May / June 2023
ST. HELENS, Oregon – Though he had been in the business 20-plus years as a contract timber cutter and large log hauler, Greg Pellham, owner of Pellham Cutting, Inc. in northern Oregon, still wanted to run his own full scale logging company, like his father and grandfather before him. Since 2016 he’s gotten his wish and more as he’s now running four logging crews, plus contract thinning and chipping operations.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
COVER STORY
- Oregon’s Pellham Cutting Builds Logging Capacity
MY TAKE: Loggers Making An Impact, Moving The Needle On Issues
While pulling together and working on this issue, which includes contributions from Associated Oregon Loggers Safety Manager David Grim and Ray Higgins of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association, it hit me how many good people there are across the country and in this industry working to improve the prospects of logging contractors. Then I saw the news item about Idaho loggers visiting their state capital, and the new American Loggers Council “As We See It” came in that detailed the recent Fly-In to work with federal officials in Washington, DC, and the depth and breadth of the collective effort becomes even clearer.
Article by Dan Shell, Managing Editor, Timber Harvesting
NEWSLINES
- New Safe Routes Act Reintroduced For Session
- Trucking Tax Credit Bill Reintroduced
- Lolo National Forest Approves Montana Fire Reduction Activities
- Forest Service Wins Appeal For WA Vegetation Project
- Idaho Arsonist Receives 10 Year Prison Sentence
- Prineville, Oregon Gets Biomass Project Grant
- Idaho Loggers Take Issues To The Capital
- Interstate Hauling Moves Forward In Arkansas
- Maine Strengthens Ash Product Restrictions
- New Georgia Pellet Mill Could Be World’s Largest Producer
- Enviva Moves Forward With Epes, Alabama Pellet Mill
Have A ‘Near Miss’? Try To Learn From It
When was the last time you or your crew talked about a near miss that occurred on the jobsite? Near miss reporting and follow-up discussions can help show you where the hazards are on your jobsite, or help to show some areas that you might have otherwise not thought as a concern. This approach is proactive to injury prevention.
This article appeared in the Associated Oregon Loggers (AOL) April 2023 AOL Mainline publication. David Grim is AOL Safety and Health Manager.
Raveill Rolls In Woods And On The Road
During a Wednesday morning in the McGregor, Minnesota office of Raveill Trucking and Timber Transport, Curt Raveill sits at the dispatch desk with a ton of orders neatly organized. One of the companies’ drivers is discussing the day’s plan for his truck. A computer screen shows the continental U.S. with the up-to-the-minute location and status of each truck around the country. The phone is ringing at the reception desk, with other needs and concerns on the other end. Plus, there are a couple of logging crews to keep track of.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally ran in the Nov-Dec 2022 Timber Bulletin, published by the Minnesota Timber Producers Association. Ray Higgins is Editor-in-Chief.
FELLING EQUIPMENT
- Deere L-Series II Wheeled Feller Bunchers
- Ponsse’s New Scorpion Giant
- Tigercat Feller-Buncher Options
INNOVATION WAY
- Tigercat Dual Winch Skidder
- Deere Crawler Log Loader
- Link-Belt 40B Forestry Series
- Biodiversity & Carbon Tracking Tool
EQUIPMENT WORLD
- Bandit Industries Continues Recent Growth Pattern
- Forest Pro Adds DEVELON Lineup
- Business Finland Aids Ponsse, Epec
SELECT CUTS
As We (ALC) See It: ALC Pursues Strong Legislative Agenda
Famous bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks, replied, “Because that is where the money is.” So why do loggers go to Washington, DC? Because that is where the policy and legislation (money) is made that affects the logging industry. Same concept.
Scott Dane is the Executive Director of the American Loggers Council.
Oregon’s Pellham Cutting Builds Logging Capacity
Article by Dan Shell, Managing Editor, Timber Harvesting
ST. HELENS, Oregon – Though he had been in the business 20-plus years as a contract timber cutter and large log hauler, Greg Pellham, owner of Pellham Cutting, Inc. in northern Oregon, still wanted to run his own full scale logging company, like his father and grandfather before him. Since 2016 he’s gotten his wish and more as he’s now running four logging crews, plus contract thinning and chipping operations.
Pellham, age 55, says that in a way he sort of “waited my turn” to get into logging in 2016 as a changing industry and aging contractor base combined to help create his opportunity. The company’s quality, consistent work and satisfied landowners have done the rest, helping him build capacity. Always do the customer a good job,” Pellham says. “Dad always told me that even if you bid the job wrong, you’ve still got to do it right. Don’t take any shortcuts on the job—and that it always pays off in the end.”
BACKGROUND
Last year Pellham Cutting, Inc. celebrated a rare feat—for any company, not just logging—making it to 2022 and 30 years in business after he started in 1992 as a contract cutter with a chain saw and a pickup truck. Even with the moves into trucking and now full-scale logging, the name has stuck all these years.
The third generation logger had grown up around his father and grandfather’s logging jobs, running a chain saw and skidder, but he had always wanted his own company.
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“I had been contract cutting for a few years before I started Pellham Cutting,” Pellham said. “All I had back then was a chain saw.”
His first mechanized machine was a Timberjack feller-buncher. Pellham spent some time doing nomad contract cutting in the region, working all the way into Idaho and Montana at times and living out of a camp trailer.
He eventually sold his feller-buncher and went to work driving a truck and occasionally operating a loader part-time. Along the way, he kept expanding his trucking fleet that now totals 28 rigs.
By 2012 Pellham was looking to get into logging, but he couldn’t find a clear opportunity. He had begun doing some right-of-way work for Weyerhaeuser and let them know he’d like to do more. The company approached him in 2016 about having work for two crews if he still wanted it. Pellham stepped up, geared up and went to logging.
Soon after, upon recommendation from a forester, Pellham Cutting did a job for a large independent landowner that liked the company’s work and soon had two crews working for them. The company also has a smaller contract thinning side, and is also doing some contract chipping in cottonwood plantations in Lower Columbia River valley.
Pellham Cutting, Inc.’s crews offer several different logging systems and work for large landowners like Weyerhaeuser and also small private landowners.
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