Equipment & Supplier News

Halton Co., the exclusive Caterpillar dealer for northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, has appointed Tanner Halton as executive vice president and general manager.

Halton will oversee the strategic direction of Halton Co. and will focus on helping the company his grandfather founded 69 years ago weather the current economic environment by positioning it for growth.

“Customer service is my top priority,” Halton says. “The industries we serve have been going through a time of change and transition. As a result, we have streamlined our model to better meet the needs of our customers.”

Against the Grain

Loggers are independent and resourceful by nature. Generally, they are loath to pay someone else to do anything they can do themselves. But today times are tougher than most loggers have ever experienced and many have been compelled to consider new ways to boost productivity and save time and money—ways that may go against the grain.

When Al Falewitch, 42, of Marquette, Mich., bought his Cat 501HD track-type harvester in May 2007 he signed up for a Customer Support Agreement (CSA) that called for the dealer to do most of the maintenance on the machine.

Bright Spot in Down Market by Dan Shell

Good weather and good crowds at the 2009 Oregon Logging Conference offset tough economic conditions for loggers and equipment manufacturers and dealers in attendance at this year’s event. Show officials reported relatively good attendance, with one exhibitor quipping, “The reason everyone’s here is because no one’s working.”

Longtime show organizer Rikki Wellman reports that in discussions with many exhibitors, they felt the show was a success despite the down economy, and believed those who did attend were the decision-makers.

Close to Home

Every now and then a logger lands a tract close enough to home to be able to enjoy lunch at the kitchen table. This is unusual for the most part, but not for Tim Lasiter, owner of T&T Logging, based in northwestern La Salle Parish. For 40 years he’s worked the same land—50,000-plus acres that keeps his two crews usually within 15 miles of home.

The land is part of the timber base formerly owned by Louisiana Pacific. Tim’s father, Howard, moved to the area when Georgia-Pacific bought Urania Lumber Co. in 1968. “Georgia-Pacific gave my father the chance to cut on this land and our family followed,” Tim, 55, recalls. Working for G-P led to contracts with LP (spun off from G-P in the early 70s) for the family and for Tim when he launched his logging company in 1978.

Light Footprint by Jennifer McCary

Four years ago, Bruno Couture, owner of Couture Timber Harvesting, traded his skidder in for a forwarder, turning his operation into a hybrid cut-to-length (CTL) system. “I’m glad I did that,” he states. “I am cutting more wood than I was the other way and it’s less of a headache. It’s a lot cleaner, takes less people and when you’re done with a job, you’re done. Clean-up is not much of an issue because there are no ruts.”

The 45-year-old owner is particularly pleased with the system’s light footprint, which reduces impact on the land and his wallet since less time is required to close a completed harvest and stay in compliance with SFI guidelines. Since making the change he has worked almost exclusively on state forest sales, which are both FSC and SFI certified.

Roundup: Processors

Cat Forest Products offers a full range of processing heads for hardwood and softwood applications that can be mounted on both purpose-built harvesters and excavators. Each head can be customized with various sizes of high speed or high torque motors. All heads come standard with specially designed thumbnail rollers that grip without damaging the log.

All heads are simple to operate and maintain. Major functions are controlled from the cab and the hydraulic and electrical components are easy to access. Automatic chain tensioning on saw bars increases uptime.

New Products & Technologies

John Deere Forestry’s has added the 3754D to its lineup of robust D-Series swing machines. The 3754D is designed to prolong uptime with a new 9.0L 271 HP engine boosting fuel efficiency and a standard 277 gallon fuel tank extending run-time between fill-ups.

Other features include an updated hydraulic system that advances attachment performance and machine smoothness, easily accessible external debris management screens, newly designed heavy duty structures, hardened pins and tighter tolerances in critical joints, and better component protection. Visit johndeere.com.

In The Pipeline: Wood Bioenergy

Many believe that the middle of an economic downturn is no time to sit idly by, or else when the rebound happens you’ll be a step behind those who weren’t sitting idly by but rather were regrouping, repositioning, perhaps even rebuilding.

Our magazine publishing business is no different. We’ve been feeling the pain like everybody else—fewer staff members, dwindling resources, doing more with less. As a result, we’ve taken a hard look at where we are, and in particular we’ve been searching for an opportunity during this moment of adversity, not unlike many of you.

Industry News

Dick Walsh, 69, a logging legend and standout forestry leader in central Minnesota, died January 9 at his residence near Park Rapids. His health had been in decline for a number of years.

Walsh sold Dick Walsh Forest Products, the company he founded and guided for 45 years, to sons Robin and Steve Walsh in 2006, the year Timber Harvesting honored the company and the Walsh family as its Logging Business of the Year. Walsh was known for his leadership; forward thinking; professionalism; devotion to his family, community and industry; congeniality and dedication to educating skeptics about the forest industry.