JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022
Oregon’s WyEast Handles Diverse Logging Conditions
Seizing opportunity with an eye toward diversity, WyEast Timber Services has found success in operations ranging from cable logging to firewood production and everything in between.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
COVER STORY
- Oregon’s WyEast Handles Diverse Logging Conditions
MY TAKE: Beginnings
Way back in the 1940s my father was a local kid with smarts. Born into a farming family in Butler County, Alabama, he grew up loving his family, the land, animals and hunting and fishing. He was even working his way into the timber industry: The folks running W.T. Smith Lumber in Chapman gave him a summer job learning to cruise and mark timber, and he planned to attend Auburn University and go into forestry. Problem was, a nearby fish pond in the tiny community of Brushy Creek intervened, and Auburn offered him a chance to make a career out of what he really loved – fishing.
Article by Dan Shell, Managing Editor, Timber Harvesting
NEWSLINES
- ALC Seeks Additional PATHH Funding
- Forest Service SD Proposal Doesn’t Cut It
- SWPA Names Beardsley New Executive Director
- Oregon Honors Top Forest Operators
- Ida Storm Recovery Needs Loggers, Markets
- Enviva Convert, Continues Expanding
- Teal Jones Plans New Louisiana Sawmill
- ALC-Idaho Sponsoring Truck Driving Simulator
- Brazil Cracks Down On Illegal Logging
Industry Leader Allen Bedell Memorialized In Arkansas
Allen Bedell, the Arkansas forest activist who worked tirelessly to advance the industry though many channels at local, state and national levels, was honored at a memorial service on January 8, 2022.
Oregon’s Wil Heath Dies At Age 93
It can be tough to be the face of logging in America, but Oregon logger Wil Heath pulled it off with class and his trademark good nature when he posed with a spotted owl on his shoulder for the January 1991 cover of Life magazine.
2022: OLC Returns With Live Event Show
After a socially-distant virtual gathering last year, the 2022 Oregon Logging Conference is back in person at the Lane County Events Center and Fairgrounds in Eugene from February 24-26.
CLT Logging Adapts To Many Changes
MONTAGUE, California – Joining the logging industry a quarter-century ago, Tristan Allen saw the end of the region’s traditional “Cat” and cable logging era using skidders, dozers and hand fallers to handle northern California’s tough terrain as logging evolved into mechanized falling and grapple skidding and processing for areas that didn’t require yarder cable systems.
Article by Dan Shell, Managing Editor, Timber Harvesting
2022 INDUSTRY EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY
Buyer’s Guide to Suppliers, Plus Industry Groups & Shows
NEW TECHNOLOGY 2022
- Extreme Grinding: Astec Peterson 5710D
- Bandit Track Grinder
- BKT FS 216 Tire Boosts Performance
- Cleanfix Reversible Fans Mean More Uptime
- Deere Debuts Precision Forestry Technology
- Forest Chain Protection
- PONSSE Manager: Next Level Harvesting Tech
- ProLenc Log Load Binders, Snubber
- Hose System Built ‘By Loggers, For Loggers’
- TRACT Software Boosts Logging, Trucking Efficiency
- Trilink Titanium Saw Chain
- Trygg Chain Durability
EQUIPMENT WORLD
- Southern Dealers Bring Out CTL
INNOVATION WAY
- Operator Enhancements
- Ponsse King Forwarder
- Bandit Purchases Trelan
- DC Equipment Reaches Major Sales Milestone
SELECT CUTS
- As We (ALC) See It: It Is Not About Us, It’s About You
- LEOA Graduates First Student Logger Class
- Joe Allen’s Life Was Well Lived
- Life Celebration Held For Pat Doyle, 81
- Shelton Named To Forestry Board
Oregon’s WyEast Handles Diverse Logging Conditions
Articles by Dan Shell, Managing Editor, Timber Harvesting
Seizing opportunity with an eye toward diversity, WyEast Timber Services has found success in operations ranging from cable logging to firewood production and everything in between. Under owner Paul Jones, the operation includes Neal Creek Forest Products for mulch and bark and firewood production; and Middle Mountain Trucking that operates four log hauling trucks and three lowboys.
The company’s offices on the south side of Hood River include a firewood and bark and mulch yard and large shop. Neal Creek produces bark and firewood at the site, and also offers rock and soil products as well. In addition, Neal Creek operates a pole log sort yard on site for Bell Lumber.
And if that’s not enough diversification, the company has been producing some clear slabs, custom beams and even flower planter kits with a set of Wood-Mizer and Peterson sawmills.
Paul Jones
Looking to “move the needle” on landowner perception of timber harvesting activities, Jones has a crew that specializes in small and sensitive private timber tracts.
Using timber purchases through small landowners and stewardship contracts instead of just contract logging, WyEast looks to control more of its product and channel it to higher value uses. For example, “We’re fortunate to have the yard here to help with merchandising,” Jones says, noting that pulpwood logs can be upgraded into higher value bark and mulch and firewood products.
Operating a logging company that also works wildfires, a trucking company, a firewood and fiber yard and log sort yard leads to a wider range of business opportunities, Jones says, and having the infrastructure in place enables WyEast Timber Services to take advantage of opportunity on its own terms.
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