MAY / JUNE 2022
ENFIELD, Maine – Pleasant River Lumber Co., based in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine is one of the largest producers of finished lumber in the state. So, it’s only natural that as a multi-location mill company, their log needs would be incredibly high.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
COVER STORY
- A&A Brochu Logging Finds Success In Maine
MY TAKE: Got The Inflation Flu?
Inflation is on the news and all over the dot com as loggers grapple with rising costs for just about everything they need to operate. And there’s no doubt that, despite all our earnest attempts to believe and be “over it,” the COVID pandemic’s impact, especially on labor and supply chains, is something we’ll be living with and operating under for a while.
Article by Dan Shell, Managing Editor, Timber Harvesting
NEWSLINES
- WestRock Closing Mill At Panama City, Florida
- PLC, ALC Surveys: Inflation Bites Loggers
- Major Restoration Project Begins In Washington
- BC Harvesting Deferrals Kick In
- Oregon: What’s Next For Forest Accord
- Drax Officially Opens Demopolis Pellet Plant
- Weyco Purchases More Acreage In Carolinas
- Enviva Will Build Pellet Mill In Bond
- Origin Announces Biomass Facility
FOCUS ON TRUCKING: Increase Log Trailer Visibility
Every logger operating a log truck needs to be diligent about making sure vehicles are conspicuous and easily visible in virtually all weather and light conditions, especially the log trailers.
No Looking Back: J Shar Finds Niche
LIBBY, Montana – Rising to new opportunities is a hallmark of the Fitchett brothers: At J. Shar Timber Harvesting, owner Jared Fitchett, 39, works with his “little” brother Matthew, 33. Their dad, Dan, 67, hauls his sons’ production under his own company, Dan Fitchett Trucking, using a T800 Kenworth with Pierce mule train trailer. Jared has his own truck as well, a 1984 Mack with Alpine short log pup, that he drives when needed, and Matthew is getting his CDL, too.
Article by David Abbott, Senior Associate Editor, Timber Harvesting
Longs’ Story Short: Hardwood Focus
GIRARD, Georgia – After years of rising before dawn to milk cows on the family farm, the Long brothers aren’t afraid of work or being a little tired. They’re up at 4 a.m. and on the job site by dawn, jumping in a cab and picking up where they left off the previous day.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Timber Harvesting
PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY
- Deere Upgrades Harvester Heads
- Ponsse H10: More Effective Cutting, Processing
- The CHAD Boosts Processor Head Uptime
- ProLenc Boosts Processor Performance
- Tigercat Harvesting Heads
EQUIPMENT WORLD
- John Deere Expands Self-Repair Resources
- Pewag Completes Purchase Of Wallingford’s Inc.
- Stihl Inc. Appoints Horan As President/CEO
- Rottne Promotes XParts Program
- Ponsse Increases Finland Presence
- NED Joins Barko Dealers Lineup
- Collaboration Enhances Data-Based Intelligence
- Cleanfix Enhances Operations Team
INNOVATION WAY
- Tigercat Swing Yarder
- Waratah Debarking Head
- Deere Training Simulator
- Komatsu Forwarder
- ASTEC Drum Chipper
- Tigercat Track Feller-Buncher
SELECT CUTS
- As We (ALC) See It: New Spotted Owl?
- Rawls Was One Of Morbark’s Faces
- Auburn Forestry School Celebrates 75th Year
A&A Brochu Logging Finds Success In Maine
Articles by Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Timber Harvesting
ENFIELD, Maine – Pleasant River Lumber Co., based in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine is one of the largest producers of finished lumber in the state. So, it’s only natural that as a multi-location mill company, their log needs would be incredibly high. As Maine wrestles, like the rest of the U.S., with an aging logging force, while landowners still need their tracts thinned, mill owners Jason and Chris Brochu decided to try something their family hadn’t done for many years—run a logging job.
Leaning on Rob Rockwell, a guy who’d been in the lumber business his whole life with some logging experience, the company A&A Brochu Logging was born in 2020, named after the Brochus’ father and uncle, Adrian and Andre, who logged under the same name years earlier. The idea behind the company was simple. Work with some of the landowners they knew, specifically Katahdin Forest Management (KFM), to thin the state’s plantations of spruce and fir that had survived the bud worm of the late 1970s and early 1980s but hadn’t been touched since. This new commercial thinning operation would help the landowners, and feed the expanding Pleasant River Lumber (PRL) sawmill site in Enfield. And maybe bring some new blood into an industry that was struggling to attract fresh talent.
When the Brochus first approached Rockwell, who at the time was running the mill’s log yard and doing procurement, it surprised him. But he says he loves a good challenge and A&A Brochu Logging was definitely going to be one. “I never thought I would do something like this,” he says. “It’s a learning curve, and it has been fun.”
Startup logging venture has done well with newly trained employees and double shifts while concentrating on commercial thinnings.
A&A Brochu Logging does almost all commercial thinning on larger 100-500 acre tracts.
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