My Take

Our annual Timber Harvesting Logging Business of the Year annual story is somehow more special, more in-depth. Typically, this story goes into all of what makes our winner stand out. For the 2023 Timber Harvesting Logging Business of the Year Award winner Ken Swanstrom, there’s not one single thing that makes him “worthy,” instead he’s got a lifetime of “worthy” elements. When I landed in Kalispell, Mont. in early August, it was hazy thanks to wildfire smoke, there was a dry heat my skin certainly wasn’t use to and posted signs everywhere about the highly favorable fire weather conditions…

Gathering up the results for this year’s Timber Harvesting Logger Survey, and reading the comments that go with each question is always one of the editors’ favorite parts of the survey report process. We repeatedly ask our readers to “Raise Your Voice” in responding to the survey, and once you add up all the comments we have well over 300 deep (and some not so deep) logger thoughts on a wide variety of topics…

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 Assn., 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…

EUGENE, Oregon – Loggers across the Pacific Northwest and plenty of points farther away made the trip to Eugene the last weekend of February for the 85th Oregon Logging Conference. The event included everything every logger needs (outside of a better cut-and-haul rate!) when it comes to equipment and tools for getting the job done, including not only the very latest in high performance timber harvesting equipment and machinery, but also the leading edge technology behind it driving production and efficiency gains…

One really bright spot concerning the American Loggers Council is the organization’s resilience as the pandemic slowly fades away: Many organizations and trade associations took a beating during the pandemic, but the ALC is surviving remarkably well and moving ahead on a variety of fronts. Two news items this month underline the importance of having an association like the ALC to provide a national voice for the logging industry as various issues come up…

One of the things I most look forward to each year, working on Timber Harvesting, is the Logging Business of the Year award. From reading all the nominations of worthy candidates, to being a member of the voting committee where we each present our case for our given candidate, to helping Managing Editor Dan Shell get the notification letter printed the right side up on TH letterhead (the Baby Boomer to Millennial joke writes itself here…)—I just…