Course emphasizes safety, efficiency and maximizing profit

By STEVE BROWN

Capital Press

OAKVILLE, Wash. -- Small forest owners can safely and economically harvest their own trees with relatively little equipment, a logging expert says.

Instructor Ken Lallemont led several students through the process recently at Wild Thyme Farm, a lumber-producing eco-retreat center on 150 acres of hilly terrain in southwestern Washington.

Farm co-owner John Henriksen said that when he and his brothers bought the property in 1987, much of it was a "doghair thicket" of alder. Had he taken out 80 percent of trees then and sold them as pulp, he could have paid off his mortgage, he said.

That thinning also would have allowed the remaining trees to "plump out" sufficiently to survive an ice storm that ravaged the region in 1996, damaging thousands of Henriksen's trees. "The forest wouldn't have collapsed," he said.

Now he's taking out all the alder over the next 10 years.

Learning from mistakes -- both immediate and long-term -- is what the game of logging is about, Lallemont said.

The small-scale yarding course he teaches is called the Game of Logging.

Students learn to plan a harvest, fell and buck the tree and extract the logs.

"This is about safety and getting the most money out of your trees," he said. "Safety and value, they don't compromise each other."

Before any tree is felled, the owner must decide how to get it to the landing, where logs are gathered before being hauled out of the forest.

"I cut several trees in my head before starting to work," Lallemont said.

With knowledge and experience, the owner comes up with a plan, then executes the plan, he said. "And it's your plan. The only wrong decision is no decision at all."

Deft chainsaw work brings the tree down safely and in the right position for extracting. Each student learned how to evaluate the tree, release the tension in it and safely trigger the fall.

James Peet, who assisted Lallemont, said a small tractor or an ATV with a logging arch can extract a 1,000-pound log in most terrain. Clearing small roads into the stand opens the way for a continuous circular process, making for efficient time management and ease of operation.

As one log is hauled to the landing, the next tree is felled, he said.

"An ATV pulling an arch does not back up well," Peet said. Then he illustrated how the 175-pound arch could be moved into position by hand.

"The whole thing is about making it as easy as possible for yourself," he said.

The Game of Logging courses in September were sponsored by the Northwest Natural Resource Group, based in Port Townsend, Wash.

Online

www.gameoflogging.com

www.wildthymefarm.com

www.nnrg.org