November / December 2023
FITZPATRICK, Alabama – As more loggers and landowners are exposed to the system, cut-to-length operations are making believers out of skeptics in the southeastern U.S., and quickly becoming an all-weather solution to approaching Southern hardwood in wet ground.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
COVER STORY
- Bama’s Sanders: Wet Ground, Big Timber
MY TAKE: ALC's Fall Tradition Travels To Maine In 2023
NEWRY, Maine – Logging industry professionals and advocates from throughout the U.S. (and a few from beyond) converged on the far northeastern state for this year’s American Loggers Council annual meeting on October 4-6. The theme for this year’s conference was “Family Tradition,” and indeed, the ALC annual meeting has become an annual tradition every fall for many logging families.
Article by David Abbott, Senior Editor, Timber Harvesting
NEWSLINES
- NW Pulp Markets Soften With Several Closures
- Name Change: PLC of Maine Now PLC of Northeast
- Alabama Debuts Bridge Cost-Share Program
- AOL Awaiting Approval For Logger Health Insurance Plan
- Vermont Judge Dismisses State Forest Lawsuit
- Perry, Florida Seeks Interest In Closed Foley Pulp Mill
- FS Chief Announced As OLC Keynote Speaker
- Kiosk Improves Truck Turnaround
- Western Partners With First Nations
- SPI Forest Steward Plans Retirement
- West Fraser Invests In Newberry Mill
- Idaho Forest Supervisor Criticized For Inaction
- Sustainable Forest Report Shows Challenges
Fall Logger Events Enjoy Great Weather, Good Crowds
Loggers across the country have been enjoying cooler weather and several key events showed the latest in logging equipment technology, including two live demos, as loggers gathered in Washington, Mississippi and Wisconsin for equipment shows and more.
Recycling Machine Innovator, Pioneer Neil Peterson Dies
Forest machinery pioneer and innovator Neil Peterson, the driving force behind Peterson Pacific Corp. that revolutionized in-woods and mobile delimbing, debarking and chipping, died recently. Peterson was not just a pioneer in his field but also a generous philanthropist, a guiding force for his team, and a beacon of opportunities for his employees.
STEEP SLOPE TECH
- Forest Chain Protection
- Olofsfors EX Tracks
- Tigercat Offers Advanced Steep Slope Technology
- Trygg Chain Durability
- Ponsse: Steep Slope Opportunity
Timber Utilization Shows Keys To Sustainability
This brief white paper and a new interactive dashboard provides a quantitative review of the U.S. and Canadian forest products sector.
Article by William Strauss, President of FutureMetrics
EQUIPMENT WORLD
- Caribou Eliminates The Paper Chase
- Bandit Industries Celebrates Big “40”
INNOVATION WAY
- Deere Beaver Tooth
- New Serco Loaders
- Bruks Mobile Chipper
- Battery Powered Sawmill
SELECT CUTS
- As We (ALC) See It: Inconsistent Federal Transportation Policy Hurting Economy, Environment
- Alabama ‘Woods to Goods’ Teaches Sustainable Forestry
- Montana Logger Wins Forest Products Award
Bama’s Sanders: Wet Ground, Big Timber
Article by Patrick Dunning
FITZPATRICK, Alabama – As more loggers and landowners are exposed to the system, cut-to-length operations are making believers out of skeptics in the southeastern U.S., and quickly becoming an all-weather solution to approaching Southern hardwood in wet ground.
Kirk Sanders, 62, owner, KSC LLC., has conducted high-grade thinning prescriptions with Ponsse forestry equipment in Alabama since 2000 and was recommended by his forester for a commercial thinning operation 30 miles east of Timber Harvesting’s headquarters, on a 120-acre tract in Bullock County, because of his machines and how he’s able to utilize them.
This stand of Black Belt timber hadn’t been touched since 1995 and for the last three years the ground was too saturated to access any merchantable hardwood by conventional cut-skid means. (The “Black Belt” is a soil type less than 100 miles wide but stretching from southeast Alabama into northern Mississippi, known for its dark prairie soils underlain by chalk formations: When it gets wet in the Black Belt it can stay wet a while.)
Chunks of the land were still under water when KSC began harvesting trees on the property in August, and three sizeable beaver dams were identified on the southwest end of the parcel that prevented the proper movement of water and also flooded valuable timberland.
KSC’s 2012 Elephant forwarder and 2016 Bear harvester made light work of the wet conditions and efficiently moved 6,000 tons of hardwood species in two months.
“When we first got here it was really, really wet. You’d be standing in water right here at this landing a couple months ago,” Kevin Tyler, 46, harvester operator, says. “We worked the dry areas first and now we’re on the backside of the property, about two miles in, working our way back to the road. We should be done by the end of this week.”
Consulting forester, Brett Ezelle, Carlson Land Services, Inc., admits he questioned the cut-to-length system’s capabilities on this tract in the beginning, but is now a staunch supporter of Ponsse machines after observing them in bottomland operations. “I was doubting the machines in big timber like this; I’ve seen them cut pine but I’m a firm believer now. This was my first experience with Ponsse and I’m convinced this is the way to cut hardwood. There’s less damage to the ground, they do an excellent job processing logs and there’s very little waste,” Ezelle said.
From left: Brett Ezelle, forester, Kevin Tyler, harvester operator, and Bryan Cowan, timber buyer
120 acre tract required beaver dam removal where timber was flooded.
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