WBdec21pgs_SS.qxp_Wood Bioenergy Magazine 11/9/21 12:18 PM Page 14
■ producer profile
Home Markets Are Hot For North Idaho Energy Logs By David Abbott MOYIE SPRINGS, Id. ocated in Boundary County, about 30 miles south of the Canadian border, the headquarters of North Idaho Energy Logs sports both the U.S. and Canadian flags. “That’s a common thing in the community,” says Clark Fairchild, co-owner of the company and general manager at this facility. “We do pull quite a bit of shavings and sawdust out of Canada.” Fairchild has two partners, Rob Pluid and Tom Oxford, both of whom are also in other businesses. Pluid runs a logging operation while Oxford’s Oxford Inc. does municipal road work and dust control for several counties and some logging roads. Fairchild and plant manager Bob Warrell oversee the Moyie Springs plant day to day. The company started in 1986; Fairchild’s and Pluid’s fathers were part of the original ownership team, along with two other partners. Their original focus was on energy logs, an 8 lbs. product made of sawmill residuals.
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In 1992 they added one pellet mill. Since the current generation bought the business in 2007, they have expanded both sides of the operation. Now they have nine log machines and three pellet mills.
Products Home heating is the primary application for North Idaho’s products, sold primarily to feed and farm stores, lumber yards and hearth shops. Marketed as an alternative to traditional firewood, energy logs (or fire logs) have several benefits over cordwood, Fairchild says. Moisture content runs around 7%, compared to 18-20% in cordwood. The lower the moisture content, the higher the BTU. Fire logs are also very dense. “Douglas fir (firewood logs) weigh roughly 34 lbs. a cubic foot,” Fairchild estimates. “Our logs…would weigh close to 80 lbs. a cubic foot.” As such, the size can be deceiving. The logs are relatively small: around 4 in. diameter and 13 in. long, but they pack a big punch in a
Wood Bioenergy / December 2021
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