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Vol. 43, No. 12

(Founded in 1972—Our 507th Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S

DECEMBER 2014 A Hatton-Brown Publication

Phone: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525 www.southernloggintimes.com

Joey Johns Storm Timber Salvage

Justin Foster Sand Pine Clearing

Co-Publisher Co-Publisher Chief Operating Officer Executive Editor Editor-in-Chief Western Editor Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Production Manager Ad Production Coordinator Circulation Director

David H. Ramsey David (DK) Knight Dianne C. Sullivan David (DK) Knight Rich Donnell Dan Shell David Abbott Jessica Johnson Jay Donnell Cindy Segrest Patti Campbell Rhonda Thomas

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out front:

Plains Logging Diversified Coleman Family

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Business-minded partners Ricky Freeman, Jamie Galvan and Lenn Morris have grown their company, Forest Energies LLC, from an idea to a major player in just a few short years by doing things their own way. Story begins on PAGE 8. (Kristin Freeman photo)

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

D E PA RT M E N T S Southern Stumpin’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Industry News Roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2014 Editorial Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 At The Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 IronWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Coming Events/Ad Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca International Murray Brett Tel: +34 96 640 4165 Fax: +34 96 640 4022 Aldea de las Cuevas 66 Buzon 60 • 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Bridget DeVane Tel: 1-800-669-5613 • Fax: 334-834-4525

Southern Logginʼ 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 nonqualified 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—TOLLFREE 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 Logginʼ 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 Logginʼ Times. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2014. 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 Logginʼ Times, P.O. Box 5613, Montgomery, AL 36103-5613 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 DK Knight • Executive Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: dk@hattonbrown.com

Jim Mooney: Small Man, Giant Leader M

emorial services for James Edward (Jim) Mooney II, Executive Director of the Virginia Loggers Assn. (VLA) and well known national logger activist, were held November 1 in Charlottesville, Va. Jim, 55, died October 27, some 14 months after he was informed that he had lung cancer. My wife Jane and I were part of the assembly, and I had the doubleedged honor of assisting in his eulogy. We had visited with Jim and most of his family just a week before, and Jim Mooney at that time, he was sitting up, talking, and even laughing. We had anticipated a sad visit but it turned out to be just the opposite. Jim intended for it to be that way. My friendship with Jim didn’t span that many years but it had developed into a deep, enduring bond. It accelerated in 1999 when Jim, then president of the American Loggers Council (ALC), hosted the organization’s annual meeting. A year later, at the ALC’s annual meeting in Beaumont, Tex., and several months after he had exited the logging business, I approached him about writing a column for Timber Harvesting magazine, a companion to SLT, surmising that his logging experience and ongoing appreciation for loggers and logging would benefit many of our subscribers. The first Mooney’s Corner appeared in May 2001.

Writer, Leader, Giver, Organizer Jim’s writing skills were not that refined but it was clear he poured his heart and soul into the effort and longed for improvement. He was easy to coach and soon his work became more polished. One of his most creative and memorable pieces, titled On The Horizon…A Logger Union, was a fictional account of events that led to the development of a logger’s union in the Southeast. He loved it when his work resulted in subscriber feedback, and he soon learned that praise and criticism came with the territory. He handled both with the grace of a Virginia gentleman. His work helped make our publications more valuable and useful to many subscribers. Jim’s loyalty to our corporate parent, HattonBrown Publishers, manifested itself in other ways. For almost a decade he interviewed loggers and sawmill owners/managers and wrote feature stories for several of our publications, including this one. On a few occasions when I could not make it to the annual meeting of the ALC, he ably stood in for me in presenting the Timber Harvesting Logging Business of the Year Award. The writing arrangement was cut short by the dark economic clouds of late 2008, which forced us to quickly cut costs. I remember making that painful call. Jim did not welcome the news but 6

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understood. While our communications became less frequent, we remained steadfast friends. Of all Jim’s attributes, his ability as a leader was perhaps the most pronounced. John C. Maxwell, the best selling author and speaker on leadership, defines a leader as “one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” That was Jim. He became an Eagle Scout at the minimum age of 13, some two years earlier than the average Boy Scout achieves this status, as I understand it. After earning a forestry degree at Virginia Tech in 1982, the next year he co-founded Piedmont Thinning and Harvesting, Inc. and operated the company for many years. A quick review of his life’s journey reveals that in a world of takers, Jim was prone to be a giver. He joined the local volunteer fire department and rescue squad, became an EMT, helped organize and later captain a swift water rescue team. He always traveled with rescue and first aid paraphernalia at the ready, and pushed the importance of safety and first aid training on logging operations. A small man, Jim was known for his calm demeanor, self-confidence, commitment, and ability to get things done. He was instrumental in getting the Virginia Logging Council organized, and served as its first president. This group was the genesis of the VLA, of which he was also the first president. He later was hired as VLA’s first executive director, serving with only partial compensation for several years. In 1994 Jim was one of 44 loggers and logging association executives who hammered out the framework of the ALC. He helped write bylaws for the ALC, was a member of its first board of directors and rose through the ranks to serve as the group’s fifth president. Jim remained steadfast in his commitment to the organization after his years as an officer were behind him. He attended most spring and summer board meetings and never missed an annual meeting until 2013. He remained involved at the committee level. Moreover, he was a strong advocate on legislative issues and led the Virginia contingency during the ALC’s annual lobbying visits to Washington. At the same time, he was a huge supporter of Log-a-Load for Kids, serving the cause in local, state and national capacities. A good friend is a person with whom you can have no contact for weeks, but when you do phone them, it seems like you talked with them only yesterday. To me, Jim was that kind of friend, that kind of person. Whether family, friend, or associate, we will all miss him, perhaps more tomorrow than today. Let us fill the void he left by remembering the passionate person and

leader he was, his giving spirit, what he stood for, and what he accomplished. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to either the Hospice of the Piedmont, 675 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Suite 300, Charlottesville, VA 22911; or to the Jim Mooney Scholarship Fund, Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation. Checks for the latter should be made payable to the Virginia Tech Foundation Inc. and sent to the Office of Gift Accounting (0336), University Gateway Center, Virginia Tech, 902 Prices Fork Rd., Blacksburg, VA 24061.

Jim Mooney In The Words Of Others “Jim was there from the beginning of the American Loggers Council. His steadfast determination in seeking better opportunities for professional timber harvesters never faltered, and without his leadership during those formative years, the American Loggers Council would not have become the “National Voice for Loggers” that it is. Jim was a leader among leaders and his presence and input at our Board of Directors meetings will be sorely missed.”—Danny Dructor, Executive Vice President, ALC “As a former logger Jim was determined to be a part of an association that would work for the logger. He made sure the battles and hardships of loggers were always addressed. I worked 15 years with Jim, 12 of that being from the beginning of the VLA until now. He will be missed as a friend, and his dedication and leadership will surely be missed.”—Judd Smith, President, Virginia Loggers Assn. “Jim and I were not only very close friends but counterparts for many years. We both followed similar career paths in the forest industry. Our friendship went back 20 or so years and we shared many good times and a few bad times. Jim considered his presidency of the ALC and his leadership of the VLA more than just a job; it was his passion. To his family, please know that your dad and son and brother, and my friend, will be greatly missed and that all of us in this business will always be thankful for what he did for this industry.”—Joe Allen, former Executive Director, Southeastern Wood Producers Assn. “What struck me vividly about Jim in those early formative years of the ALC was the way he handled himself. Some business meetings could become contentious and boisterous, but Jim pushed past words and barbs, stayed in control, and remained focused on the task at hand. My heart goes out to his children—Maggie, Jonathan, and Emily. Your father was a good man and a good friend.”—Ken SLT Swanstrom, former President, ALC

DECEMBER 2014 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

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Forest Energies’ Way ■ Rapidly growing Alabama timber company brings discipline to the business. By Connie Ness JASPER, Ala. ★ orest Energies LLC is not a traditional Southern logging company. This is not a story about a family business passed from one generation to

the next; it is a story about a company that has some smart ideas about running a timber company. Forest Energies is a vertically integrated timber company that buys standing timber in lump sum contracts and then harvests and hauls the wood to market. “People ask me, are ya’ll a timber

broker? I say, yes. Are you loggers? I say, well, we’re a harvesting company. What are you mainly? At the end of the day, we’re really a hauling company,” says Ricky Freeman, president. This wasn’t how the company first operated in 2012 when Freeman and CEO Lenn Morris

The Tide crew brought in additional men and equipment to clear this 600-acre plantation in Walker County, Ala. in just over 12 weeks. The tract yielded more than 2,000 loads.

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founded the business. In the early days, they bought the timber and subcontracted the harvesting and hauling. “But to do the volumes to have the return on investment we wanted to see, we needed to be a true supply chain partner to our mills,” Morris says. CFO Jamie Galvan adds that the company

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became an end-to-end supplier also out of necessity when reliable harvesting and hauling sources were hard to find. Within the first year they started building their own crews, and soon realized they had to do the same with trucking. Forest Energies is also different in the discipline it brings to the business. “We’re used to having roles and responsibilities. I compare it to GE. As a GE employee there are certain things you know you’re expected to do and that you’ll be measured and rewarded on,” Galvan explains. “We’re working on the Forest Energies way. We have a way of doing things. We have a vision, we have a message, we have a path and how we’re going to get there.” Adds Freeman: “Wal-Mart fig-

ured out how to do it bigger and cheaper. That’s what we’re working on.”

Backstory Morris and Freeman travelled different paths to the founding of Forest Energies. Upon graduation from the University of Alabama, Morris joined Tractor & Equipment Co. (T&E) in 1978. In 1989 he launched his own equipment company, which was sold to a Japanese trading company in 1995. He served as its Alabama president for two years and then re-joined T&E as vice president. After a successful stint with T&E he retired in 2010. “But with great friends and contacts in the up-and-coming energy and

biomass field, retirement didn’t stick,” Morris laughs. Morris collaborated with a friend on a potential deal to supply wood pellets to a major energy supplier in Europe. But after much work and negotiation they could not come to an agreement on pricing. Morris wasn’t ready to give up on biomass, however, so he partnered with Freeman to research the domestic market. They conducted an experiment with a power company, blending wood chips with coal. “The experiment was a success technically, but economically it didn’t work,” Morris says. “But Ricky and I thought there still could be some opportunity for us. If we could put some

real business disciplines and the right capital in place, we felt we could build a good, consistent wood source for large mills in the western part of Alabama.” Morris brought the business discipline and, with 26 years in the wood business, Freeman brought that know-how to the newly formed Forest Energies. “Been here my whole life, so I know everything there is to know about the wood business in this and surrounding areas,” he says. “I’ve owned my own timber company. I had my own harvesting crews. I had my own trucking crews.” Jamie Galvan came into the partnership about a year later. He had been in charge of service

Ricky Freeman, Lenn Morris and Jamie Galvan visit one of the company's six crews.

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Cat 522B performed well on a steep tract that other harvesting outfits had passed over.

mining acquisitions for Walter Energy, a major metallurgical coal company. “We needed to have a true chief financial officer because of the volume of the business we were doing. You can’t do that from the kitchen table,” Morris explains. “And because we were buying large tracts of timber for lump sums, the accounting, which includes depletion schedules, was critical.”

Forest Energies Today The company has 84 employees, including five timber buyers, six harvesting crews, a truck dispatcher, 36 truck drivers and three mechanics. In addition to the Jasper office, there is an operations center and fuel dump in Jasper to dispatch and maintain equipment, another fuel dump and truck depot in Samantha, Ala. and wood yards in Samantha, and Columbus, Miss. (currently inactive). At the business core of the entity are detailed expense tracking, controls at every step in the process, and daily profitability forecasting. The profit and loss for each crew is calculated on a monthly basis. “We know when a crew is not making money, so we know where we need to make changes,” Freeman says. “Does a crew need more trucks? Do they need an extra guy? What’s the 10

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cost going to be? Will it make us more profitable?” With historical data on harvesting and hauling costs, the company can project profitability with a high degree of accuracy before it buys a tract. “We know how many tons per acre a tract will produce, how many loads we can do in a week, what the labor, fuel, insurance and hauling costs will be. And we know what our return on investment needs to be, so we know what we’ve got to get to make it work,” Galvan says. The company has controls in place to track expenses on a micro level. “We require a significant amount of information every day from each of our business segments—harvesting, hauling and brokerage—so we can see just how the company performs on a daily basis. Given the thin margins in the industry, having the ability to act and not be reacting is very important to us,” Galvan says. Take fuel, for example. “I don’t know of another timber company in Alabama that keeps up with the cost the way we do. We track how many gallons are used, as well as what goes into each machine and truck every day,” Freeman says. Drivers and machine operators swipe a card when they refuel at one of two fuel depots. The company hedges on rising fuel costs by locking in a price and

committing to buy a specified amount—well over $1 million this year. “By doing this, we’re buying our fuel at a big discount, less than what others are paying at the pump,” Freeman says. “And we’ve grown so fast, there’s no risk we have purchased too much. We’re already well past the million dollar point.” How did Forest Energies grow zero to 60 in just a couple years? Credit great employees and access to capital. Morris is the majority stockholder and Freeman and Galvan are partners and stockholders. The company has a banking relationship with Bart McBride, senior vice president of ServisFirst Bank, Birmingham. Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. provided financing for harvesting equipment. “We have a road show, a presentation that says who we are, what we do and how we’re going to get there. Cat Financial told us they’ve never had a timber company make a presentation like ours before. I talk really fast because I’m a Yankee, but these guys are learning to understand me,” Galvan laughs.

Productivity Forest Energies has the capacity for a run rate of over 500,000 tons per year, and it projects getting

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close to that this year. The production goal for the basic three-man harvesting crews—cutter, skidder and loader—is 50 to 70 loads a week. On average they produce 5565 loads. The largest crew has a track cutter, two skidders and two loaders. Ratio of hardwood to soft is about 50/50 and thinning to clearcutting is 30/70. Tracts need to produce around 200 loads, and no less than 150, for Forest Energies to send in one of its own crews. All other tracts are subcontracted. Cat equipment dominates in the woods and on the wood yard. The lineup includes three 573C wheel feller-bunchers, one 522B track buncher, five 535C skidders, five 559C loaders and one 320D FM loader. It is running one of the pilot Cat D Series skidders and has two 525Ds on order. The company also has some John Deere equipment: 843K wheel feller-buncher, 748H skidder and a 437D log loader. Six Komatsu D65-17 bulldozers carve and maintain roads. “Cat equipment helps us out in many ways. We operate our equipment in some extreme conditions and they deliver day in and day out. It is one thing to be able to produce, but the equipment also needs to be able to produce on a cost basis as well. Our Cat machines have done a good job producing at a cost per ton

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This year Forest Energies tested a new Cat D Series skidder and eventually ordered two 525s.

rate in line with what was advertised before buying our fleet,” Galvan says. Galvan describes the company’s relationship with Caterpillar Forest Products and Cat dealer Thompson Tractor, headquartered in Birmingham, as a “partnership” that’s key to their business. “It really is about the support after the sale because there’s no bad equipment out there any more. The more communication there is, the fewer problems there are for everybody. We want everybody in Thompson and Caterpillar to be involved in what we’re doing and know the company,” he says. Freeman adds, “We couldn’t do what we do without them. The product support guys are on our job sites about every two weeks, and we have a weekly conference call with Thompson to go over the status of every machine.” Beyond the service support, the Caterpillar Forest Products Global Solutions Team has been working with Forest Energies to improve harvesting operations. The company first enlisted the team’s help when it was looking at a tract in northern Alabama that others had passed on because of the terrain—33° slope on average and as steep as 45° in some areas. Forest Energies asked Caterpillar how they could make it work, because the tract could be a

great project in the rainy season when more gentle tracts are too wet to work. Thompson and Caterpillar engineers worked with Forest Energies to find the best solution. They presented detailed simulations and cycle time comparisons that illustrated higher production and lower cost per ton that would be achieved switching to a Cat 522B track feller-buncher fitted with a HF201B head, and adding two skidders. “They brought the 522B out here and ran it for two weeks themselves and demonstrated how it’s going to produce,” Galvan recalls. “It wasn’t like when you buy a car and they give you the keys and say see you

later. They came out and they trained our guys and showed us best practices. We were the first company in north central Alabama to run the 522B.” Morris adds, “Their boots on the ground and their expertise have helped us understand how to better use our machines to get more productivity.” For example, Morris tells how optimizing skid trails and training the skidder operator on pulling in the correct gear, depending on the load, has reduced fuel consumption up to 7%. He says the Caterpillar team also taught their loader operators to use the economy mode. “Every operator we had just put it in power mode no matter

Truck fleet, now 36 strong, is moving toward standardizing around the Kenworth T880.

what we were loading,” he explains. “Now with their help, we’ve educated our loader operators and we’ve seen a significant drop in fuel consumption.” The company also uses Cat Product Link, Caterpillar’s telematics system, and VisionLink, its user interface. Darryl Morris, general manager (no relation to Lenn Morris), receives e-mails on his cell phone to alert him to machine issues and to keep up with regular maintenance. Tracking fuel burn is another advantage of the system.

Harvesting Crews In general, the company does not hire in-woods workers who have never operated forestry equipment. Currently, they are finding the experience they require. “There are enough loggers going out of business that we’ve been able to give them a job and build our crews,” Freeman says. New workers are trained on the job under the supervision of the crew leader or foreman. Crew leaders are not responsible for hiring, firing or crew assignments. Darryl Morris does all that. “We can take that part of the decision-making away from our crew leaders. They also don’t need to worry about where they’re going to get their fuel or parts,” or

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Cat crew, from left: Leland Lowery, foreman-cutter; and Dustin Sellers, skidder. Not pictured: David Sloan, loader

parts, Freeman says. “They don’t have to worry about anything but getting to the woods and back, and picking up who they’re supposed to pick up. The direction is the same every day: You’ve got trucks coming; do as many loads as you can.” This support is one reason Forest Energies is able to operate threeman crews “that produce as much as four- and five-man crews.” Another is strong leader-operators. “We have been able to find people who can run the loader and be the crew leader that can get production out of the guys,” Freeman says. Morris adds that assigning a bulldozer to each crew so they can stay on shorter skids and the efficiency of newer machines enables them to run leaner crews. Equipment operator positions are being filled now, however, they project that in about five years, as older workers retire, they will have a huge need that will be hard to fill. The benefits package, including health insurance and 401k plans, should help

attract and retain workers. “We also run more days per year because of our top quality harvesting and hauling equipment, so crews and drivers have an opportunity to earn a little better living,” Galvan says. New, state-of-the art equipment is a draw. “The younger kids are more comfortable with newer equipment than the older guys,” Galvan notes. “Caterpillar comes out and trains, and the younger guys want to know how they can get the most out of a machine. They want to know every button and every switch.”

Biggest Challenge

Energy crew, from left: William Kilgore, loader; Lance Shuford, foreman-skidder; Steve Sloan, cutter

Tide crew, from left: Jeremy Kimbrell, cutter; Billy Sloan foreman-loader; Gary Walton, skidder

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Forest crew, from left: Nell Seals, foreman-loader; Norman Jenkins, skidder; Allen Bridgeman, cutter

From both the regulatory and expense standpoint, trucking is the biggest challenge. The company owns 36 trucks and 48 trailers. New trucks are all Kenworth: 10 2014 T880s, 10 2014 T800s and two 2014 T900s. The fleet also includes 16 2007 Internationals and Freightliners with Detroit and Cummins engines, but the company is moving

Deere crew has Gorman Lunceford, foreman-loader, out front; backed up, from left, by Shane Jones, cutter; Terry Bridgeman, skidder; and Herron West, truck driver.

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toward standardizing with the T880 with PACCAR MX engines. Trailers are Magnolias, Pitts and McLendons with airlift front tandem axles. The transportation operations group includes a maintenance manager who oversees two shifts, a dispatcher to route the fleet and a full time director of trucking to ensure that the company is operating within government regulations. “DOT regulations are really tough, but we’ve taken the position to embrace them. We’re not going to fight them. We’re going to have the safest, best equipment and we’re educating our drivers to be safe,” Morris says. As part of this, the days of hiring a driver off the street are over. After initial screening, a drug test, a check ride and DOT refresher, new hires ride with an experienced driver, first as passenger and then as driver, before driving solo. The company uses Telogis for real-time GPS fleet tracking. As Galvan puts it: “Each morning the President asks where his carriers are located and for us we ask all day where our hauling fleet is located. Besides being the dispatcher’s daily tool for managing the drivers’ location and activity, Telogis stored data can come in handy. “If there is a question about where a particular load was delivered a couple weeks ago, we can pull up the data on that driver and see,” Galvan says. “And if a driver were to get a speeding ticket, the data can help us prove he was not speeding.” Brokerage and harvesting are profitable, according to Freeman, and the goal is to make hauling profitable, too. “If we can make a little with hauling, then we’ve won the game,” Freeman says. “We’re looking at how we can manage the fleet’s logistics more effectively instead of the traditional way of each crew with its own trucks,” Galvan says. “For example, if we have a 150-mile trip, we could have one truck do the trip or two trucks do 75 miles each or three do 50 miles. If we go with one truck, and that truck breaks down, I don’t get the wood to the mill. If we have two trucks and one breaks down, we can probably make the delivery.” One path to profitable hauling is double shifting, which Galvan proposed shortly after joining the company. “I told Ricky we need to double shift trucks, and he said, ‘Jamie, as usual, that’s crazy talk.’” The company is shooting for about a 20-hour day per truck, with an average of three loads delivered per shift per truck. “You can’t do that with every truck, because we 14

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we’re supposed to be doing. If you have a third party doing your hauling, you don’t know that for sure. If there’s a claim, they’re going to go after whomever has the deepest pockets,” Galvan explains.

Diversification

Rolland Gray, left, heads procurement. Mike McGee is one of several timber buyers.

don’t want to run all the trucks at night; we still have to do maintenance and we don’t want to do that during the day,” Galvan explains. “Say we have 40 trucks. If I have 20 trucks doing two loads a day and half the trucks running two loads at night, I’ll make my average.” Currently, the first shift starts at 5 a.m. and ends about 5 p.m. with the second shift starting at the same time. Only a couple of drivers are on the second shift now, so this basic schedule will be refined as the company gets more drivers. “For example, if a mill closes earlier, we could have a driver starting at 4 a.m. and working

until 3 p.m. and the next guy working from 3 until maybe 5 a.m. Also, right now everyone has Sunday off, but as we get bigger, we’re going to start rotating so some drivers will haul to the mills on Sundays, too,” Galvan says. Another step to profitable hauling is weight reduction. The operation foregoes the extras that add weight when ordering trucks. As a result, it is able to average a 29-ton payload and still be within the legal 88,000 lb. limit. “We don’t care about those 600 HP motors. We want a motor that’s 455 HP that will get you to the mill safely with a bigger payload,” Freeman says. All of the new trucks and trailers are fitted with SI onboard electronic scales. Despite all the challenges, Galvan says in-house hauling is still preferable to subcontracting because dependency on third party hauling would leave the company open to many variables beyond its control. One is availability. If it rains, Forest Energies crews are back in the wood just a few hours after it stops. They need the trucks to be ready, too. Another more critical reason: “If there’s an accident, we know we’re following the rules and doing what

The Samantha wood yard has two employees, Phillip McCullough, left, and Robbie Glasgow.

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Forest Energies does business with about 22 regular customers, landowners and mills, mainly in north central Alabama and a few in Mississippi. Diversification is the key. Crews are spread out and focused on different products, and the trucking fleet is large and based in two locations 55 miles apart. “So when a mill in north Alabama called and said they were completely out of wood and do we have any hardwood, we re-directed our trucking fleet and started moving wood to that mill. We kept the mill from shutting down,” Freeman recalls. “Another mill in Belk, Ala., was going to close and asked us if we would move some assets around and get the wood flowing. Within three days we were putting 60 and 70 loads a day into that mill.” This ability to come through in the clutch is one reason mills like doing business with Forest Energies, according to Freeman, who also believes other attributes work in the company’s favor during negotiations, including insurance coverage, newer machines, and professional, welltrained employees. The same works for landowners, plus a tracking system that ensures their wood is delivered to the right mill. “Does that mean we get to charge a little bit more? No. But it gives us a little bit better position with these companies and we may get to do more.”

Future The principals see continued growth in the near to mid-term, expanding harvesting operations into southern Alabama, Tennessee and possibly Georgia. And the company origins and name hint at the possibility of biomass energy projects. As they guide Forest Energies into the future, they also plan to be active participants in guiding the growth of the industry as a whole. Morris serves on the board of the Alabama Loggers Council and was recently elected to the board of directors for the Alabama Forestry Assn. “We’re going to continue to be a true supply chain partner to our clients. You will also see us expand deeper into the forestry industry. We’re going to expand our business with the same ethics, integrity and safety, taking care of our people and the environment and doing it the Forest Energies way,” Morris conSLT cludes.

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Perks Of ‘Getting On Up There’

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you. 2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first. 3. No one expects you to run—anywhere. 4. People call at 9 p.m., or 9 a.m., and ask, ”Did I wake you?” 5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac. 6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way. 7. Things you buy now won’t wear out. 8. You can eat supper at 4 p.m. 9. You can live without sex but not your glasses. 10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans. 11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge. 12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room. 13. You sing along with elevator music. 14. Your eyes won’t get much worse. 15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off. 16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the pup on the local TV station. 17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either. 18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

Crawfish Panic A baby crawfish and its mother were walking along a ditch when the baby crawfish, which had gone ahead, comes flying back down the ditch. The mother asks, “What’s the matter?” “That big thing right there. What is it?” The mother says, “Don’t worry about that; it’s just a cow.” So they keep walking. Then the baby crawfish comes flying down a second time. Again, the mother asks, “What’s the matter?” The baby says: “Look at that thing right there.” Answers the mother, “That’s just a dog; it won’t hurt you.” On they continue. Suddenly the mother goes flying by the baby crawfish, which panics and asks its mother what’s wrong. “Run!” the mother said. “That’s a Cajun and they eat anything.”

Two Stories, One Parallel One Sunday morning a preacher walked into his rural church carrying a rusty, battered bird cage and set it by the pulpit. Many in the congregation raised their eyebrows and/or looked at one another. In response the preacher began to tell a story. “I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy with this cage. “On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and asked, ‘What do you have there, son?’ “‘Just some old birds,’ came the reply. “‘What are you going to do with them?’ I asked. “‘Take them home and have fun with them,’ the boy answered. ‘I’m gonna tease them and pull out their feathers to make them fight. I’m gonna have a real good time.’ “‘But you’ll get tired of those birds sooner or later,’ I said. ‘What will you do then?’ “‘Oh, I got some cats,’ said the little boy. ‘They like birds.’ 16

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“I asked the boy, ‘How much do you want for those birds?’ “‘Huh?’ the boy responded. ‘Why do you want these plain old field birds? They don’t even sing, just chirp a little, and they’re not much to look at.’ “‘How much?’ I asked again. “The boy sized me up as if I were crazy, then said, ‘$10?’ “I handed the surprised boy $10 and he dropped the cage and disappeared,” the preacher went on. “Then I carried the cage to where there was a tree and a grassy spot. I opened the door and freed the birds.” Pausing, the preacher began to tell another story. “One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting.” “‘I just caught a world full of people down there. I set a trap, used bait I knew they couldn’t resist. Got ‘em all!’ “‘What are you going to do with them?’ Jesus asked. “‘Satan replied, ‘Oh, I’m gonna have fun! I’m gonna teach them how to marry and divorce, how to be unfaithful and abuse each other, how to become addicted to different things. I’m gonna teach them how to hate one another, to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I’m really gonna have fun!’ “‘And what will you do when you are done with them?” Jesus asked. “‘Oh, I’ll kill them,’ Satan crowed. “‘How much do you want for them?’ Jesus asked. “‘Huh? Why do you want those people? They’re no good. They’ll just hate you; they’ll spit on you, curse you and kill you.’ “‘How much?’ Jesus asked again. “Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, ‘Your blood, your tears and your life.’ “Jesus said, ‘Done!’ “He paid the ultimate price to set all of us free.”

Best Kind Of Baby Sitter

Why We Say It In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The ‘head of the household’ always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the ‘chair man.’ Today in business, we use the expression or title ‘Chairman’ or ‘Chairman of the Board.’ ■

Centuries ago, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. Women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. If a woman began to stare at another woman’s face, she was often told, ‘mind your own bee’s wax.’ Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term ‘crack a smile’. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt. Therefore, the expression ‘losing face.’ ■

■ At

one time, ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in “straight laced,” wore a tightly tied lace. Decades ago, common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the ‘ace of spades.’ To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t ‘playing with a full deck.’ ■

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Stormy Weather ■ Working in tornado-damaged timber, Joey Johns adds a dangle saw head to increase efficiency.

By David Abbott LOUISVILLE, Miss. rom April 27-30, 2014, ★ a storm system swept through the south and beyond, producing the first major tornado outbreak in the U.S. this year. Of the multiple long-track tornados that resulted from the system, seven were deadly, causing 35 fatalities in all. One of them tore through the town of Louisville on the 28th, taking 10 lives with it and injuring 80 more. The intensity of the tornado vacillated between EF1 and EF4 strength as it rampaged through the area, destroying multiple homes and other buildings. At one point it leveled a daycare, killing the owner, who died protecting a 4-year-old. A wooden door from Louisville made its way to the Mississippi State University campus in Starkville, some 30 miles away. Finally the killer storm dissipated in the woods near Highway 25. Since then, the Johns Logging, LLC crew has been busy cleaning

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up the mess, as a lot of timber was damaged. Owner Joey Johns, 44, understands how people suffered. His uncle and aunt were among those whose homes were blown away, with them inside—though thankfully none of their family was seriously injured. He also understands the effect it had on timberland owners. He knows most of the landowners personally; he usually deals directly with them, preferring to avoid operating through a dealer or contracting for a mill. “We’ve done about 300 acres (of storm timber) I guess,” he figured in mid-September. Joe Morgan, a timber consultant and good friend to Johns, manages land for a lot of these owners, and he and Johns often buy timber together. When Southern Loggin’ Times visited in September, Johns had 30 acres left on a 118-acre block. After that, he planned to move to another 240 acres to help the 85-year-old owner. The goal was simply to salvage as much as possible before the ground got too wet. The wood, damaged and

Ryan’s dangle head saw helps Johns salvage broken trees blown down in a deadly storm.

on the ground for months, wouldn’t bring much money, and some of the landowners all but gave it to him just to have it cleared away so they could start over. Because so much of the twisted and broken trees were difficult and dangerous to reach, Johns decided to buy a John Deere 2054 carrier and pair it with a Ryan’s Equipment dangle felling saw head. With this he can cut the trees that have been knocked over much more quickly, safely and efficiently. Before he added this machine, Johns reports the crew could only produce 7-10 loads a day

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on the storm-damaged tracts. After, he saw an immediate production boost, up to 16 loads a day—and with a lot less work, he adds. “I don’t really enjoy operating it,” the logger admits. “But I like it a lot better than I do running a chain saw.”

Equipment Aside from the Deere/Ryan’s combo, other equipment on the crew includes 2010 Barko 495ML Magnum loader with CSI delimber and slasher, with a 595 as a spare; two Tigercat 620C skidders, 2008 and

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Primary loader is a Barko 495; a 595 is held in reserve for jobs where two are needed.

2006 models; a 2012 Tigercat 720E feller-buncher and a Caterpillar D5N dozer for roadwork. Dealers are B&G Equipment in Philadelphia for Tigercat and Waters International in Meridian for Barko. He runs four International trucks, also bought from Waters International in Meridian. Depending on where he’s working, he will tap the Waters branches conveniently located in Columbus and Kosciusko for parts. The trucks pull a single Pitts and four Magnolia trailers. Working five days a week, the crew can haul as many as 80 loads. “Contract trucks are a thing of the past,” he believes. “You can’t find them or can’t afford them.” He was never too keen on putting his trucks into Weyerhaeuser’s circle trucking program, which he would have been required to do had he been one of their contractors. “I’m not much on contracting for these big companies.”

investment group had been in the process of working to reopen the plant when the tornado demolished the standing buildings. A close friend of Johns’, Gary Hughes, owner of Hughes Construction, is involved in the project now. He reports plans are still underway to reopen the plywood plant, but that it may be two years away. “It will help to have another outlet for logs, and maybe gain some bargaining power,” Johns hopes. Shuqualak Lumber Co. in Shuqualak, Miss.—another log market for Johns—can get all the logs it can handle, he says, so the laws of supply and demand, and the lack of competition, dictate that it doesn’t have to pay much to get them. “Sawmills are in driver’s seat,” he says. “They are making a killing now, but it was a hard row before that. Several mills almost went

under, and a bunch did go under.” Blue stain has set in to much of what can be salvaged from these woods, devaluing it because it won’t pass the grading standards. However, it’s still structurally sound. Johns has a Wood-Mizer sawmill at home, and has cut some of the blue-stained logs into lumber for some landowners who wanted it for their barns.

Family, Origins

Joey Johns

A few years back, Johns also used the Wood-Mizer to cut the lumber for the construction of his own house, including some bluestained pine. He had it kiln dried and tongue-and-grooved to put in his ceilings. The structural integrity was unaffected, and now people ask him where they can get blue pine like that. “You can’t buy it anywhere,” he tells them—but he’d be

happy to cut some for them. By the time the house was built, he had only had to put $45,000 into it, finished and fully furnished. A sizable chunk of that was the cost of a fireplace and a spiral staircase kit he bought in Boulder, Colo., for $8,000. At the time it was just he and his daughter B.J. moving in. Since then, the house has become more full. Johns re-married five years ago, and

Markets In terms of size, much of the pine on these tracts would have made logs, and would have gone to Weyerhaeuser’s sawmill in Philadelphia, a primary log market for Johns. After the storm, after blue stain set in, Johns could only haul most of it as pulpwood to the Weyerhaeuser paper mill in Columbus. At 60 miles away, that’s the closest paper mill for him. Others are 100 miles, between Yazoo City and Vicksburg, or 120 miles away, across the Alabama line. That is one of the biggest problems facing loggers in the area, he says: a simple lack of sufficient mill outlets. “We need some more pulpwood mills, and it will help a lot when that plywood mill re-opens,” he says. Johns refers to the old Georgia-Pacific plant nearby. It had already been shuttered by GP but an

With the addition of the John Deere 2054 with Ryan’s head, production nearly doubled, to 16 loads a day.

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his wife Julie brought two more girls, Emily and Erin, into the mix. With three daughters and a wife—even his two dogs are female—Johns says, “We have enough estrogen to float a ship.” Their oldest daughter Emily got married two years ago, but Erin, now 17, and B.J., 15, still live at home. “They’re real good kids,” Johns says. “We are thankful they seem like they have their heads screwed on straight.” Along with her job for the local power company, Julie serves as the bookkeeper for Johns Logging. Johns does not come from a logging family; he is first generation. But, he says, “I was fascinated with this stuff since I was a kid. If loggers were cutting nearby, we would take our bicycles and go watch. I enjoyed the equipment and being outside.” He got into logging—the first time—at age 20 with a bobtail truck and a Timberjack cable skidder, but sold out in in 1995. After that he worked as an electrical contractor until 1999, when he bought a truck and started contract hauling for other loggers. That lasted until just after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. After the storm he saw an opportunity in cleaning up the downed timber, much like he’s done this year. He bought a Bell cutter from a friend and added a Prentice 180 loader and Clark skidder to the log truck he had been driving. The enterprise has grown from there. Though his dad, D.L. Johns, never logged, he does own some mules. In the early days, Johns sometimes used those mules, when it was too wet for machines, to pull logs up to dry land and hook to a skidder.

A pair of Tigercat 620Cs drags storm-damaged wood to the landing.

Left to right: Timothy Bernard Triplet, Troy Lee Triplet, Joey Johns, Glenn Jones, Lamus Rush

Help The most senior employee in the company is truck driver James Clark, who has been with Johns 11 years. He started when Johns was still contract hauling, before he got back into logging. Other truck drivers are Carter Cunningham, Steven Breazelle and J.D. McKay. In the woods, Glenn Jones mans the cutter, working with skidder driver Lamus Rush and loader operator Timmy Triplet. Timmy’s brother Troy Lee Triplet is a jack-of-alltrades, running a skidder, trimming trucks and serving as a mechanic. Johns himself runs the dangle head machine. “It’s hard to find good help who is trustworthy and knows what they’re doing,” Johns laments. He knows of what he speaks, first-hand. In early September, he discovered that a man who had been with him 11 years had been stealing fuel from him since the storm in April. That former employee is now in jail. Drugs, at least, don’t seem to have been a problem. All drivers have to 20

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The cutter works as a team with the Deere/Ryan’s combo.

be tested at the Louisville Medical Center. Johns is responsible for turning in their updated health cards to the Mississippi DOT, which requires a physical to be completed annually on each driver. Workers’ comp, general liability, equipment and trucking insurance come through RMS (Risk Management Solutions) in Jackson; Guy

Warren is the agent. Johns says he has been unable to offer his employees health insurance yet but he knows it is coming. “The logger can’t take the brunt of that expense,” he says. “The landowner will end up taking it.” Looking to the future, he says he’d like to expand but he fears he’d be unable to find enough good

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help, and he worries about not having enough mills to keep a second crew busy. “But I’m satisfied,” he says. “If you can get 12-15 loads a day, you better be happy in this day and time in the logging business. It’s a whole lot better now, but it has SLT a long way to go.” To contact Joey Johns, email jjohns739@yahoo.com.

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Staying Put ■ Justin Foster’s attention to detail has paid off with steady growth in just a few years.

By David Abbott GLENNVILLE, GA oving from one tract to the next can ★ cost a logger a fair amount of time and money, especially if he has to do it too frequently. Justin Foster, 28, hasn’t had that problem lately. He’s spent almost all of 2014 working on Pine Island, a 1,000acre tract of George state timberland. He started there in late January, and he was still working it in mid-November. It’s all sand pine, and Foster has been tasked with clearing it, sparing only a few sporadic patches of loblolly, which he thins. The state wants to remove the sand pine so that it can replant the land with longleaf pine. Working on the state land, Foster says, hasn’t involved any more stringent requirements than a typical pri-

vate tract. The contract stipulated he would have to haul some rocks in around a few low water crossings when the job is done, but that was it. “Once they plant it back in longleaf, gosh, it’ll be 30 years before anybody will log in here again,” he figures. “It should be in real fine shape once we get finished with it.” The tract has yielded mostly pulpwood, with just a bit of chip-nsaw in the mix. Foster’s company, Foster Logging, Inc., has been hauling to Georgia-Pacific in Brunswick and International Paper in Savannah. When all is said and done, he estimates they will have hauled just over 70,000 tons of wood from the 1,000 acres, averaging 75 loads on most full weeks. Foster runs three trucks of his own and hires another three contractors to get out as many as 18 loads a day, when all goes well. In this case, Foster won the tract on a bid. He usually buys his own

timber and also takes jobs for timber dealer Baxter Forest Products, based in Glennville. Baxter also owns a pole/post mill, so they generally have plenty of work to go around when Foster needs it. The 1,000 acres isn’t one continuous block. It lies in the middle of a larger 3,000 acres divided by two creeks. The crew has to cross low, flat hardwood swamps in several areas. Foster had worked tracts like that before, and says he had grown tired of buying wood mats at $800 a pop. After some thought, he came up with a design he thought would work better, and began fabricating his own steel mats. He’s been using them since fall 2013, and now has 15 of them. Since it takes about 30 hours of welding for each mat, he started hiring a local welding shop to do the work after he built the first few. He has now applied for a patent on the design and hopes to market them one day.

Start The young businessman started his logging company when he was just 22, but he had already been working for several years. He grew up on a family farm, helping his dad with poultry houses and cutting and baling hay. He had neighbors in the construction business and a cousin in logging, so he had always been around heavy equipment. He started working on his own right out of high school. “If I had it to do over again I’d probably have gone to college,” he admits, but then reconsiders. “Then again, there are a lot of folks with a college education who can’t find a job.” He started a side business removing trees from people’s yards. He did it all himself, felling with a chain saw and storing the wood till he had enough to make a load with a bobtail truck. Logging evolved as a natural progression from there. He watched

Foster’s early experience convinced him that it is best to work with newer machines, like this 2012 Tigercat with CSI 264 Ultra delimber and 4400 slasher package.

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other logging crews to study what worked and what didn’t. He eventually went to work for another logger (E&J Dashers) for about six months, learning all he could about grading wood and which mills were the best. Then he made the move to start his own company. “It interested me and I felt like if there was anyone who could do it, I could,” Foster recalls. “I said, what the heck, I’m going to try it.” The problem was, he decided to give it a try in February 2008. “Everybody told me I was a damn fool,” he recalls. Like a fireman rushing into a burning building when everyone else is running out, Foster saw that many of the older loggers were getting out of this business just as he was getting into it. He didn’t let it bother him. “I took it one day at a time, working, doing what I do.”

Machines When he started, he was only able to buy used equipment—and not top notch used equipment, either. “I just started out with a bunch of junk, basically,” he laughs. He had a 518 Cat skidder that he politely refers to as an antique. “We’d work two or three days and then work on equipment a couple of days. It didn’t take me long to figure out that if I was going to try to make a living at it, I’d have to have something better. It’s easier to make a payment than it is to work on it all the time.”

Foster has three Cat 525C skidders on two crews, the newest one from 2013.

Left to right: Armando Animas, Ivan Chihuahua, Eloy Animas, Randy Sharpe, Roman Chihuahua, German Chihuahua, Justin Foster

The Tigercat cutter works on Foster’s first crew, while he bought a John Deere machine to fell for the crew he recently added.

After about two years he was able upgrade to a 2004 model Cat 525B skidder, and from there he worked until he could add more. Eventually he was able to sell all the older equipment and use the money as a down payment on a newer set of machines. Today, that crew runs with two Cat 525C skidders, a 2006 and a 2013 model; a 2012 Tigercat 234 loader, paired with a newer wide-mouth CSI 264 Ultra delimber and CSI 4400 Classic slasher saw; and a 2013 Tigercat 720E cutter. Along with three contract haulers, Foster puts to the road three trucks of his own—two ’07 model Kenworth W9000s and a ’03 Western Star—pulling Pitts plantation and McLendon trailers. In August this year, he was able to start up a second crew, adding another 234 Tigercat loader and another 525C Cat skidder as well as a John Deere 643K feller-bunch-

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Foster has six trucks plus three contractors on the road.

He uses Maxi-Load scales to ensure he has as much payload as possible on every haul.

er—all 2010 models. He also added three more Kenworths. Machinery dealers are Yancey Bros., Statesboro, Ga., and Tidewater Equipment, Hazlehurst. “I started out with $80,000 in equipment and trucks, and it was a bunch of junk,” he recalls. “Now my investment is about $1 million. That’s a big investment for a very low return. But I went from hauling 15 loads a week to 15 loads a day, and sometimes 100 loads a week. You have to be a micromanager to make it work.” The owner handles most routine

downs, and if you do, it’s on them.” To further explain his logic, Foster gives a real world lesson in a fundamental concept of economics: opportunity cost. “If you miss one day of work, because say a hydraulic pump went out—that’s $3,000, and you missed 15 loads of production. Just the missed production and the parts bill, not even counting labor, that’s a payment for that month, easy. It’s not just the money, but what you could have done. That’s how you’ve got to look at buying newer equipment.” Another benefit of newer

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maintenance himself. He keeps up with hours in a notebook, changing oil every 250 hours or about every five weeks. If he gets rained out in the woods, he uses the opportunity to clean and check the machines more thoroughly, troubleshooting for any work they might need. His plan now is to trade machines in every three years. “You keep a new tractor and you have warranty on the machine, so you feel more comfortable about keeping production up, or at least I do,” he says. “It just seemed to work out better for me. You don’t have many break-

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machines, he says, is fuel efficiency. His old Tigercat 230 loader, with a tier 2 engine, burned, he says, about six and a half gallons of fuel an hour. His newer 234 loader, by contrast, burns only two and a half gallons of fuel per hour. That amounts to a savings of roughly $2,500 a month, or about half the machine payment, he figures. To better maximize loads, Foster invested in a set of Maxi-Load scales. The state-road weight limit is 84,000 lbs. in Georgia, and he wants to make sure every trip to the mill carries as much as it legally can. “I

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can tell you, the only way you can make any money with this deal is having the wood on the trailer, and your cost per mile in fuel is not going to change that much by running light.” He says a major focus for him is calculating his cost of operation and knowing how much he needs to haul to make a profit. Foster obtains workers’ comp, general liability and trucking insurance through FCCI Insurance Group. The carrier sends a field agent out to his job site once a quarter to inspect and ensure everything

is up to standard in terms of safety practices. It helps, Foster says, that he enjoys low turnover among his employees—there are no new guys who are unfamiliar with the routine. “Everybody’s on the same page.”

Crew, Family “We are all a real tight-knit bunch, I guess you could say,” Foster says. “Everybody works together, no fussing, everybody knows their jobs. Having good help is what has made us successful.”

The most senior employee on the crew is loader operator Roman Chihuahua. Roman’s nephew, Ivan Chihuahua, drives a skidder, while his son, German Chihuahua, trims the log trailers. Armando Animas runs the feller-buncher. Armando’s brother, Eloy Animas, was on the original crew until August, when he became the skidder driver on the new crew. Charlie Smiley leads this crew from the loader. Mateo Ortiz trims the trailers, while former company truck driver Randy Sharpe mans the cut-

ter. “He’s a good dude to work with,” Sharpe says of his boss. “This old boy gets after it.” Crew one truck drivers are Clayton Walker and Franz Long, who is married to Foster’s sister. Archie Smiley, Stacy Johnson and Wilton Stickland drive the trucks on the new crew. “I have enough help to cover everything while I am out buying wood or running parts down,” Foster reports. “If someone is sick, I can jump in and fill.” Foster married his wife Heather in September 2013, and a year later they had a baby girl named Lily Anna (born September 19, 2014). They also have two kids from Heather’s prior marriage: Caitlyn, 13, and Preston, 11. Heather and Foster work together to keep up with all the bookwork, payroll and insurance, while the secretary at Baxter Forest Products helps out with load tickets and worker’s comp paper work. “We try to micromanage every way we can, because there is not enough profit margin in it anymore to be wasting money,” the logger says. “You have got to stay on top of it, or you won’t be in it very long.”

Future “I thought I had a plan for the future, but that didn’t work out,” Foster laughs. Two years ago he bought a Dynamic Cone-Head chipper at a J.M Wood Auction in Montgomery, Ala. He wasn’t so much planning to get into the chipping business, he says, as he was planning to clean up the debris from his job sites, with an eye to attracting more landowners. He also hoped it would bring in some extra income for a relatively low investment. He ran it for about six months and decided he wasn’t making enough from it to even break even with the cost. Writing it off as a loss, he traded it in for one of his Kenworth trucks. “I figured if something happened I could sell that truck a lot easier than I could that chipper,” he shrugs. His willingness to take a risk and try new things wasn’t spoiled by the experience. He now looks to his steel mat design as a possible source of income, and hopes to bring the product to market soon. As for the future of the logging business, he says he sees good days ahead. “I believe things are looking up. I think the wood fiber market has a great future ahead of itself. Pulpwood prices in the last 12 months have been getting better. Last year (2013) we hauled 107,000 tons—that was our best year yet.” He says 2014 has been SLT just about as profitable.

To contact Justin Foster, email: fosterlogginginc@yahoo.com

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Diversified Family ■ Established in logging, the Coleman family tackles a new endeavor. By Jessica Johnson WHITE PLAINS, Ga. ★ ot one to sit still, Allen Coleman, 34, is a sharp guy with a lot on his plate. He, along with his brothers James, 37, and Grant, 35, and their father, Bill, 67, co-own three logging related businesses in northeastern Georgia: Plains Logging Co. and Coleman’s Store, both based in White Plains, and AllWood Equipment Co., located in Washington. Allen is responsible for daily operations at AllWood, a Tigercat dealership the family acquired two and a half years ago. He also stays informed of what’s going on in the other family businesses. As well, he helps maintain Plains Logging’s equipment. Though each business operates as a separate entity, the Colemans and their employees all pitch in to make sure each is as productive, cus-

tomer-service friendly and profitable as possible. It’s all built on the foundation laid by family patriarch Bill when he first entered the logging business in 1973 with thenpartners David and Richard Holcomb. In 1976, the company was incorporated and renamed Plains Logging; shortly thereafter, Bill became the sole owner. Bill along with his wife, Nita Coleman, worked side-by-side in building a foundation for future growth.

The Logging Side Plains Logging Co. operates six crews directly and has working relationships with four contractor crews. The six crews can extract up to 350 loads a week, with the contract crews adding up to 200 more. Of Plains Logging’s 44 employees, 22 have been with the company for 10-plus years, and a handful for 30 and even 40 years. Thomas Wingfield

(41 years) works part-time; Jack Wingfield (41 years) now owns and operates his own truck and hauls for Plains; Wayne Clifton (34 years) and Carl Higdon (31 years) are crew foremen and operate feller-bunchers. As one might expect, given that the family owns a Tigercat dealership, the majority of the equipment is Tigercat, but not all. The crews run all Tigercat loaders and Tigercat cutters, with one John Deere 843K. Coleman notes that the prevailing skidder brand, since the company’s founding over 40 years ago, has been Caterpillar, but that is probably changing. “The company has two Tigercat skidders. I can’t say that’s the direction we’re going, but it makes the most sense.” Each crew operates in a similar fashion: loader, skidder, feller-buncher and one saw man, who trims loads and also helps machine operators grease and refuel at the end of the day. Most saw men can also fill in as

With six crews, Plains Logging has five Tigercat 234 loaders and two 240Bs, one as a spare.

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needed on equipment. They use Tanaka pole saws and Jonsered chain saws. Coleman explains, “They aren’t just saw hands anymore. They help keep the crew going and help maximize truck productivity.” The Colemans believe in uniformity, so each crew’s landing is set up the same. All loaders have CSI delimbers, slashers and measuring racks. The company runs 10 trucks of its own, but for now relies on contract trucks to move the majority of its output. “Dealing with trucks is the biggest problem for loggers,” Coleman says. “Contract truckers, unfortunately, are a dying breed. There aren’t as many as there used to be, it seems. You try to keep compliant but it seems like rules change daily.” About 25 trailers, mainly C&W, Pitts, Magnolia and Big John, are in the mix. The company does not use scales, having found that loader operators are usually able to hit the legal weight limit without them.

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Plains Logging Equipment List Feller-bunchers

2010 John Deere 843K 2014 Tigercat 724E 2013 Tigercat 724E 2012 Tigercat 724E 2010 Tigercat 724E 2005 Tigercat 724D 2004 John Deere 843H (spare)

Skidders

2011 Caterpillar 525C 2011 Caterpillar 525C 2011 Caterpillar 525C 2010 Caterpillar 525C 2009 Caterpillar 525C 2015 Tigercat 620E 2014 Tigercat 620E 2013 Tigercat 620D 2012 Tigercat 620D

The Coleman family, from left, Grant, James, Bill, Allen, Tim Blalock and Jamie Smith

Loaders

2008 Tigercat 234 2012 Tigercat 234 2010 Tigercat 234 2013 Tigercat 234 2011 Tigercat 234 2006 Tigercat 240B (spare) 2007 Tigercat 240B

Dozers And Others

1999 Caterpillar D5M-XL dozer 1998 Caterpillar D5M dozer 1998 Caterpillar D5M-XL dozer 1981 Caterpillar D7G dozer 1980 Caterpillar D7 dozer Caterpillar 120 motor grader 2011 Caterpillar skid steer

The Coleman family has traditionally gone with Caterpillar skidders for most of its four-decade history.

Plains Logging buys a majority of the timber it harvests. It employs a full time registered forester, Tim Blalock, to help the family keep timber tracts lined up. Blalock explains that the crews can do it all, which helps make his job a little easier. “We purchase anything anyone wants to sell,” he says with a laugh. Tracts average about 40 acres, are usually within 70 miles of White Plains, and typically include a mix of pine and hardwood. Second, third and regeneration harvests are the rule. Main markets include GeorgiaPacific in Madison for plywood logs, West Fraser Augusta for saw logs and GP in Warrenton and Burt Lumber Co. in Washington for chip-n-saw. GP in McCormick, SC and Interfor in Eatonton, Ga., take super pulpwood. Pine pulpwood goes to Huber Commerce, International Paper Augusta, and Weyerhaeuser in Sandersville. The depth and diversity of the businesses result in a lot of paperwork that has evolved throughout the years. Bill’s wife, Nita, was

essential to the operations. She worked for Plains Logging thirty plus years and opted to retire when she became a grandmother; she loves spending her time caring for all six of her grandchildren. Currently, the extensive paper work is taken care of by Amy, Shelly and Kelly, the wives of James, Grant and Allen respectively. They are assisted by Kay Lanier, an employee of 19 years.Coleman’s Store

deals mainly in truck and logging equipment parts but also functions as a Jonsered and Tanaka dealer, in addition to the convenience store aspect. It provides all fuel, oil and grease for the logging company.

Maintenance A full-time mechanic, Allen Eaton, has a well-equipped service truck at his disposal to help keep downtime

to a minimum. Coleman’s Store is located near the logging shop and has a mechanic based there. Operators grease and check fuel levels each day. A few of Plains Logging’s foremen help Coleman and Eaton with servicing harvesting gear, most of which is done on Saturdays. Whatever the book specifies is what Eaton or Coleman does. Coleman says he and the mechanic keep maintenance on a pretty tight schedule. Fuel is metered daily per machine. Every crew has a Dodge service truck outfitted with fuel tanks, air compressor, grease keg, hydraulic oil in bulk, saw gas and oil, spare filters, wrenches, tools and hoses to minimize downtime.

AllWood Equipment

Since the family logs, they understand the importance of maintaining a solid service shop at AllWood Equipment.

Little did Coleman or others in the family realize what a huge undertaking the equipment business would be. “From day one 100% of my time has been here. We thought it would slowly stop needing all my time, but it’s gone just the opposite. Now it needs all my time plus more!” He is quick to add that being extremely busy isn’t a bad

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Company and contract crews combined harvest up to 550 loads weekly.

The family has started mixing in Tigercat skidders since taking on AllWood Equipment.

thing, as he strives to make sure that each customer is treated exactly how he would want to be treated. Bill comments, “We needed to diversify a little bit. The equipment dealership was a good fit for the logging company. The opportunity presented itself and we decided to go for it. I am most proud of these boys. They work hard; they show respect for people. They are good men.” When the Colemans purchased the dealership, then called Forestrac Equipment, they changed its name to AllWood Equipment Co. Coleman explains, “It was just a good investment opportunity, and it was a

right opportunity, so did he. Smith had worked with Forestrac and previously with Tidewater Equipment. AllWood Equipment employs eight, including three full time mechanics and service and parts managers. Only one employee was hired after the purchase. Brands it carries include Tigercat, Cummins, Rotobec, CSI and Big John. By using aftermarket parts the dealership is able to service Timberjack, Prentice and Franklin brands. AllWood Equipment’s territory covers 15 northeastern counties in Georgia and the dealership reaches out to about 70 loggers, according to Smith.

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way to branch out from the logging business. My two other brothers work for the family business; all of our wives work for the family business. It was a good way to diversify. All our eggs aren’t in one basket.” He goes on to say that without Jamie Smith, who had worked in logging equipment sales locally for 15 years or so, the family wouldn’t have even thought about it. “Jamie is the only reason we got in the business. Not only is he a salesman, but also he’s a part owner. When your neck is on the line it drives you a little harder.” Smith says that just as the Colemans saw the dealership as the

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How well is Coleman received as an equipment dealer when his family is also a large logger in the area, given the competitive nature of this industry? Coleman says there have been rough patches, but overall this hasn’t been an issue. He explains, “I think it’s because of the reputation my daddy has earned over the last 40 years, but we surprisingly have not had a hard time going to a logger and selling equipment. As long as you’re willing to look after loggers the way they feel like they need to be looked after, we’ve won the battle. Most loggers SLT understand that.”

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP As We See It—Let’s Educate The Public About Logging By Myles Anderson

erception is complex constructions of simple elements joined through association and is subject to the influence of learning. Perception can result from a Anderson

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catastrophic event or a description provided by someone you trust. When it comes to professional timber harvesters, perception is all over the board. Absent education, a bad or false perception will linger

forever. There are many people in this country who would be content if trees were never harvested again; they are comfortable in their perception that boards come from the lumber yard, not from the forest. The U.S. has more forested acres today than 100 years ago, and this

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can be credited to many factors, including our industry’s interest in sustainability. Few understand this and education is needed to change this perception. Our industry has done a poor job of educating the public, whether by word or deed. On the contrary, the environmental industry has done a great job of distorting the facts and fueling its agenda with emotions. If in fact environmental standards were the leading factor governing fiber purchases, the public would demand a halt to fiber imports. The public seems to like the idea of the regulatory environment we are burdened with, as it approves of all these layers of government oversight. The marketplace proves that they are equally concerned with the cost of the products we produce. Our industry is trying to figure out how to cover the cost associated with these regulations while attempting to compete in a worldwide market. Many simple things can be done to help the public better understand how our industry supplies fiber to the marketplace in an environmentally sound manner. The public needs to recognize that we operate under the most stringent rules anywhere in the world. Loggers are stubborn people, overly optimistic, and for some odd reason seem to relish doing things others say can’t be done. Forty years ago working harder could bring about positive results, but that is not necessarily true anymore. Loggers today spend too much time concerned with where the next job will come from, instead of what all businesses should be concerned

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with—whether or not it makes good business sense to take it. Our concern over “surviving” until the next job or logging season comes along distracts us from the real need to educate the public in order to retain our “social” license to operate. Perception can be influenced through education, and that education is up to us because we understand what it takes to harvest timber. First, we need to ensure that our fellow loggers all have the best business tools to deal with the environment we are working in. Second, the timber harvesting community needs to educate everyone we come in contact with on exactly what it is that we do, the qual-

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ity of our work, and the reasons we do it. No one else is going to do this for us, so we must be proactive when it comes to educating others and not let these opportunities slip by. We, after all, are the ones who cut down the trees, making it easy for the naysayers to point a finger at us and call us the bad guys. The public needs to understand that we do it while meeting burdensome environmental regulations and all of the other associated rules and regulations that go into operating a business. We are a lucky industry because we work with renewable resources that, if managed correctly, will be around forever. Not all industries can say the same.

With the holidays upon us I hope it gives the timber harvesting community time to think about where our industry is, and where we are going. I hope that consideration will be given to educating others this coming year on exactly what it is we do each and every day. We can be a community that cuts down trees or we can be a dedicated industry of environmental stewards working hard to sustain a renewable resource and provide jobs that ensure livelihoods to families and communities. Perception means a lot to children and adults seeking more information on this subject, and we need to do a better job of educating everyone, including those we

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work for, on what it is we do. Anderson is the current president of the American Loggers Council and he and his father Mike own and operate Anderson Logging, Inc., Fort Bragg, Calif. The American Loggers Council is a non-profit 501(c) (6) corporation representing professional timber harvesters in 30 states. For more information, visit americanloggers.org or phone 409-6250206.

Martco Considers Building OSB Operation In Texas Martco (RoyOMartin), which operates an oriented strandboard plant in Oakdale, La., is considering

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building another one, possibly near Corrigan, Tex. The $235 million plant would be designed to produce 800 million sq. ft. of OSB annually, and run around-the-clock. It would employ 165. Martco, which is headquartered in Alexandria, La., is also considering other locations. According to the company web site, RoyOMartin owns 570,000 acres of timberland in 32 parishes in Louisiana. Nearly 60% of the raw materials consumed in the company’s Louisiana manufacturing plants are produced from these company lands. In addition to the OSB plant in Oakdale, the company operates

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a plywood mill in Chopin, La. RoyOMartin’s management of its timberlands has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council since 2002.

WSRI Accepting Research Project Proposals Wood Supply Research Institute is accepting suggestions from members and others for research projects focused on improving the efficiency, productivity, profitability or business relationships within the wood fiber supply chain. WSRI recommends certain submission guidelines: —Be brief, consisting of three

paragraphs with the first paragraph establishing background information for project consideration. —The second paragraph should state expected project deliverables. —The third paragraph should state how final project data might be used. Submit your suggested research projects by January 15, 2015 to WSRI Executive Director Jim Fendig by email: fendig@bellsouth.

Louisiana, Oklahoma Mills To Require More Wood Capital spending projects will increase demand for wood fiber next year at a paper mill in DeRidder, La. and another at Valliant,

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Okla., according to an item in the November issue of International Woodfiber Report (IWR). Packaging Corp. of America recently completed the conversion and restart of a big machine at its DeRidder complex, which should add considerable consumption. The machine will initially produce recycled medium with up to 20% virgin fiber content. Later, the line will shift to mainly virgin fiber, the company said. The $115 million project included converting an idled newsprint machine, which ceased production in September. At Valliant, International Paper will raise chip demand with reactivation of an idle machine scheduled for restart next summer. Shut in 2009,

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the line should increase chip consumption about 12%, or 350,000 tons per year—180,000 tons of hardwood and 160,000 tons of pine.

Deere, Tigercat, Others Book InWoodsExpo Space John Deere, Tigercat and Barko, in cooperation with their respective local dealers, Stribling Equipment, MidSouth Forestry Equipment and Crouse Truck Parts & Equipment,

are the first major companies to book exhibit space with InWoodsExpo 2015. The live forestry equipment demonstration is set for June 18-20 near Hot Springs, Ark. Other exhibitors of record as of November 19 included Tuckers Truck, Texarkana Truck Center, Waratah, BITCO Insurance and Farm Credit of Western Arkansas. Sponsored by the Arkansas Timber Producers Assn. (ATPA) and Hatton-Brown Publishers, the event will again be staged on a previously

thinned pine plantation owned and sustainably managed by Weyerhaeuser Co. The tract is conveniently located just off Arkansas highway 128, about 16 miles east of Hot Springs and about eight miles west of Interstate 30. Larry Boccarossa, ATPA Executive Director and manager of the show, notes the mid-year date was selected in an attempt to distance the expo from the threat of severe spring thunderstorms and/or tornados, which were issues in 2007 and

2011. “It will be a little warmer in June than April or May—average mid-June high in Hot Springs is only 84º—but warmer conditions are better than the threat of severe weather,” he reasons. “Another advantage to having the expo in June is that it will give families a chance to plan a vacation around it. There are lots of attractions to see in the Hot Springs area.” He notes the expo will incorporate on-site parking and special activities for children for the first time. Continuing education opportunities will again be offered for loggers and foresters. First held in 2004, the show typically draws 70 or so exhibitors and several thousand attendees from the ArkLaTex area and beyond. “With Hatton-Brown’s assistance, we’re promoting the 2015 Expo much more aggressively and expect record participation,” Boccarossa says. For more information, visit ark loggers.com/expo or phone 501224-2232.

Chip Mill, Pellet Mill Planned For Alabama Global Energy Solutions LLC (GES) intends to build a $20 million chip mill, followed by a large pellet plant and a port facility at the Port of Epes in west Alabama (Sumter County) on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Construction on the chip mill, which will have the capacity of producing a million tons per year, will begin in the first quarter of next year, according to GES’ Scot Corbett, GES said the pellet plant could be a $120 million investment (1 million metric ton capacity) that could help in the development of the Epes Intermodal Facility (EIF).

Loggers Stage ‘Silent’ Protest In Minnesota The vast majority of logging and trucking operations that deliver wood to the Boise Paper (Packaging Corp. Of America) mill at International Falls, Minn. staged a “silent protest” and refused to deliver wood October 30-31. While the protest specifically targeted the Boise Paper mill because of alleged poor and erratic rates paid by the company, many other mills in the Lake States region are similarly at fault, according to logging spokesmen. They add that a recent shortage of pulpwood inventory at some mills is related in part to a decline in logging capacity as more loggers have been less willing to sustain 40

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financial hardship, with some going out of business. “The Boise wood delivery shutdown was an absolute success in that it demonstrated that loggers and truckers were willing to stand togeth-

er,” according to Scott Dane, one of the organizers of the protest and who is executive director of the Associated Contract Loggers & Truckers of Minnesota. “Loggers and truckers decided to just stay away and let their

absence speak for them.” Wood deliveries resumed as normal in the week after the protest. Dale Erickson of Erickson Timber Products, Baudette, Minn., was one of those who directed his trucks to other delivery points. “I think the real story here is the pulpwood supply to mills, logger financial health, logger age, some of the agencies’ efforts to supply stumpage and the fact it took the mill yards running out of wood all across the Lake States to bring it to the point where they are willing to discuss things that have become survival issues for loggers,” Erickson said.

Morbark Hosts Three Celebrations In One Morbark Inc. hosted its annual Demo Days on October 3 at Winn, Mich. In addition, Morbark used the occasion to recognize National Manufacturing Day and the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers’ I Make

America Harley tour. Morbark’s 300-plus guests included state and local elected officials and representatives from area schools, colleges and universities. The Morbark equipment demonstrations included the new Barracuda slow-speed shredder; a redesigned 30/36 whole tree drum chipper; and the first chance to watch Morbark’s new portable flat deck shaker screen, which had just come off the company’s research and development line. Completing the demonstration lineup were the Beever M20R forestry chipper, the 40/36 whole tree microchipper, 3200 wood hog horizontal grinder 1300B tub grinder and the 6600 track wood hog horizontal grinder.

Cool Planet Receives USDA Commitment

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has issued Cool Planet Energy Systems a $91 million conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to support construction of the company’s first commercial manufacturing plant to be located at the Port of Alexandria, Wade Norris, in tie, holds the plaque that confirms his recognition as La.. The plant the 2014 Tennessee Master Logger of the Year by the Tennessee is expected to Forestry Assn. Norris founded Wade Norris Logging LLC, based in produce Jackson, Tenn., in 1992 and heads an eight-man team that has built renewable a solid reputation among landowners and sawmills in west Tennessee. Stribling Equipment’s Donnie Kirk and Ashley Culpepper, in fuels by conjackets, join John Deere’s Berry Johnson in congratulating Norris. verting wood chips into high octane gasoline and aromatic blendstocks that are chemically identical to fossil fuels, according to Cool Planet. Cool Planet broke ground at the Port of Alexandria earlier this year. The company expects to start construction in early 2016.

Tennessee Master Logger Of The Year

Gathering Celebrates Seppi Anniversary One-hundred-fifty dealers and distributors from more than 30 countries assembled at the SEPPI M. Factory in Caldaro in the mountains of northern Italy on October 27 for two days of demonstrations of new and updated machines. SEPPI M. also celebrated its 75th Anniversary. Machines demonstrated included SEPPI’s forestry mulcher line.

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Editorial Index 2014 JANUARY

Southern Stumpin’ Welcome To The Future. Page 6. Late Game Substitution Mike Pennington didn’t start logging until after he retired from forestry. Page 8. Three Generations Strong Young gun Ryan McKenzie has something to prove as he takes over the family business. Page 12.

All In Together Father-son duo Buddy and Chad Shelton do whatever it takes. Page 14. Allison Lumber Co. Native son Evan Frank Allison made a name for himself at Bellamy, Alabama. Page 20.

FEBRUARY

Southern Stumpin’ Burning Up The Road. Page 6. Efficiency Is Key Panhandle Forestry grows into a major procurement and logging force. Page 8.

Good Fortune Young logger Jeremy Jones started from scratch and weathered the storms. Page 14. Still Going Strong With no plans to retire, veteran logger Padgette eyes new biomass markets. Page 18. Workforce Anxiety Survey: For many loggers, finding and keeping quality employees is an uphill challenge. Page 24. Pulling Together Industry observer underscores the benefits of loggers’ associations. Page 25.

MARCH

Southern Stumpin’ Logger Innovation. Page 6. All Smiles Second generation loggers Chris and Reggie Goodman always look on the bright side. Page 8. Innovative Operator Dennis Wall likes to do things his way, the old-fashioned way, with a few new twists. Page 14. Family Tradition The Redfern family is happy to keep things going the way they’ve always been. Page 20. Reviving An Old Friend Group of four in south Georgia hopes to bring back the turpentine business. Page 26.

APRIL

Southern Stumpin’ Stuck! Page 6. Tried and True Fourth generation east Texas loggers Billie and Wade Read focus on equipment and employees. Page 8. Fast And Furious Young entrepreneur Jeremy Ray has grown big fast, and plans on growing bigger. Page 14. Beating The Odds Lance Whittington proves you can’t keep a good man down. Page 20. Richmond Expo Gears Up Event will be held May 16-17 at Raceway Complex. Page 30.

MAY

Southern Stumpin’ SLT Connected From The Start. Page 6. Walking Tall Enthusiastic and ambitious, young logging entrepreneur Kevin Hodges has learned from the past and set his sites on the big time. Page 14. Good To Go Six crews strong and east Texas’ Forrest Hodges isn’t planning on stopping. Page 18. Different Twist CTW Forest Products maneuvers its way through 10 years. Page 22. Backside Of 40 Loggers share views on longevity for themselves and their companies. Page 26. Departed … But Remembered. Page 30. Supporter Spotlight 500. Page 42. Worth Repeating. Page 46.

JUNE

Southern Stumpin’ Number 501. Page 6. Bouncing Back D.L. Cutshall & Sons took a big hit, but the sons had a good teacher. Page 8. Crossing The Border ARK-LA Timber Harvesting’s six man crew gets high production in both Arkansas and Louisiana. Page 14. Richmond Show Is Strong. Page 22. 60-Year Celebration For Cone Family. Page 24.

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JULY

Steady And Solid Young Arkansas logger finds what works for him. Page 20.

Taking Control David Smith leads Smith Timber Co., eyes new biomass markets. Page 8.

High-Octane Event Strong attendance, good exhibitor participation, upbeat spirit mark Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show. Page 24.

Rich Heritage Three generations of Robert Rich’s family work together in the woods. Page 12.

NOVEMBER

Southern Stumpin’ Immigrant Song. Page 6.

Onward, Upward Family company C&L Logging focuses on increased efficiency, productivity. Page 16. Jekyll Smiles SWPA blends trade show with annual meeting in Southern Georgia. Page 20.

Southern Stumpin’ More Fun Than Homework. Page 6. Big Rivers Third-generation Henry Rivers carries on family tradition, but does it his own way. Page 8.

Secret To Life Thomas Rivers maintains a balanced approach to work and life, just the way he likes it. Page 14. Step By Step Entrepreneurial forester James Stovall marks 40 years since he acquired B&M Wood Products. Page 20. Strong Partnership Mark Smith teams with son-in-law to tackle hardwood in the hill country. Page 26.

DECEMBER

Southern Stumpin’ Jim Mooney: Small Man, Giant Leader. Page 6.

Forest Energies’ Way Rapidly growing Alabama timber company brings discipline to the business. Page 8. Stormy Weather Working in tornado-damaged timber, Joey Johns adds a dangle saw head to increase efficiency. Page 18. Staying Put Justin Foster’s attention to detail has paid off with steady growth in just a few years. Page 22. Diversified Family Established in logging, the Coleman family tackles a new endeavor. Page 30.

Talking Tread Forestry tire tread designs take a turn. Page 22. Yancey Bros. Celebrates 100 Georgia Caterpillar dealer reaches big milestone. Page 26. Forest Pro Event Goes Over Easy. Page 28.

AUGUST

Southern Stumpin’ A Takeover of Sorts. Page 6. Anything He Can Do Logging isn’t just a man’s world, according to young entrepreneur Heather Gates. Page 10. Moving Ahead Shirley Chason has overcome difficult challenges in logging and life. Page 14. Rising To The Occasion Georgia’s Christie Dixon didn’t think twice before she stepped up and ran her husband’s crew. Page 20. CFP Launches Tier 4f D Series Skidders. Page 26. Mid-South Show: Old Will Contrast New. Page 36.

SEPTEMBER

Southern Stumpin’ Wright For The Job. Page 6. Right Priorities Southern H owner Henderson chose logging to have more time with his daughter. Page 8. Moving Forward Freddy and Brantley Bazor have overcome difficult challenges to keep Bazor Pulpwood running strong. Page 14. Small But Soulful South Carolina’s Pilgrim family has their priorities in line. Page 18. Mid-South Menu It includes machines technology, services, supplies, contests, CE credits, cash prizes and more. Page 24. The Mill Town Built to support sawmills, most of these settlements sprang up only to fade away. Page 26.

OCTOBER

Southern Stumpin’ Something Old, Something New. Page 6. Double Team Timber buyers James and Daniel formed Flint Forest Products to meet logging demand. Page 8. Taking Over Lamar Murphy leads Southern Harvesting out of difficult times. Page 16.

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AT THE MARGINS Keep Your Undercarriage On Track By Tim Nenne Undercarriage Market Professional, Caterpillar, Inc.

outhern loggers tend to favor wheel-type machines in the woods, but in some areas track cutters get the job done. You’ll also find bulldozers and excavators in many loggers’ equipment stables. If you

have track machines in your operation and you’re working hard to keep expenses in line, you need to know that the undercarriage can account for up to 50%, on average, of your costs to maintain these machines.

Proper operating and maintenance procedures can help you hold the line on operating costs on your track machines. Here are a few suggestions: Maintain track tension daily— Improperly adjusted tracks are the primary reason for increased wear and reduced life and performance of an undercarriage. When tracks are too tight, the contact loads between the components go up substantially (see graph). These higher loads increase the rate at which components wear. Tight tracks also increase the risk of dry joints, create stress on drive train components and increase fuel use. If tracks are too loose, they can drag on top of the roller frames, damaging the roller frame structure and causing premature wear on the links. When you move to a new site or start a new application, run the machine for an hour and then adjust the track tension to the manufacturer’s specifications. When conditions change, re-check the tension and adjust as needed. For example, rain may change the track tension due to packing of debris within the undercarriage components. Travel with idlers in front— Traveling is one of the most difficult applications for a track machine. You can minimize the wear by always traveling with the idlers in front. The idler has a spring assembly that acts as a shock absorber and chain tensioner. When tracking where there are stumps and rocks, traveling forward helps reduce undercarriage wear and increases final drive and sprocket life. Traveling idler first also makes the ride smoother and minimizes wear on the chain. Inspect daily—Your daily machine inspection should include key aspects of the undercarriage. Look for loose or missing bolts, oil leaks, unusual wear patterns, loose or bent shoes, debris stuck in the undercarriage, etc. The pads are the components most likely to come loose, so tap on each pad to ensure they are secure. Clean carrier rollers daily— Even in a Southern winter, mud and debris can get packed around top rollers and freeze overnight. In the morning when you try to move the machine, the track may move but the rollers sometimes will not turn. Operating in this condition will eventually wear a flat spot on the rollers. It is very important that the top rollers are cleaned out at the end of every shift to prevent downtime. Also, mud and debris may freeze between the track bushings overnight. In the morning, use the boom to gently lift the machine and then slowly rotate the tracks. This will help clean the bushings and get the stiff tracks moving. Machines equipped with star ➤ 54

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IRONWORKS WANTED TO BUY

280

Cat 518 & Cat 518C skidders in TX, LA area Call Kent 936-699-4700 r_kentjones@yahoo.com

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE

USED FORESTRY EQUIPMENT FOR SALE 450C Timberjack & Parts Pig-Cat Loaders • Prentice Loaders Other Forestry Equipment

352-239-1549

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IRONWORKS RATES; Space available by column inch only, one inch minimum. Rate is $50 per inch, special typesetting, borders, photo inclusion, blind ads, $10 extra each. Deadlines: By mail, 15th of month prior to publication. Place your ad toll-free 24 hours a day from anywhere in the USA (except Alaska and Hawaii) 1-800-669-5613 ask for Classifieds 8:30-5 pm CST. After business hours our automatic ad taker will take your ads.

FOR SALE

Two 45' converted box/chip trailers. Good shape, use daily.........................$5500 ea.

843-395-8065

4642

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! JOHN DEERE: AT195711 AXLE GUARD .....................................$350

HOSE, FITTINGS & CRIMPERS SERVING THE LOGGING INDUSTRY FOR 20 YEARS. WE CAN SAVE YOU MONEY. 8309

Tim Alligood Days or Nights: 1-252-341-9891 email: tim.cavalierhose@yahoo.com

TIGERCAT: 2258D ACC/CLAMP CYL ...........................................$750 PRENTICE: 10085358 WIDE JAW GRAPPLE TONG...................$1,250 CAT: 225-9457 GRAPPLE ROTATOR...............................$2,500

CONTACT: 478.550.2330 - Keith 478.256.4063 - Gary

249

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EUREKA! EUREKA! EUREKA! OWNERS HAVE OVER 30 YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE!

EUREKA SAW TOOTH CO., INC.

7180

We can save you money on Saw Teeth. Hundreds of satisfied A NOW CCEPTIN G customers. Rebuilt Exchange or New. We specialize in rebuildCREDIT ing Koehring 2000, Hurricana, Hydro Ax split teeth and all CARDS other brands. Call Jimmy or Niel Mitchell. Quantity Discounts!

4275 Moores Ferry Rd. • Skippers, Virginia 23879 PH./FAX (day) 1-434-634-9836 or Night/Weekends • 1-434-634-9185

2290

6209

2011 Deere 648H Skidder STK# LU633154; 7,862 hrs $115,000

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2013 Deere 753J Track Feller Buncher STK# LU233050; 2,762 hrs $298,000

2010 Deere 843K Feller Buncher STK# LU627355; 5,248 hrs $145,000

2010 Deere 748H Skidder STK# LU632350; 6,757 hrs $144,000

2009 Deere 437C Knuckleboom Loader STK# LU173899; 6,761 hrs $89,000

2010 Deere 643K Feller Buncher STK# LU630321; 6,248 hrs $105,000

DECEMBER 2014 ● Southern Loggin’ Times CLICK HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY OPTED IN!

2011 Deere 848H Skidder STK# LU639211; 5,707 hrs $160,000

2011 Deere 753J Track Feller Buncher STK# LU196576; 7,254 hrs $145,000

2012 Deere 750K Dozer STK# LU233053; 1,457 hrs $215,000

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Resumes may be faxed to 931-296-7698 or you may contact: Mike Philipi Timber Procurement Manager Office: 931-296-1455 Mobile: 615-418-0276 1501

IF YOU NEED

To buy or sell forestry, construction, utility or truck equipment, or if you just need an appraisal, contact me, Johnny Pynes with JM Wood Auction. Over 25 years experience. 770

Day 334-312-4136 Night 334-271-1475 or Email: johnwpynes@knology.net

FOR SALE KNUCKLEBOOM

2011 CAT 525C—dual arch & winch, 6228 HRS, 30.5 tires (2) NEW (2) 80%, very nice & ready to work .........................$125,000 Call: Zane 334-366-2778 Cell: 334-518-9937 www.heartofdixieequipment.com 3939

Waverly Wood, LLC of Waverly, TN is looking to employ a full time Forester; experience preferred. Applicants must be able to cruise and buy timber tracts and will report to the Timber Procurement Manager.

ROBERTS EQUIPMENT SERVICE INC.

2010 Deere 335D—CSI Delimber; Rotobec 4042HD Grapple; Pitts Trailer; 5,285 Hours; S/N XPA0189322 ................................................$114,000

2010 TIGERCAT 724E—5700 Sawhead; 30.5 x 32 Tires; Hours: 5,954; S/N: 1493 .............................$134,500

MOTORGRADERS

FELLER BUNCHERS

FOR SALE

2005 Barko 495ML with 264CSI Delimber 16,000 hrs $25,000

1998 JOHN DEERE 770CH GRADER—Hours: 7616; S/N: 564251 .................................................$69,500

Sanford , NC

(919) 353-2848

301

06 John Deere 648 G III

DOZERS

2010 PRENTICE 2670—22" Cat Saw Head; 28L x 26 Tires - 70% Front New Rear; Hours: 4,756; S/N: PB19877 ..............................$129,500

LeDean Roberts

318-576-3636

8265

ATTENTION LOGGERS “Shomaker Lumber Company” of McKenzie, TN is looking to employ additional logging crews to log its timber tracts: longterm employment. All prospective contractors must have workers’ compensation and general liability insurance.

2009 PRENTICE 2670—With Quadco CP22 Sawhead; 67 x 34 x 25 Tires; Hours: 8,186; S/N: PB19763 ..$109,500

2008 KOMATSU D61EX-15—6 Way Blade; Hours: 4511; S/N: KMTOD 102K51B45215 ....................$109,500

LOG SKIDDERS

Please contact: R.C. Shomaker Timber Procurement Manager Office: 731-352-5777 Mobile: 731-431-6906 13022 2005 TIGERCAT 724D—Tigercat 5600 Sawhead; 30.5 x 32 Tires; Hours: 14,858; S/N: 7240772 $79,500

2011 JOHN DEERE 843K—Operator's Station Cab w/ A/C; Lever Steer; Heavy Duty Axles; Tires: 2-New 67 x 34 x 25, 2-75%; Hours: 7426; S/N: 1DW843KXLAC632224........$129,500

2005 TIGERCAT 620C—30.5 x 32 Tires; Hours: 9,744; S/N: 6200610........$79,500

2006 CAT 525C—Single Arch, with 67 x 34 x 25 Tires; Hours: 9,910; S/N: 00192 .....................................$64,500

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FINAN C AVAILA ING BLE

www.equipmentandparts.com

Watch videos of some of our machines on YouTube 5569

Office : 903-238-8700 • Shane Fuller : 903-235-1147 Jason Bruner: 903-452-5290

SKIDDERS 2010 John Deere 643K Feller 2011 John Deere 748H Log Skid- 2010 CAT 563 Feller Buncher— Buncher—Joystick steering, 22″ der—SWEDA axles, Dual arch Grap- Joystick steering, 28L tires, 22″ head head, 7100 hours.............$115,000 ple, Winch, Cab with air, 35.5L32 tires, 6300 hours ......................$105,000 4632 hours ......................$165,000

2005 John Deere 648G III—30.5 tires, Dual Arch, New engine 2011 ...................................Call for price

2009 Cat 525C - 7,000 hours, 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, Winch. Ready to work! .........................................$89,500

2004 Timberking TK350 Mulcher 2,200 on rebuilt Cat engine, Fecon BH120 Mulching Head, New teeth, Rebalanced head, Good 28L tires, Cab with air........................................$89,500

Prentice 384 Just in Call for price

FELLER BUNCHERS

2011 Cat 573 Feller Buncher – 4,500 hours, Prentice SH56 Saw Head, 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air................$139,500

MULCHERS & CONSTRUCTION

2014 Barko 930 Mulcher – 700 hours, still under full factory warranty, 305 HP Cummins engine, FAE 300U Mulching Head, 28L tires. Rent to own WAC .................................................$305,000

2006 John Deere 748G III Log 2007 John Deere 648G III Log Skidder—SWEDA axles, Good 30.5 x Skidder—Single Arch, Recent Engine, 32 tires, Tight center pins and cradle Direct Drive, Very Good 30.5 tires pins, Cold a/c ..................$79,500 ..........................................$65,000

2007 CTR 320 Delimber—Cradle 2000 Prentice 280 Log Loader— mount, Excellent Shape.......$9,500 CTR Delimber, Just In ................................Call for Price

2011 Geo Boy Mulcher - 2,400 total machine hours, Less than 300 hours on Recon 220 HP Cummins engine, Fecon Mulching Head, Rear winch, Cab with air. This machine can be trailered and transported without any special permits. .................................................$125,000

LOG LOADERS

2010 Prentice 2384B Log Loader 7,800 hours, Mounted on trailer with CTR 426 Delimber, Cab with air. Ready to work!....................................$110,000

NOT PICTURED 2010 John Deere 648H Dual Arch Skidder – 5,900 hours, Very good 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, John Deere winch, John Deere grapple, Ready to work! ................................................ $119,500

2011 Cat 553 Mulcher – “NEW” FAE smooth drum mulching head, “NEW” high pressure pump and hoses, Cat C6.6 Acert engine, good 28L tires, Cab with air. 5,300 hours on the carrier, 0 hours since the conversion from a feller buncher. Ready to work! ........$189,500

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2012 Cat 535C Dual Arch Skidder – 5,500 hours, 2 “new , 2 very good, 35.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work!..........................................$CALL$

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2011 John Deere 748H—4,500 hours”NEW” 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, John Deere winch, John Deere grapple, Ready to work!..................$159,500

2008 Barko 930 Mulcher - 3,900 hours, FAE 300U Smooth Drum Mulching Head, 305 hp cummins engine, 28L tires, Cab with air. Ready to work! Rent to own with approved credit....$169,500

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CHIPPER

CAT 579B DSHYD (00PR65175), ID#535750L, 2011, 3171 Hours, PETERSON 5000G (2G-214- Cab, AC, Kodiak Trailer, Grapple, 661), 2001, 12981 Hrs, Cab, AC, Delimber .....................$215,000 Whole Tree Chipper .....$139,000 PRENTICE 410E (PR60851), 2005, 0 Hrs, Cab, Evans Trailer, KNUCKLEBOOM Grapple, Delimber, Double V Heel .....................................$22,500 LOADERS CAT 559B DS (00PR65341), 2012, 99999 Hrs, Cab, AC, Pitts Trailer, CTR Delimber, Grapple ..........................................CALL CAT 563 (00HA19937), 2011, 2613 Hrs, Cab, AC, 24.5-32, SH50 Saw...................$186,000 CAT 573C (0RJT00256), 2012, 2547 Hrs, Cab, AC, 30.5L-32, SH56B Saw.................$208,500

DOPPSTADT SM720 (W09621 FRANKLIN LOGGER 170 179A1D07448), 2010, 248 Hrs, (16544), 1995, 2500 Hrs, Cpy, Single Arch Grapple.......$15,000 Trommel Screen, 435/50R19 ...................................$323,000

WHEEL FELLER BUNCHERS

SKIDDERS

CAT 517 (05WW00419), 2004, CAT 553 (00HA19857), 2011, PRENTICE 410EX (PR59586), 7877 Hrs, Cab, AC, Esco Grapple 3767.6 Hrs, Cab, AC, 28L-26, 2004, 16000 Hrs, Cab, AC, Evans Make An Offer SH50 Sawhead ..................CALL Trailer, Grapple, Delimber .....................................$25,000 CAT 525C (052500251), 2006, HYDRO-AX 321 (7121), 1998, 8859 Hrs, Cab, AC, 30.5-32, 10000 Hrs, Cab, AC, 24.5-32 Dual Arch Grapple, Blade, Winch Tires W/Chains, 20’’ Sawhead SCREENS ..........................................CALL .....................................$33,500 DOPPSTADT SM720 (W096212 1781D07286), 2009, 2457 Hrs, CAT 525C (052501555), 2012, TIGERCAT 726 (7260852), 7’ 20’’ Drum w/ 3/4 ” Punch 5560 Hrs, Cab, AC, 30.5-32, S 1997, 10000 Hrs, Cab, AC, 30.5Plate ...........................$250,000 Blade, Grapple ............$173,000 32, 22’’ Sawhead ..........$39,000

TIDEWATER EQUIPMENT CO. MAC • 910-610-7029

Call or visit our website: www.tidewaterequip.com SKIDDERS

2010 CAT 535C....................................$82,900 2001 Deere 648GIII .............................$40,625 2008 Deere 648H.................................$85,500 2008 Deere 748H.................................$82,500 2010 Deere 648H...............................$100,000 2011 Deere 648H...............................$130,000 2005 Deere 748GIII .............................$57,000 2007 Tigercat 610C.............................$68,750 2011 Tigercat 610C...........................$133,500 2004 Tigercat 620C.............................$67,500 2005 Tigercat 620C.............................$66,000 2008 Tigercat 620C...........................$105,000 2008 Tigercat E620C...........................$98,000 2003 Tigercat 630C.............................$40,000 2005 Tigercat 630C.............................$60,000 2005 Timberjack 460D ........................$50,000

FELLER BUNCHERS

2011 CAT 563 ....................................$119,900 2009 Deere 643J .................................$85,000 2007 Prentice 2470 .............................$54,000 2008 Prentice 2470 .............................$81,250

2008 Prentice 2570 .............................$95,000 2008 Prentice 2570 .............................$84,300 2006 Tigercat 718 ...............................$65,000 2011 Tigercat 718E ...........................$152,335 1998 Tigercat 720B .............................$30,900 2006 Tigercat 720D.............................$78,500 2007 Tigercat 720E ...........................$100,000 2005 Tigercat 724D.............................$85,200 1995 Tigercat 726 ...............................$25,000 2005 Timberking TK340......................$15,000 2004 Timberking TK360......................$58,000

LOG LOADERS 2008 Barko 495ML ..............................$70,000 2005 Deere 335C.................................$27,500 2005 Prentice 280 ...............................$45,000 2003 Timberjack 430B ........................$24,500 2004 Tigercat 240B .............................$45,000 2005 Tigercat 240B .............................$55,000 2007 Tigercat 244 ...............................$79,900 2008 Tigercat 234 ...............................$87,500 2011 Tigercat 234 .............................$132,500

INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT

1997 MORBARK 22.............................$60,000 2009 MORBARK 40/36 NCL DRUM CHIPPER ........................................$212,500 2010 MORBARK 40/36 NCL DRUM CHIPPER ........................................$232,000 2010 MORBARK 4600XL ..................$413,000 2011 MORBARK 40/36 NCL DRUM CHIPPER ........................................$225,000

MISCELLANEOUS

Assortment of tires and rims for Deere/Tigercat CTR 314 and 400 Delimbers .........................................$1,000 to $18,000 Tigercat Shears and Saws .........................................$2,500 to $20,000 Please come see us at our new parts locations: – Waycross, GA (912) 282-9284 – Statesboro, GA (912) 601-9924 – Elizabethtown, NC (910) 876-7058

View our web site for over 200 listings with newly reduced prices and pictures 2687

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EQUIPMENT FINANCING

7195

• Preferred Good Credit Plans • Rough Credit Plans (turned down, tax liens, bankruptcies)

• Purchases • Refinance • Start-up Business • Loans Against Your Existing Equipment for QUICK CASH! 2-Hour Approvals! Low Monthly Payments Little or No Down Payments

15 Years In Business CALL NOW

985-875-7373 Fax: 985-867-1188

Email: coastalcapital@bellsouth.net Personal Service

Ask For L.T. DEALERS WELCOME

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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. WE ALSO BUY USED DELIMBINATORS

2004 Trelan 23NCL whole tree chipper—CAT 3412 w/760HP; radio control, air compressor ..............$156,000

Call: 662-285-2777 day, 662-285-6832 eves Email: info@chambersdelimbinator.com 2007 John Deere 843J w/225HP— 1996 Timbco 415B Track Feller BunchSingle post FD22 sawhead; joystick er—Quadco 20" sawhead; Cummins, controls, Tires: 30.5x32..........$85,000 6BTA, A/C cab, 32" pads ..............................................$39,000

1988 Morbark 27RXL—Cummins 650HP totally rebuilt, clutch, hyd. motors, replaced; chipping daily ............................................$122,500

2010 CAT 966H 12 yd. light material 2004 Tigercat 630C dual arch, Cum- 1998 Morbark 23NCL—CAT 3412 bucket and CAT 950H or log forks with mins Tier III engine, 18.5 grapple w/800HP; all hyd. motors replaced, Fusion couplers.............. $9,500 each $35,000 200 hrs. on clutch ..................$85,000

Call or email: Charles Woolard

Washington, NC Email: easterneq@earthlink.net Complete listings of equipment at www.eebinc.com

562

252-946-9264 office • 252-945-0942 cell

4433

ATTENTION LOGGERS! “Waverly Wood, LLC” of Waverly, TN is looking to employ additional logging crews to log its timber tracts; long-term employment possible. All prospective contractors must have workers’ compensation and general liability insurance. Also, wanting to buy white oak stave logs and tie logs. Please contact: Mike Philipi Timber Procurement Manager Office: 931-296-1455 Mobile: 615-418-0276 1501

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A D L I N K ●

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Easy access to current advertisers! www.southernloggintimes.com/adindex.html Don’t forget to bookmark this link!

ADVERTISER Alliance Tire Americas American Logger’s Council American Truck Parts B & G Equipment Bandit Industries Big John Trailers Bitco Insurance Carter Enterprises Carter Machinery Cat Forest Products Chambers Delimbinator Cleanfix Reversible Fans Cooper Forestry Equipment John Deere Forestry Doggett Machinery Service Equipment & Parts Firestone Agricultural Tires Flint Equipment Forest Chain Forestry Equipment Resources Forestry First Forestry Mutual Insurance Harmon Dennis Bradshaw Hawkins & Rawlinson Hydraulic & Pneumatic In-Woods Expo Ironmart Kaufman Trailers Mike Ledkins Insurance LMI-Tennessee Magnolia Trailers Maxi-Load Scale Systems Moore Logging Supply Morbark Nokian Tyres Olofsfors Ozark Machinery Peterson Pacific Pitts Trailers Puckett Machinery Quadco Equipment Quality Equipment And Parts River Ridge Equipment S E C O Parts & Equipment Stribling Equipment Terex Environmental Equipment Tidewater Equipment Truckworx Kenworth Viking Trailers VPG Onboard Weighing Vulcan On-Board Scales W & W Truck & Tractor

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COMING EVENTS January 2015 13-14—Missouri Forest Products Assn. 2015 winter meeting, Capital Plaza Hotel & Convention Center, Jefferson City, Mo. Call 573-6343252; visit moforest.org.

February 2015 6-8—South Carolina Timber Producers Assn. annual meeting, Springmaid Beach Resort & Conference Center, Myrtle Beach, SC. Call 800-371-2240; visit scloggers.com. 25-March 1—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Annual Meeting, Hyatt Coconut Point, Bonita Springs, Fla. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianwood.org.

March 2015 25-27—Hardwood Manufacturers Assn. National Conference & Expo, The Omni Nashville Hotel, Nashville, Tenn. Call 412-2440440; visit hmamembers.org. 25-27—Kentucky Forest Industries Assn. annual meeting, Embassy Suites, Lexington, Ky. Call 502695-3979; visit kfia.org.

April 2015 15-17—Virginia Forestry Assn. Summit, Boar’s Head Inn, Charlottesville, Va. Call 804-278-8733; visit vaforestry.org.

27-29—Forest Resources Assn. annual meeting, Sheraton Nashville Downtown, Nashville, Tenn. Call 202-296-3937; visit forestresources.org.

June 2015 5-6—Southeastern Wood Producers Assn. annual meeting, Renaissance at the World Golf Village, St. Augustine, Fla. Call 800-468-3571; visit swpa.ag. 18-20—InWoodsExpo 2015, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501-224-2232; visit arkloggers.com.

July 2015 26-28—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianwood.org.

September 2015 18-19—Kentucky Wood Expo, Masterson Station Park, Lexington, Ky. Call 502-695-3979; visit kfia.org. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

AT THE MARGINS 46 ➤ top rollers help reduce mud in the track chain. Exercise parked machines—If you’re parking your machine and the tracks have over 1,500 hours, exercise the tracks for a few minutes each month so the track joints don’t seize up. Here are a few suggestions specifically pertaining to track feller-bunchers: Avoid sharp turns—Try to avoid spinning the machine sharply in place to turn. This pivoting motion not only tears up the ground, it is very hard on track chain bushing life. Take stumps head on—If you can’t avoid a stump with a track, take it straight on and line up the center of the stump with the center of the track. The bolts in the center hold the track pad to the chain; taking a stump on the edge puts a bending force on the track pad and the chain. Minimize travel with loads— You can’t completely avoid traveling with a load in the head, but minimize this as much as possible because the extra weight puts more SLT stress on your track chain.

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DECEMBER 2014 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

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