Equipment World
Equipment & Supplier News
Randy Hill, President of Advanced Trailer, announced that the University of Idaho has been selected as the recipient of a grant his company will fund to study the application of Advanced Trailer’s agricultural crop drying trailer for biomass.
The application will remove moisture from wood chips which are used as fuel for the University of Idaho’s steam boiler plant located at the campus in Moscow, Id.
Feature
Finding the Way by Jennifer McCary
Since the Global Positional Satellite System (GPS) became fully operational in April 1995, the term “GPS” has almost become a household word, so widespread is its use in both private and commercial applications. Within the forest products industry, the technology has found application in three separate sectors—forest management, logging and trucking.
The addition of GPS data in land management is really just a natural progression of an already extensive use of geospatial tools to manage large remote tracts of forestland. The forest products industry, in fact, was among the early adopters using remotely sensed aerial and satellite imagery and geographical information systems (GIS) databases compiled from a wide variety of sources such as timber cruises, elevation maps, geological survey data and so on. GPS information helps foresters accurately document site specific conditions such as shape maps marking boundary lines, riparian zones, sensitive area environments, wildlife ha
Integrity Immersed in Faith by By David Abbott
The company name is M.A. Rigoni, Inc. but there’s no Rigoni there. Founder Matt Rigoni sold the company to long-time employees Gary Brett and Rodney Schwab, now respectively 54 and 61, in 1995. Brett and Schwab have guided it through a number of changes during their tenure. Rigoni, already known for its innovative style—it tackled whole tree chipping for fuel starting in 1978—diversified into mulching/mowing in 2003 and four years later ventured into land clearing. Crews for each service compliment its four harvesting crews, two of which are dedicated to chipping, one to the full tree method and one chipping-treelength combo. Crews are spread out all over the “big bend” area of Florida and venture into south Georgia.
Over the last 15 years, expansion and diversification have defined Rigoni, and diversity is a big part of what makes the organization successful now. When one market is down, opportunities usually open in others, helping keep things stable. Rigoni recently landed
Pursuing Opportunity by Dan Shell
Working the rough logging terrain along the central Oregon Coast for more than 40 years, R&R King Logging is a longtime fixture in state logging circles, producing more than 60 MMBF annually. Led by Bob King and partner Dan Waggoner, the company operates six tower yarder sides, recently won a major family business award, and is also undertaking a new initiative by moving two crews to Alaska (see “Update” subhead herein).
King is a third-generation logger; his father and uncle ran a logging company in the 1950s and early ’60s in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. His father, Robert, bought his uncle out, moved the operation to Mapleton, Ore., on the central coast and formed R&R King Logging in 1967.
Product Showcase
New Products & Technologies
Pitts Trailers offers a new line of custom high capacity lowboy components, including the nitrogen accumulated stinger and spreader bar. The Pitts NSB-141 and NST-141 allow customers to maximize loads easily and safely.
The Pitts NSB-141 and NST-141 combine the 14’1” booster axle spread with a nitrogen accumulation system and hydraulic cylinders.
This system allows the operator to set the exact weight desired on the booster axle and maintain that setting through varying road conditions.
Select Cuts
Developments, Meetings
In March Cong. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) affirmed his commitment to move truck weight reform in the 111th Congress during Highway Reauthorization Bill negotiations during his speech at the Forest Resources Assn. 75th Anniversary Luncheon at Hilton Head, SC. A member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Michaud said that reforming today’s uncompetitive truck weight limits on the federal highway system is “an idea whose time has come. It will enable reductions in fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and in accidents due to congestion.”
FRA is a member of the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition (AgTEC) dedicated to reforming gross vehicle weights on the federal highway system for in-bound forest and agricultural commodities. AgTEC now has more than 80 members and is working with Congress to obtain gross vehicle weight reform in the 2009 Highway Reauthorization Bill.
Timber Lines
Post Recession: What’s Your Plan? by Dr. Dale Greene
Economic turmoil of late in the logging ranks had to be seen and felt to be believed. We’ll probably marvel for the rest of our lives at how bad things got so quickly. Everything went the wrong direction at seemingly the same time—fuel prices outraced fuel adjustments, sawtimber demand crashed, pulpwood demand went up then down, and credit availability collapsed.
Nearly everyone I talk with, including industry veterans, say the same thing: “I’ve never seen it this bad.” That’s saying a lot, considering the situation in 1981-83—18% prime rates and 10% unemployment.
In dealing with this day-to-day anxiety, it’s all too easy to focus only on making it out of this month or quarter. That may be the only option for businesses right on the brink. But others should be looking forward, anticipating the upturn. How do you want to emerge from this recession? Prosperous opportunities will be available to those who prepare and position themselves well.
Timber Scope
Industry News
Mississippi forestry contractors, including loggers, will benefit from a new state tax statute that goes into effect July 1. The law sets the state sales tax on forestry, logging and farm equipment at a uniform 1.5%.
The old Mississippi law taxed logging equipment at 3% and parts and labor at 7%. Farm tractors were taxed at 1% but attachments and implements were taxed at 3%; parts and labor at 7%.
“This couldn’t have happened at a better time,” says Cecil Johnson, Executive Director of the Mississippi Loggers Assn. (MLA). “Loggers are desperately trying to survive and every dollar they save helps.” MLA promoted the legislation along with the Mississippi Forestry Assn. and Mississippi Farm Bureau.