December 2020
COVER STORY – CA Timber Is Just Right In Georgia –
AILEY, Georgia – He may be a young buck, but he’s no greenhorn. After 15 years of full-time logging, four of them with a company in his own name, Cody Alexander, 33, is a seasoned vet in the woods. His step father, Bob Jones, drove a truck and logged, and started his own company in 2001. Even before he was old enough to officially join, the younger man helped Jones out where he could, after school and in the summers, and managed to learn the ropes. By the time he graduated high school in 2005, Alexander already knew how to handle every machine in the woods.
After he finished school, Alexander didn’t waste any time figuring himself or his future out. He went straight to work for his step dad, running his loader for the next 11 years. In 2016 he bought the assets of Bob Jones Logging, Inc., and rechristened it CA Timber, LLC, for his own initials. “I was going to just keep the name – Bob Jones Logging – but it was too much hassle with the incorporation. It ended up being easier to just start it as my own thing.” In reality, it was the same business by a different name.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Southern Stumpin’: End Quotes 2020
Every December issue, for the end of the year, I like to look back at the previous 12 months and put together some of my favorite quotes from articles we have run throughout that year. Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Wheeling, Dealing
STATESVILLE, North Carolina – It’s 5 a.m. and John Woodie, 65, owner of John Woodie Enterprises, Inc., is on his feet cooking his daily dose of two eggs, buttered toast and a couple slices of bacon. He prefers a home cooked breakfast before hopping in his red GMC pickup truck matched with a red embroidered shirt and hat, and heads to Woodie headquarters. He makes a few phone calls to sales personnel along the way, a Bluetooth headset allowing him to maintain a ten-an-two position. The Carolina native is almost 40 years into this venture. Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Family Dynamic
WINNFIELD, Louisiana – It was 1983 when husband-wife team Tony and Liz McManus borrowed $35,000 to start a logging job with Tony’s father and one employee, Robert Nichols, who ran a chain saw. Fast forward 37 years: Tony McManus, now 62, counts Nichols’ son among his closest friends. That’s the kind of guy Tony is. He doesn’t see employees; he sees family. Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Bulletin Board
A Mom’s Letter To Santa; Reindeer Truth; Hatbox Baby; Two Lives Restored
From The Backwoods Pew: The Lord’s Logger
Let’s talk about loggers. Are they hardworking? Absolutely! Must they be creative? Without a doubt, every tract, every change in the weather, every shift in mill needs, demand that the logger be able and ready to adapt. The mentality needed to be a successful logger has not changed for hundreds of years. Excerpted from Bibles, Beavers, and Big Timber by Brad Antill
Industry News Roundup
As We See It: Doing The Right Thing; West Fraser Purchases Norbord For $3 Billion; Jasper Lumber Teams With Tolko Industries; Barge Access Grant Paves Way For Enviva; Texas Forestry Association Presents Logger Award To Futral; WV Students Gain Tree Falling Skills; Enviva, Finite Carbon Focus On Landowners; Earthworm, Drax Working Together; Texas Assesses Hurricane Damage
Machines-Supplies-Technology
Portable Security Gates; Road Builders From Doosan; Maxam MS930 Logxtra; John Deere TimberMatic Maps; Waratah Loader Processor
