Watts Logging Inc. owner Jason Watts, 37, knows what too much of a good thing can sometimes be. As an operator focusing primarily on first thinnings, it’s good for him that pulpwood demand remains steady. Unfortunately, as with so many cruel ironies of the logging business, a good market for pulpwood can also spell trouble for pulpwood producers. The market gets glutted quickly as mills find too many eager suppliers. In February, Watts said his primary mill outlet was only 20 minutes from the job site, but trucks were facing better than three-hour turnarounds. “It’s backed up like a soup line,” he says. “I knew it was gonna happen. The building side is no good so everybody is cutting pulpwood.”

List Of Exhibitors | May 19-21, Hot Springs, Arkansas

As the 19th century waned, strange sounds were heard in the longleaf forest. The scream of locomotives, din of power skidders dragging logs to railroads, and the chant of track-laying crews signaled the start of a new era. Railroad lumbermen had come South in force to harvest a bonanza of yellow pine timber.

Marvin Hutson and Lou Dutmer, partners in Mar-Lou Mfg. of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., were promoting their Blu Ox whole tree chipper in parts of the South back when Ronald Reagan took over Jimmy Carter’s job. It was their attempt at putting a simpler, lighter weight, more fuel-efficient chipper on the market. They eventually sold the Blu Ox line to Omark Industries, which eventually withdrew it from the market.

“A logger owns a sawmill” sounds like the start of a joke, one that’s followed by a punch line about quotas or paying himself too little. Yet here I was, heading to Holly Springs, Arkansas, to visit Winfred Sorrells, owner of Sorrells Sawmills, with a head full of questions: How are his two businesses integrated? How do they set prices? In a nutshell, how do the two sides work together?

Helen Adkins, native and life-long resident of Clairfield, Tenn., has been connected with logging her entire life. Her father, brothers, cousins and uncles have been loggers, and she married a logger, Tommy Adkins, who currently works for Mopus Timberland. That connection has deeply influenced the direction of her real passion: painting and poetry. She discovered her love for creating art when she was encouraged by her third grade teacher, Sonny Warman. With hard work and dedication, she taught herself and honed her talent over many years. Money was tight, so she used cardboard for a canvas, but her father always supported her by finding a way to buy the paint she needed.

Veteran loggers may remember a time when they could simply fill up their forestry equipment with diesel and get to work without much thought. However, there’s a lot more to think about now with more sophisticated engines, newer ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) and more stringent environmental regulations.

There may not be too many peo­ple in the lumber business today who would describe themselves as “very fortunate,” but Jason Harris, owner of Mayo River Lumber, does. There are several reasons, but for starters, he says the hardwood market improved last year. “It started probably right after Christmas,” he says. “We noticed poplar started picking up tremendously, as well as red oak and white oak. The red oak market had been just null and void for about the last three years. And right after Christmas, red oak came back in style, which was very fortunate because we were just practically giving it away. I hope it continues.”

The American Loggers Council’s Washington DC fly-in and spring Board of Directors meeting has come and gone. Many active, dedicated loggers and state/regional logging association executives took part in the March event. Our ALC members had a full schedule of congressional visits.

M.A. Rigoni, Inc., Perry, Fla., is now operating a Morbark 50-48 drum chipper. It replaces two disc chippers. The new machine features a 50 in. drum with 10 knives.

Logging residue is an inexpensive and easily accessible source of biofuel, but to improve the energy content it must first dry on the ground and after that it can be stored in piles for several months. To shelter the piles from moisture through rain, snow and ice, Walki has developed a paper-based, waterproof cover that can be chipped and burned together with the residue.