In the July/August 2016 edition of My Take, Timber Harvesting magazine Executive Editor DK Knight discusses the bad reputation the logging industry is often stuck with. Knight writes, "The horrific log truck/SUV collision occurred on the warm, dry, clear afternoon of June 8, on a rural stretch of U.S. highway 82 near the central Alabama town of Maplesville and some 50 miles northwest of where this magazine is created. All four SUV occupants—two young adults, a toddler and an infant—died in the fiery wreckage. The truck driver escaped with non-life threatening injuries. Authorities revealed little about what may have caused the crash. Regardless, four lives were snuffed out and another one likely has been permanently changed. For the families involved, the agonizing fallout will linger for years. As is often the case in such incidents, it may have been that there simply was nothing the truck driver could have done to avoid the collision.”

Weyco Closing Two Former Plum Creek Mills; Bandit Names Mocny As New CEO; Red Cedar Producer Selling Operations; Judge Orders GREC To Pay Biomass Supplier; Trinity River Buys Cal Redwood Mill

Timber Harvesting magazine Associate Editor Jessica Johnson has the opportunity to visit Maine Custom Woodlands in Durham, Maine. Maine Custom Woodlands owner Tom Cushman didn’t set out to be a logger. He thought his career path would be at John Deere or Caterpillar, helping to design logging equipment. But when the University of Maine forest engineering grad went to get a job, all he got was a stack of rejection letters. As a college student, the now 47-year-old Cushman cut firewood for some professors: “I came home for spring break and started looking through the yellow pages to find some logging contractors. I called one and he said ‘Hey, can you supervise and buy timber?’ I said, ‘sure, absolutely!’ There wasn’t much of a training program in that position; it was sink or swim.” In December of 1993, Cushman figured the guy he was working for was quite successful, so much so that he should give logging a try.

Timber Harvesting magazine Senior Associate Editor David Abbott writes about a recent visit to Doddridge, Arkansas’ Hartline Farm and Timber (HFT). Last fall brought with it two big changes for Hartline Farm and Timber (HFT), based in Doddridge, Ark. First, the company expanded its operations in response to additional demand. Second, it replaced pull-through delimbers on one crew with a processor mounted on an excavator. HFT had consolidated its operations into a single crew during the recession. The recovery of recent years had owner Michael Hartline, 51, feeling confident enough that when an opportunity came to add a second crew, he went for it. Local Dunlap Timber LLC needed another crew to pick up the slack when it lost one of its contractors, and it so happened that a procurement rep for that company was a friend and neighbor of Hartline.

(This article, written by Don Curtis and Craig Bassingthwaite, was submitted by American Loggers Insurance Program) Every logging equipment owner or operator has either dealt with a fire personally or knows someone who has, so they likely are more attuned to fire prevention. The logging industry would benefit if those not in this category would take fire prevention more seriously. Operators can greatly reduce the risk of fire by daily cleaning machines of highly combustible debris and by diligently maintaining hydraulic, fuel, and electrical systems. Dry leaves, twigs, chips, and such are flammable enough without the addition of oil from leaks and ruptured hoses. In recent years machine manufacturers have helped reduce fire risk with design-build innovations. Examples include component compartmentalization, installation of guards and covers that reduce debris buildup, isolation of hydraulic and fuel lines from areas of extreme heat, and the protection of wiring against abrasion and ground faults.

North American forest industry trade shows for the second half of 2016 are drawing lots of interest from exhibitors, many of whom have juggled assets to cover as many events as possible. Here is a glance at four August-October venues: Mid-South Forestry Equipment Show, August 26-27, Starkville, Miss.; Great Lakes Logging & Heavy Equipment Expo, September 8-10, Oshkosh, Wis.; Demo International, September 22-24, Maple Ridge, BC; Paul Bunyan Exposition, October 7-9, Cambridge, Ohio.

Barko B-Series Harvesters and Feller Bunchers; Caterpillar B-Series Harvesters and Feller Bunchers; John Deere M-Series Feller Bunchers; Komatsu XT-3 Series Feller Bunchers; Madill 2250-C Feller Buncher; Risley Equipment EZ200 Feller Buncher; Tigercat 822D Feller Buncher; TimberPro Harvesters and Feller Bunchers

Truckworx Kenworth Has New Facility; Barko Hydraulics Adds Chadwick-BaRoss To Network; NC’s Nelson Wins Championship; Support Guarantees Unite Stoy, Cashman

John Deere 337E Knuckleboom Loader; Cat/Prentice Bunching Saw; Rotobec Pulpwood Grapple; Geo-Boy Brush Cutter

SWPA Meeting/Expo: Crowd Pleaser; Hasbargen Logging Honored In Minnesota; Former Logger Duren New TLC Coordinator; Nine Speakers Set For VLA Meeting; As We See It: Show You Care, Tell Your Story; Norris Honored By FRA’s Southcentral Region; Memorial Service Held For Don Taylor