November / December 2024

Steep Slope Issue: East Coast Hardwood

West Virginia’s Zach Hubbard has been busy: purchasing his family’s logging company and investing in tethered felling and skidding in steep slope Eastern hardwoods.

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COVER STORY

Steep Slope Issue: East Coast Hardwood

MY TAKE Nevada Mill Offers New Market

The day before the American Loggers Council annual meeting in Jamestown, Calif. back in October, I had the opportunity to visit and tour Tahoe Forest Products in Carson City, Nev. Located on the south end of town near a retail district, the mill sits across from a Petco loading dock on almost 40 acres of leased tribal land.

Newslines
  • Helene Impact Becoming Clear
  • IP Closes Georgetown, Hits SC Markets Hard
  • GP No Longer Using Logs At SC, Texas Mills
  • Oregon Dept. of Forestry Seeks Operating Loan
  • Yosemite Seeks New Colorado Feedstock Study
  • Canfor Reduces Shifts At Southern U.S. Sawmills
  • Mitchell Left Imprint On Logging Equipment
  • Golden State NR Releases Project Draft
    Logger Events
    • Great Lakes Expo
    • Alabama Loggers Meet
    • Mid-Atlantic Logging Demo
    • Oregon Logging Conference
    ALC Investigates Future At Annual Meeting
    JAMESTOWN, Calif. – Loggers from across the country gathered in central California for the American Loggers Council’s 30th annual meeting October 2-4, following the theme of a “Legacy of Achievement.” Such a legacy remains the foundation of “what’s possible” as the logging industry moves forward, says 2024 ALC President Mike Albrecht of California, who hosted the event along with Associated California Loggers.
    Pulpwood Deserts

    Especially in areas where round- wood consuming pulp and paper facilities have either closed machines or closed outright, the timber industry’s ongoing pulp and paper realignment is substantial and has initiated a domino effect with dire implications for an already strained raw material supply chain as markets for low-grade roundwood and chips disappear across the country.

    Steep Slope Tech
    • Ponsse: Steep Slope Opportunity
    • Forest Chain Protection
    • Wallingford’s pewag
    • Tigercat Offers Advanced Steep Slope Technology
    • Trygg Chain Durability
    • Olofsfors EX Tracks
      Innovation Way
      • New Tigercat Equipment
      • Deere Debuts Auto Pickup
      • New Waratah 624, 626
        Select Cuts
        • As We (ALC) See It The Sport of Politics
        • Collins, Fre-Win Mark One Year

          East Coast Tethering Produces For Hubbard

          New company owner Zach Hubbard invests in tetgered steep slope logging

          Story by: David Abbott

          LEWISBURG, W.Va., It’s natural that younger generations want to try new and different methods while building on the foundation left by their parents and grandparents. So it’s no surprise that when fifth generation logger Zach Hubbard, 30, bought the family company from his parents, Rodney and Dinah, almost two years ago, he had high ambitions of adding his own vision to the Hubbard legacy.

          Specifically, Zach added a winch-assisted or tethered component to the company’s steep slope logging operations in West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountain range. When he transitioned what was formerly Rodney Hubbard & Son Logging, Inc. into Zach Hubbard Logging, Inc., Zach also changed how he harvests hard-to-reach hardwood in rugged high elevation terrain.

          To replace chain saw felling, he upgraded to a West Coast package TimberPro TL755D tracked feller-buncher (purpose built for steep slope operations) and a new Tigercat 635H bogie skidder. He also added a TimberMax T20 cable winch tethering head on a John Deere 350 excavator to anchor the new cutter and skidder when they’re working downhill. The skidder and cutter take turns tethered to the TimberMax winch, with the excavator parked firmly on level ground. Tethered for stability, the TimberPro fells on steep inclines; when it’s finished, the Tigercat hooks up to the cable line and skids everything uphill.

          The new owner’s aim was simple: to get more production on steeper ground, and to do it more safely. And he’s not just paying lip service to safety (especially considering he’s the one doing the cutting); it might have been his chief motivation. “I’ve got four kids at home; I want to make it home to them every night,” Zach explains. He has no intention of orphaning his children (ages 9, 7, 5 and 3) or widowing his wife Cherie.

          There’s also the fact that Hubbard Logging contracts exclusively for Weyerhaeuser, a company well known for its emphasis on safe practices. “They don’t like to see people on the ground with chain saws,” Zach notes. Before tethering, the Hubbards cut steep hillside timber with chain saws and pulled out with a shovel machine, and before they bought the shovel they just used a TimberPro to shovel uphill.

          Zach’s father Rodney admits he wasn’t on board with this tethering concept when his son started looking into it. “I was totally against it,” the elder Hubbard recalls. His skepticism was understandable: he believed the investment would be too high for the return. “I was just old school. I couldn’t see spending that kind of money, and I thought I could cut what I needed by hand without the tethered stuff.”

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