2019 Cat 559D loader, finding a good deal on the used market, Mack says. They use it on crew number three. Otherwise, everything else is Tigercat. They believe the brand makes a durable machine that holds its resale value longer. Equipment currently in service for Pitts Logging ranges from 2016 to 2020 year models. Each of the four crews is outfitted similarly, with a Tigercat 620 skidder with dual tires (35x5s inside and 24s on the outside) and a 720 feller-buncher. Crews one, two and four each use a ’19 Tigercat 234B loader with a circle saw slasher package and CSI delimber; crew three uses the Cat loader. Pitts Logging also keeps dozers and backhoes for culverts
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and road maintenance. Mack and Rickey buy all their Tigercat machines from Tidewater Equipment Co. in Brunswick. “We try to swap out equipment every three years to keep things new and under warranty,” Mack says. That gets harder to do, though, as new equipment prices keep going up. “I started in 1999 and the first skidder I bought was $122,000. We got a quote yesterday for almost $300,000 and you’re not moving any more wood today than you were then and get about the same rate to log.”
Maintenance Woods machinery under warranty is serviced by Tidewater every 250 hours either on the stand or at their Brunswick location. All truck maintenance is done in-house at Pitts’ 100x175 service shop. They keep three full-time maintenance technicians. Oil is changed in trucks every 15,000 miles using CAM2 15W-40 synthetic. Machines get greased every two weeks. To help with routine daily maintenance and repairs on the job site, the brothers retrofitted a 20 ft. container box to store a 1,000-gallon fuel tank, hydraulic oil, grease, air compressors and an assortment of tools. A multitude of fuel dealers keeps Pitts’ trucks and equipment moving. The brothers look to Murray Oil Sales Inc., in Surrency, Lewis & Raulerson Inc., in Waycross, Bennett Oil Co. in Waycross and Perry Brothers Oil in Americus. Pitts Logging’s insurance is through Forestry Mutual and Swamp Fox Agency, based in Moncks Corner, SC. Pitts Logging company secretary Renee Berry handles the company’s books and other administrative duties. Accounting firm Higginson & Paulk in Waycross also assists with managing the SLT business’s finances.
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Power Up ■ Father-son duo Bill and Tripp Harrison find success in chipping.
Note: A version of this article previously appeared in the June 2020 issue of Wood Bioenergy.
By Patrick Dunning WILLISTON, Fla. ★ hat began as a swamp and hill operation in 1971 has diversified into a substantial chipping-for-biomass operation
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Tripp, left, and Bill Harrison, right
in recent years for William “Bill” Harrison, 69, and his company Harrison Logging Co. What brought the change? A variety of factors, but the biggest being the opening of a new market near Harrison’s home, a municipal electric utility burning wood chips for power, now operating under the name Deerhaven Renewable Generating Station. First brought online in late 2013 as Gainesville Renewable
Energy Center (GREC), the 102.5 MW facility burns biomass chips sourced from the region Harrison cuts, so it was a natural fit. Harrison has crews that contract cut for Columbia Timber Co., and have since the 1980s. Columbia had the first contract to provide wood for the Gainesville plant, and through that contract, Harrison was introduced to chipping-for-biomass. The logging company operated a Bandit 2590 chipper that Columbia purchased for a while, but it quickly became evident that the market demanded a heavier-duty machine, and an increase in production. Now, Harrison operates three Bandit chippers, one 3590XL for M. A. Rigoni and two 3590s for Columbia Timber Co. producing a total of 250 loads of chips a week. In total, the crew sees an average of over 300 loads per week—chips and logs. “The 3590 Bandit chipper helps us diversify our market and the landowners love it. Their land is clean when we leave,” Harrison
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explains of the machine and its reception since being added to the equipment list as the biomass power plant’s demand rose. What might have taken months to cut now takes Harrison a matter of weeks, and leaves the land cleaner. “There is just not a lot of debris left when we leave,” he adds. “I wish there were chip mills everywhere. It would change the way people look at loggers. Sometimes we go behind pine crews and chip their block and it looks terrible. Not that they are doing anything wrong, they just don’t have a chipper.”
On The Job Harrison has always known what he wanted to do. “My mommy told me the first toy I asked for when I was a baby was a log truck.” At 18, he stepped out on his own and founded Harrison Logging. In ’87, he added a second crew. A few years after son Tripp, 45, joined the company.
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A mix of logging iron keeps Harrison’s three chippers steadily supplied with material.
In total, the company operates five crews (three chipping and two conventional logging). The chipping crews are set-up similarly, but not identically. One crew runs a 595 Barko loader, two 643L John Deere feller-bunchers, 948L John Deere skidder and 3590 Bandit chipper. One crew runs a Caterpillar 595B loader, DelFab three-wheel fellerbuncher, Cat 555D skidder and 3590 Bandit chipper. The other chipping
Gainesville Still Likes Biomass Construction on the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center (GREC) started in June 2011 and, when completed in October 2013, the $500 million, 102.5 MW biomass power facility began a nearly 10-year roller coaster ride of shutdowns, full-speed operation and acquisition. When the facility began commercial operation, with the intent to use 1 million tons of woody biomass annually, it faced significant scrutiny locally because of the costly and lengthy power purchase agreement between the city and the developers. It then was plagued with other issues ranging from noise complaints to a lawsuit from one of its primary biomass suppliers over feedstock requirements. In late 2017, GREC was sold to Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), a municipal electric utility, owned by the city of Gainesville. This acquisition brought desperately needed diversity to GRU’s power generation portfolio—which has an aggressive long-term renewable energy goal. Renamed Deerhaven Renewable Generating Station (DHR) following GRU’s acquisition, the plant provides reliable markets for fuel providers like Bill Harrison and is helping GRU towards its goal of becoming 100% renewable by 2045 across all generating sites. “The DHR biomass plant is very important to the resolution. When you look at renewable energy in the state of Florida, your two options with current technology are solar and biomass,” Dino De Leo, GRU’s energy supply officer, says. “Biomass is clearly a large portion of the renewable portfolio and will become even larger as we move towards our resolution.” An independent energy services company operated and maintained the plant for two years from 2017-2019, until it transitioned to full GRU staffing in late 2019. Reaching 100% renewable is currently impacted by natural gas pricing. GRU was 42% renewable in 2019 and 32% in 2020, due to the price point of natural gas. “We have a responsibility to our customers to
operate as efficiently and economically as we can, so when natural gas prices fell it did not make sense to run the biomass plant at higher loads,” De Leo says. “We still run it every day, just not at higher loads because we can economically generate those megawatts at a lower cost with natural gas. Our obligation to our customers is to have renewable aspects of our generation but not to the point where it burdens them with higher rates.” De Leo says they tuned down the plant in 2017 from its previous minimum 70 MW load to 30 MW over the span of two months to preserve energy and associated costs. “The plant used to operate anywhere between 70-102.5 MW and did not fit our system very well,” he adds. “When everyone went to bed and load decreased we were dumping power into the grid below the cost of making it.” The plant now uses 30-35 MW on average in the mornings during lower loads and occasionally tops 100 MW in the afternoons based on customer demand and weather patterns. At any one time there’s typically 30,000-40,000 tons of wood on-site that averages 19-30 days of operation—2,400 tons a day full load average. “We can’t keep wood in large quantities because of the decomposition of wood and we have to control the inventory based on needs,” De Leo says. GRU’s integrated resource plan executes different goals and projections for higher renewable percentages with the understanding that technology evolves every seven years or so. He explains, “When you think about the Deerhaven plant, it was put in service in 2013 as a 30year plant and is scheduled to retire in 2043, so you could be looking at possibly two more biomass plants, based on the retirement of Deerhaven. Right now, our integrated resource plan does not call for another biomass plant; we won’t project that until we get there because we want to take advantage of SLT the technology we have.” Southern Loggin’ Times
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One of Harrison’s crews, from left: foreman Kenny Brown, Bill Harrison, Henry Frazier, contract hauler Cedric Maxwell and Gudiel Mendez
The other Harrison crew, from left: foreman Ronnie Aldridge, Bill Harrison, Lonnie Jennings and Juan Cervantes
crew runs a Cat 595B loader, John Deere 843L and 643L fellerbunchers, two 525C Cat skidders and a 3590XL Bandit. Dealer support comes from Ring Power for Caterpillar, the Maxville, Fla. branch of Tidewater for Tigercat, Quality Equipment & Parts in Lake City for Barko, and multiple locations of Beard Equipment for John Deere. Harrison prefers running two crews (one chipping and one conventional) on the job site simultaneously when a clear-cut block is available. “I like to have two crews on the same job; that way the feller-buncher operator can cut everything as they go, put chips in one pile and pine in another, then carry it to whichever loader it needs to go,” he explains. “Pine is too thick to actually go through there and get the chipping wood out first. If you cut the pine first you’ll tear all the chip material down, which makes it a nightmare to pick up. We prefer to run them together.” Harrison Logging utilizes 22 Peerless and ITI chip vans, which under good conditions can be filled in 13-15 minutes. Eight company trucks (a mix of Mack, Western Star, Peterbilt and Kenworth) and 20 contract trucks get the production hauled. In addition to Deerhaven, Harrison hauls pulpwood to GeorgiaPacific, Palatka; WestRock, Maxville; a shavings mill in Cysero, and occasionally Rayonier, Fernandina Beach. Sawlog markets include Resolute Forest Products (Suwanee Lumber), Cross City; West Fraser, Lake Butler; West Fraser, Maxville; and Cross City Lumber, Cross City. Cypress logs are hauled to Cracker Style Log Homes, Williston; South Eastern Timber Corp., Lady Lake, takes mat logs. While the crew hauls to many area mills, it’s clear both Bill and Tripp enjoy producing biomass chips. Tripp explains, “Futurewise were trying to produce more chips as long as the mills are wide open. I was out of town looking for a new chipper just a SLT few weeks ago.” 18
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FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW
Life’s Railway It was a hot day. Maybe hot isn’t the right word. Water boils at 212° F, if my science memory still works. That would be somewhere beyond hot, and the farmer’s pond looked like it was boiling. The thermometer at the local bank had withdrawn into
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the shade of the lobby and even the birds refused to fly! Yet there we were, driving across a farmer’s field to cruise a tract of timber. The sale was to Antill be the next day; and due to various events, we had not
found time to get the fieldwork done until this day. Thus, my partner and I stepped out of the truck into a stifling August heat wave. It takes good timber to make someone do this, or a really good buffet with country cooking close by. Both were present in this case. The timber was well above average: loblolly pine, tall and straight. But underneath
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grew an assortment of vines, saplings, and bushes that seemed impenetrable. With the heat of the day pressing upon us, we knew it would be a long, hot struggle in the brush. Once in the woods, the brush would not allow visibility beyond a few feet, and no breeze could move through it. A two-hour job pushed into five, and thoughts of the buffet were replaced with hopes of seeing our loved ones again. It was in the midst of this dense jungle that we came upon what we thought, at first, had to be a mirage. It was a railroad. Honest! A narrow-gauge set of rails went right through the dense brush under those massive pines. Once we accepted this oddity, we marked our spot and began to push through the bushes to see where they went. Our hope was that they would “spit-us-out” at the truck. But instead, they brought us to the next mirage, a pushcart. It was right there in the middle of that dense jungle. The pushcart had trees growing up through it, as did the tracks. Incredible, the railway at one time had to be wide open to allow such passage. What had happened? Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.”—Jeremiah 6:16 God’s people had turned away from following him, so God called to them through his prophet Jeremiah, asking them to return to him. The path they were on was one of destruction, a path that was leading them away from him, and away from his love. While we can marvel at their wanton abandon-
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ment of God, a God who loved and protected them, we need not look too far to see that we also stand in the same danger. We too, can lose sight of the path God has for us. Failing to follow God’s clear path allows the weeds and brush to grow; and like the old railway, when the pushcart stopped moving, the path began to disappear. As the activity slowed, nature sought to regain its lost ground and ever so slowly, it recaptured the railway,
hiding the path that had provided a means of access. Actively following God keeps the paths of our lives clear and open. Discerning his will in decision-making is so much easier when we are on paths that are cleared. Flash ahead some 10 years from that hot day. On the eastern coast of North Carolina, pushing through a knee-deep swamp, back in the middle of nowhere, another strange railway sight met my eyes. Growing
through several trees was an old rail, still complete with attached iron spikes. It could be followed for about 60 feet before it went underwater. If you go back in time many years, early in the 20th century and even before, you will find that often folks would lay out rails as a means of moving logs out of the swamps. They would put down cross ties or timbers for support, and lay down the rails on top of them, whatever they needed to do to get a railcar
into the swamp for loading. Just this past summer, I found another section of old rail, lying in the brush along a river bed. Here’s what happens to those old paths, the paths that God has cleared for us to walk down. These are the ones he wants to stroll down with us. The King James version of Jeremiah 6 lists them with three “Buts.” But they said we will not walk in it (verse 16). They felt their way was better than God’s. But they said we will not listen (verse 17). They refused to hear his voice. But rejected it (verse 19). They made a conscious decision to turn away from God. Without the activity, the paths that were so clear began to be covered over. Folks forgot where they were; the promises of God were not shared; his mercy not remembered, and a generation was lost. Nature abhors a vacuum. It will put a god in your life and mine if we turn our backs on the Lord. We will lose sight of the path; and when tough times come, it is with anguish that we cry out to a God we abandoned somewhere back in the brush. But it is not all lost. The way can be cleared. The path can be restored, opened up for us to follow. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!—Psalm 119:9 Immerse yourself in God’s Word and the pathways will be clear; easy to follow, and you will find pleasant SLT company along the way. Excerpted from Trees, Traps, and Truth, Bradley Antill, author Available from onatreeforestry.com
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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP As We See It: ALC Provides Great Return on Investment By Scott Dane First and foremost, when the logging industry is successful, all other sectors of the forest products industry succeed. Without a healthy and stable logging and truck- Dane
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ing industry, the rest of the supply chain is compromised, as well as public and private forest management efforts. That is why all sectors of the timber and forest products industry need to be partners with the American
Loggers Council. American Loggers Council is primarily composed of 30 state associations. The average annual dues from these organizations is $5,000 per year. Aside from the national representation and the “strength in numbers,” an example of the return on
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investment can be demonstrated by the value of the ALC Truck Rebate Program. This program provides a direct monetary benefit annually of approximately $500,000 for the loggers and truckers that are members of state associations participating in the program. To learn more about the ALC Truck Rebate program visit www.americanloggers.com/rebates. These truck rebates range from $2,000-$4,000 depending on the manufacturer and model. One $4,000 truck rebate nearly pays for the average state association ALC annual dues and is typically 10 times the state association membership dues paid individually by loggers and truckers. American Loggers Council was instrumental in securing the $200 million Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers (PATHH). Based on simple math, each timber producing state would receive approximately $5 million for loggers and truckers that qualify. This is a return on investment for the states that are members of the American Loggers Council, based on annual dues average of $5,000, of 1,000%! The American timber industry is more than just loggers and truckers—it takes equipment manufacturers, insurance services, fuel vendors, parts suppliers, tire companies, financial institutions, other associations, landowners and land managers. Working together the timber industry can be more effective and successful. In order to broaden the partnerships and support, the American Loggers Council has developed the Associate Membership category that will allow for membership opportunities for manufacturers, timber consumers, suppliers, other organizations and landowners at various levels. To learn more, and become an Associate Member of the American Loggers Council, visit the American Loggers Council website at www.amloggers.com or by email at scott.dane@amloggers.com. Additionally, the American Loggers Council has a logger/trucker individual membership option if you are not a member of a state association, or in a state that does not have a state association. These levels of membership range from $100-$400 per year. However, the American Loggers Council supports our state association members and encourages all loggers and truckers to become members of their state associations. All business investment must be weighed against the return on that investment. The American Loggers Council has proven that the return
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on investment of membership, support and sponsorship provides a direct positive impact to loggers and truckers, and the timber industry as a whole. Join today and invest where it makes a difference!
Scott Dane is the Executive Director of the American Loggers Council. ALC is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests of timber harvesting and timber hauling businesses across the United States. For more information visit www.amloggers.com.
Log Trailer Business Boomed Under Pitts
Andrew Pitts, right, with son, Jeff, in 1991
Pitts Enterprises founder and former CEO, Andrew Pitts, Jr., who led the company’s tremendous growth in the log trailer manufacturing business based in his hometown of Pittsview, Ala., died July 16. He was 90. Pitts grew up in Pittsview and attended Auburn University. He worked in his family’s businesses for several years, and formed East Alabama Trucks for hauling byproducts for sawmills in the area. He built his first logging trailer in 1976 and it turned out so well that the company soon found itself building a couple of trailers per month. By 1981 the trailer business was producing 100 trailers annually and was soon up to 300 per year and expanding its dealer network, while bringing Andrew’s son, Jeff, into the business. “I think we boomed because the time was right for us and because we
know how to market our products,” Pitts stated in an article in Southern Loggin’ Times in 1991. “Most anyone can build a pretty good product, but marketing is the thing.” The company ultimately became one of the top 10 trailers manufacturers in the country. “Andrew Pitts was a pioneer who moved the industry forward with his innovations,” says Pitts Trailers President JP Pierson. “He leaves behind a strong legacy of hard work and belief in doing the right thing that will impact his family, his hometown, his company and the overall industry for decades to come.” Pitts will continue as a family business with Andrew’s son, Jeff Pitts, who has led the company as CEO since 2002. “My father never forgot his roots,” Pitts says. “He invested in people—from his family and friends to his employees and customers. He built this business on innovation, quality and value. He instilled those ideals in Pitts Enterprises, and they will live on.” Andrew Pitts served his community as a member of the United Methodist Church, Chairman of the Republican Party of Russell County and a founding member of the Pittsview Civic Society. He enjoyed rooting for the Auburn Tigers and playing golf in his free time. Pitts is survived by his wife Jean Pitts, his three children and seven grandchildren. A graveside funeral service was held at the Pittsview Cemetery on July 21. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Pittsview Cemetery Fund, P.O. Box 127, Pittsview, Alabama, 36871.
Pandemic Assistance For Loggers, Truckers Loggers across the U.S. learned they can immediately apply for U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) pandemic assistance through October 15. The Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers program (PATHH) is administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. The program is part of USDA’s overall Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. Loggers and truckers can apply for PATHH by completing form FSA-1118, Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers Program application, and certifying to their gross revenue for 2019 and 2020 on the application. Additional documentation may be required. Visit farmers.gov/pathh for more information on how to apply. Applications can be submitted to the FSA office at any USDA Service Center nationwide by mail, fax, hand delivery, or via electronic means. To find a local FSA office, loggers and
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truckers can visit farmers.gov/service-locator. They can also call 877508-8364 to speak directly with a USDA employee ready to offer assistance. The PATHH provides up to $200 million in total to provide relief to timber harvesting and timber hauling
businesses that experienced losses due to COVID-19. Timber harvesting and hauling businesses that experienced a gross revenue loss of at least 10% during the period of January 1 to December 1, 2020, compared to the same in 2019, are encouraged to apply.
To be eligible for payments, individuals or legal entities must be a timber harvesting or timber hauling business where 50% or more of its gross revenue is derived from one or more of the following: cutting timber; transporting timber; or processing of wood on-site on the forestland
(chipping, grinding, converting to biochar, cutting to smaller lengths, etc.). Payments will be based on the applicant’s gross revenue received from January 1, 2019, through December 1, 2019, minus gross revenue received during the same period in 2020, multiplied by 80%. FSA will issue an initial payment equal to the lesser of the calculated payment amount or $2,000 as applications are approved. A second payment will be made after the signup period has ended based upon remaining PATHH funds. The maximum amount that a person or legal entity may receive directly is $125,000. “Like many facets of the agriculture industry, the logging industry has experienced its share of financial hardships throughout the pandemic,” says FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “We’re happy to work with the U.S. Forest Service to develop this new program to provide critically needed support.”
Astec Consolidates Product Branding Astec Industries, Inc. is launching a new modern look with a rebranding initiative to coincide with its business model. The rebrand in-
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cludes a new logo, color palette and web site. The launch comes while the organization streamlines its internal structure and operations to improve efficiency and drive growth. The organization’s former brands,
including Peterson, Astec Inc., Astec do Brasil, Astec Australia, BMH Systems, Breaker Technology, Carlson Paving, Con-E-Co, Heatec, KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens, Osborn, RexCon, Roadtec and Tel-
smith, will no longer operate as separate subsidiary companies and will all take on the ASTEC name. The unification is a significant part of the company’s OneASTEC business model including its “Simplify,
Focus and Grow” strategy. The new web site (www.astecin dustries.com) replaces the previous subsidiary web sites. Dealers, customers, suppliers and consumers will be able to find information about the company, its product offerings and other resources in one location.
Forest Services Names Moore As 20th Chief Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that Randy Moore will serve as the 20th Chief of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service. Moore will serve as the first African American to hold the role of Chief of the Forest Service. Current Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen is retiring and will collaborate with Moore on the leadership transition. Moore has been serving as Regional Forester in the Pacific Southwest Region in California since 2007 where he has responsibility for 18 national forests, covering onefifth of the state on 20 million acres. Additionally, he oversees state and private forestry programs in Hawaii
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and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. Previously Moore served as the Regional Forester for the Eastern Region headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis. Moore started his career in conservation in 1978 with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in North Dakota. His Forest Service career began on the Pike and San Isabel national forests in Colorado and the Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands in Kansas. He served as Deputy Forest Supervisor
on the national forests of North Carolina and the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri before serving as Forest Supervisor of the Mark Twain National Forest. Moore also has national-level experience in Washington, DC, serving as acting Associate Deputy Chief for the National Forest System and the National Deputy Soils Program Manager. Moore earned a bachelor’s degree in plant and soil science from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. Christiansen announced her retire-
ment after a 40-year career as a professional forester, wildland firefighter, and land manager including 11 years of service at the Forest Service.
Oregon’s Roseburg Plans Sawmill In NC Roseburg Forest Products continues to expand operations in the Southeast U.S. with the recent announcement it will build a 400 MMBF annual production capacity,
375,000 sq. ft. facility on 200 acres in Weldon, NC in Halifax County. The sawmill operation, which will be called Roanoke Valley Lumber, is expected to begin site work in early 2022 with startup expected in the fourth quarter 2022. “Low interest rates, a surge in home remodeling, and growing demand for single-family housing are pushing the industry to increase domestic lumber production capacity as quickly as possible,” Roseburg President and CEO Grady Mulbery says. Roseburg is already the largest private timberland owner in the Roanoke Valley area, following its 2017 purchase of 158,000 acres of timberland in North Carolina and Virginia. Once completed, the mill will also make Roseburg a significant employer in the area, with 137 new jobs anticipated over the first two years.
Bagasse-Based Pellet Facility Is Possible Delta Biofuel CEO Philip Keating is evaluating Iberia Parish, La. for a $70 million residual sugarcane fiber-based pellet plant. It would create 126 direct jobs in the Acadiana region. Keating says Delta has secured long-term supplies of feedstock bagasse, which can be processed into pellets and used alongside, or in lieu of, industrial wood pellets in power generation. Bagasse fuel pellets are lower cost alternatives to typical wood pellets, Keating says, and also result in greater reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, or GHGs. The Jeanerette facility would produce up to 300,000 metric tons of bagasse fuel pellets annually. The company would source all excess bagasse from four nearby sugar mills in Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin parishes. Additionally, Delta has engaged European and Asian energy production facilities for multi-year commitments to purchase the fuel pellets.
Westervelt Sells Pellet Interests Drax is acquiring Westervelt’s 20% minority interest in Alabama Pellets, LLC—the joint venture that owns pellet plants in Demopolis and Aliceville, Ala.—for $29.7 million. The acquisition increases Drax’s interest in Alabama Pellets to 90% and provides Drax with economic control over a further 130,000 tonnes of pellet production capacity per year. Drax gained majority control of the two pellet plants when it purchased Pinnacle Renewable Energy 36
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earlier this year. Westervelt, a substantial timberlands owner and operator of two sawmills, had originally built the Aliceville plant and subsequently sold the majority control of it to Pinnacle, while maintaining a 20% arrangement with Pinnacle in both the Aliceville and Demopolis plants, which carried over when Drax purchased Pinnacle. Drax has been in discussions with Alabama Pellets joint venture partners regarding future working relationships, including their minority interests. The remaining joint venture partner, Two Rivers Lumber Co., LLC, still holds a 10% economic interest.
Morbark Gains Sourcewell Contract Morbark, LLC and its affiliated brands Rayco Manufacturing, Denis Cimaf, and Boxer Equipment have been awarded a cooperative purchasing contract with Sourcewell in the Tree Maintenance Equipment, Attachments, and Accessories category. Sourcewell is a self-sustaining government organization offering a cooperative purchasing program with more than 400 competitively solicited contracts to government, education and nonprofit entities throughout North America. By utilizing Sourcewell contracts, participating agencies save time and money by capturing the buying power of more than 50,000 organizations. Morbark’s contract with Sourcewell includes the complete lines of Eeger Beever brush chippers, Rayco stump cutters, horizontal and tub grinders, forestry mulchers, mulching attachments, as well as Boxer miniskid steers, Rayco articulated wheel loaders, and attachments. Morbark’s network of approximately 300 North American dealer and distributor locations, as well as nearly 700 combined Morbark employees, work diligently to provide exceptional customer service and after-the-sale support. Learn more about Sourcewell and its contract with Morbark at source well-mn.gov.
Gray Logging Is FRA 2021 Winner The Forest Resources Assn. and Stihl Inc. honored Gray Logging, LLC from Madison, Fla., as the National Outstanding Logger at FRA’s 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting on May 19th. A large group of family, friends, and colleagues attended the virtual meeting to watch former FRA Chairman Lee Alexander of International Paper honor Jerry Gray during the Zoom session. Gray received an honorary wooden plaque
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and a $1,000 check from Stihl. Gray Logging was one of five regional finalists for the prestigious national award. Jerry praised his father, W.C. Gray, who started the business in 1971, and his wife, Ginger, who is active in the business’s day-to-day operations. “I’ve always said that I have the best employees in the Southeastern U.S., and now I can say that I have the best employees in the nation,” Jerry said. “It is a great honor, and I’m so proud and humbled.” Jerry is a 40-year veteran of the timber industry, a Florida Master Logger, and a Certified Tree Farmer. He is the current Vice President of the Southeastern Wood Producers Assn. and a member of both the Florida Forestry Assn. and the American Loggers Council. The entire Gray family is active in their local community by sponsoring a college scholarship fund, a week-long hunting and fishing trip for combat marines and their children (including a tour of local logging operations and consuming mills), and routinely sponsoring Fellowship of Christian Athletes and little league ball teams. Furthermore, Jerry was the driving force behind the creation of a CDL Driving School at a local community college, and he actively contributes to the Log a Load for Kids program. Gray Logging, LLC was Florida District Logger of The Year in 1999, 2000, 2004, and 2010, Florida Logger of the Year in 2010 and FRA Southeastern Region Outstanding Logger in 2010 and 2020.
Hunt, Tolko Plan Second Sawmill Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries Ltd. announced they will build a $240 million sawmill in Bienville Parish, near Taylor, La. Construction is expected to start in early 2022, and the new facility will employ 60 when operations begin in the first half of 2023. The sawmill will employ 130 when it is operating at full capacity. “We are excited to be bringing our second high-tech sawmill, and the skilled jobs it will provide, to Louisiana, and to provide a local outlet for the massive inventory of southern yellow pine that exists in this state,” says James D. Hunt, coowner and vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Hunt Forest Products. The mill will prioritize buying timber locally, and it is estimated that the mill will require 1.3 million tons of wood annually to produce 320MMBF of lumber annually. The facility will be located on 255 acres including the existing Taylor sawmill site and some adjacent timberland. Tolko Industries, based in ➤ 45
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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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RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!! In addition to new machines, CHAMBERS DELIMBINATOR, INC. now has factory reconditioned DeLimbinators. These units have been inspected, repaired, and updated as needed. Call us and we will help you select a DeLimbinator for your need.
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38 ➤Vernon, British Columbia, partnered with Hunt Forest Products to build a sawmill in Urania, La. that began operations in 2018. Similar to the Urania sawmill, Tolko will own a 50% share, as will Hunt, and the mill will be managed and operated by Hunt on a day-to-day basis. “Our first venture into the United States was in partnership with Hunt Forest Products, a family-owned company like ours, and that has been very successful,” says Brad Thorlakson, Tolko president and CEO. “So we are looking forward to working with the Hunt family again.” In addition to direct employment at the mill, Louisiana Economic Development estimates the new sawmill will result in 387 indirect jobs. Louisiana Economic Development began working with Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries on a new sawmill in northwest Louisiana in October 2020. To secure the project, the state of Louisiana offered the companies a competitive incentive package that includes the comprehensive services of LED FastStart–a workforce development program. FastStart will work in coordination with Bossier Parish Community College to build and equip the local workforce with the skills required for the new state-of the-art sawmill. The
package also includes a performancebased grant of $2 million, subject to the companies reaching specified investment and payroll benchmarks.
ReGenerate Purchases Biomass Power Facility ReGenerate Energy Holdings, LLC , the recently formed joint venture between Ember Infrastructure and ReEnergy Biomass Operations LLC, has completed the acquisition of Albany Green Energy, a biomass heat-and-power facility located in Albany, Ga. from a subsidiary of Exelon Generation Co. LLC. The Albany Green Energy facility, also known as “AGE,” uses woody biomass from mill residue, forestry waste, recycling and agricultural waste sourced within a 75-mile radius of the facility to provide 50 MW of electricity to Georgia Power, process steam to the nearby Procter & Gamble paper products facility, and process steam that is used to generate electricity for the nearby U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Base. The facility’s 25 employees will join the ReEnergy team. ReGenerate plans to continue the expansion of its platform across North America to deliver sustainable
bioenergy products to utilities, corporations and other partners. “We particularly look forward to joining the robust bioeconomy in the state of Georgia, where biomass energy is embraced as a key component of the state’s renewable energy portfolio and represents half of its total renewable electricity generation,” says Larry Richardson, CEO of ReEnergy Holdings LLC. Ember and ReEnergy formed ReGenerate in April 2021. ReEnergy, founded in 2008, is a wholly owned subsidiary of ReEnergy Holdings LLC, which, in addition to the Maine facilities, owns ReEnergy Black River, a 60 MW biomass power facility located on the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum installation near Watertown, NY, and ReSource Waste Services LLC. Ember, founded in 2018, is a New York-based private equity firm delivering capital solutions to businesses and assets seeking to reduce carbon intensity and enhance resource efficiency.
Power Equip. Expands Footprint in Virginia Power Equipment Co., headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., has been
named the authorized Komatsu distributor in eight more counties in southwest Virginia. In addition to Washington County and Bristol City, the counties of Lee, Wise, Scott, Dickenson, Buchanan, Russell, Tazewell, and Smyth are now serviced by Power Equipment. The Power Equipment branch in Kingsport, Tenn. will service these counties. Chris Gaylor, President of Power Equipment, says, “We take great pride in our relationship with Komatsu and we are pleased that we get to expand our customer base in southwest Virginia.” Matt McQueen, Regional Sales Manager for the East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia region, agrees. “It is truly exciting to be involved in increasing Power Equipment’s territory in the southwest Virginia region. Power has proven success with Komatsu products and services and I look forward to working with the current customer base as well as grow Komatsu’s presence in this area.” Power Equipment is pleased to have Chad Sluss, Sales Representative, join the company and continue to service this region. Chad has been in southwest Virginia over 15 years selling and supporting the Komatsu brand. Power Equipment Company is a subsidiary of Bramco Inc.
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ADVERTISER American Loggers Council American Truck Parts Around The World Salvage B & G Equipment Bandit Industries Big John Trailers BITCO Insurance BKT USA Caterpillar Dealer Promotion Eastern Surplus Flint Equipment FMI Trailers Forest Chain Corp Forestry First Forestry Mutual Insurance Forestry Systems G & W Equipment G&R Manufactured Solutions Hawkins & Rawlinson Interstate Tire Service Iron Horse Auction K&R Weigh Systems Kaufman Trailers NC 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 Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show Midsouth Forestry Equipment Moore Logging Supply Morbark Pitts Trailers Ponsse North America Prolenc Manufacturing Puckett Machinery Quality Equipment & Parts Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers River Ridge Equipment Southern Loggers Cooperative Stribling Equipment Tidewater Equipment Tigercat Industries TRACT TraxPlus VPG Onboard Weighing W & W Truck & Tractor Waratah Forestry Attachments Waters International Trucks Yancey Brothers Yokohama Off-Highway Tires America
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COMING EVENTS August 11-13—Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Expo, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 504-443-4464; visit sfpaexpo.com. 13-14—Southwest Forest Products Expo, Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501-2242232; visit arkloggers.com. 24-26—Louisiana Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Resort, Lake Charles, La. Call 318-443-2558; visit laforestry.com. 31-September 2—Florida Forestry Assn. Annual Meeting & Trade Show, Sheraton Golf & Spa Resort, Panama City Beach, Fla. Call 850222-5646; visit floridaforest.org.
September 8-10—Tennessee Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Westin Hotel, Chattanooga, Tenn. Call 615-883-3832; visit tnforestry.com. 9-11—Great Lakes Logging & Heavy Equipment Expo, UP State Fairgrounds, Escanaba, Mich. Call 715-282-5828; visit gltpa.org. 12-14—Alabama Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach, Ala. Call 334-265-8733; visit alaforestry.org.
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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. 17-19—Virginia Forest Products Assn. Annual Conference, Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, Roanoke, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit vfpa.net. 22-24—National Hardwood Lumber Assn. Convention & Exhibit Showcase, Palm Beach County Convention Center, West Palm Beach, Fla. Call 901-377-1818; visit nhla.com. 28-Oct. 1—Virginia Forestry Summit, Hotel Madison, Harrisonburg, Va. Call 804-278-8733; visit vaforestry.org. 29-October 1, 2021—North Carolina Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Grandover Resort & Conference Center, Greensboro, NC. Call 800231-7723; visit ncforestry.org.
October 5-7—Arkansas Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Rogers, Ark. Call 501-374-2441; visit arkforests.org. 6—TEAM Safe Trucking annual meeting, The Coeur d' Alene Resort, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Call 207-8410250; visit teamsafetrucking.com. 7-9—American Loggers Council annual meeting, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Call 409-625-0206; visit amloggers.com. 19-21—Texas Forestry Assn. annual meeting, The Fredonia Hotel & Conference Center, Nacogdoches, Tex. Call 936-632-8733; visit texas forestry.org.
March 2022 16-18—2022 SLMA & SFPA Spring Meeting & Expo, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, La. Call 504-4434464; visit slma.org. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.
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