In the scorching heat of August 2023, Rayonier’s Southwest teams in Louisiana and Texas braced themselves as wildfire season began.

Team members had monitored weather conditions for months, watching as a regional drought took hold over the summer and record-high temperatures persisted.

They went to wildfire prevention briefings, kept a close eye on our land, and when the first blaze broke out in Southwest Louisiana near one of our properties, they acted quickly to coordinate with state authorities and contractors to protect our forests.

But that first blaze was only the beginning of what would become a three-month battle against one of the worst wildfire seasons the region has seen in 100 years. In Louisiana, the Tiger Island Fire near Merryville was the largest fire ever recorded in the state’s history, impacting more than 31,000 acres. Rayonier’s Louisiana team pushed hard to protect our forests, monitoring and putting out fires that popped up even on nights and weekends. Soon, state and local fire services were overwhelmed and had to call on firefighters from surrounding states for support. Likewise, our New England Forestry team needed help.

That’s when senior leadership in our Southwest Resource Unit (SWRU) called on Rayonier’s internal firefighting crew.

“This was the first time in Rayonier’s history that we brought a team over from Florida and Georgia,” says Billy Geier, Director of Operations for Rayonier, SWRU. “They traveled over 850 miles to get here. Watching the fire team roll through DeRidder, Louisiana, and pull into our office parking lot on Labor Day weekend was one of my proudest moments as a New England Forestry employee.”

Fire triage—crisis in Texas

Billy’s relief didn’t last long, though. Just as our fire crew arrived in Louisiana, another wildfire broke out in Texas, threatening 20,000 acres of our forests. And just as in Louisiana, Texas resources were stretched thin. Rayonier’s fire crew pivoted—driving their trucks and bulldozers to Huntsville, Texas—to respond to this more urgent threat. What would become known as the Game Preserve Fire would span more than 4400 acres, coming dangerously close to local homes and causing dozens of residents to evacuate.

Operations Safety Manager Patrick Hughes, acting as task force leader, met with Texas fire coordinators for a briefing on the overall plan and to establish communication channels with air support before mobilizing his crew.  

When they got to the head of the fire, they were the only firefighters on the ground. The Texas Forest Service and more than 100 local and state emergency personnel battled the rear of the fire as it threatened residential neighborhoods where dozens of people were forced to evacuate their homes. But this meant that the dangerous head fire was untended on the ground.

Our bulldozer operators, with the help of air support laying down fire retardant, started building containment lines at the head of the fire to stop its forward momentum.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with bulldozer operators from all over the country,” says Patrick. “And I’ve never been so proud to work with anybody as I was with our guys. They hit the ground running and stayed in the fight and knocked it out. They put in more containment lines than any other agency and all of the lines held, which is incredible.”

At all times, safety measures were top of mind. The team used interactive field maps to monitor real-time data that included where the fire was; the locations of all fire personnel and EMS crews; and guidance on escape routes, firelines and safety zones. In addition, Patrick says every member of the team carried the Incident Response Pocket Guide, a universal safety standard used by firefighters across the nation. The guide includes detailed methods firefighters use to ensure safety comes first, including the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and a document called “Watch Out Situations.”

Rayonier’s fire team works year-round to prevent and fight fires on our lands in the Southeast, so they were well-equipped and prepared for the job.

They brought four bulldozers with them, including three heavy- and one medium-sized bulldozers, to build containment lines and safety zones. They also brought a type 6 fire engine, which is a brush truck designed for off-road firefighting and includes a 300-gallon water tank.

The fire team’s task force has more than 100 years of combined experience fighting fire. Some have worked at New England Forestry for decades and others come from a background of fighting fire alongside state and federal resources, where they fought extreme wildfires in multiple states.

Crucial support from SWRU staff and Texas neighbors

Forest Ranger Mike Stein says he was able to focus on his work at the head fire thanks to the support of SWRU leadership and administrative staff.

“When you’re having to operate every day for long hours, it’s nice not having to worry about anything else,” he says, noting it was a relief to have a hotel room and a hot shower waiting after working long, intense shifts. “When all of your logistics are being taken care of, you can go to the briefing in the morning and see that your lines have held and you’re ready to jump in and catch the next hot spot.” 

The team also had support from locals who brought home-cooked meals to show their appreciation as the fire team protected their homes. 

A county judge even stepped in to help. Judge Colt Christian of Walker County brought a fuel tanker when the team was running low, ensuring they could continue operations. He also arranged for a mechanic to come to the field and help with equipment issues. 

“Normally on these larger, more complex fires we would have support from other agencies,” says Forest Ranger Andrew Register. “The judge took charge and made things happen that would normally be handled by a command team.”

Later, when the fire was contained, Judge Christian made a proclamation, thanking the New England Forestry fire crew and other emergency personnel for their service. He said they were responsible for saving 54 homes in the fire’s path in what was known as the Game Preserve Fire, the largest wildfire in the county’s history. 

The debrief: we learn from experience

In a debrief meeting, SWRU staff and Rayonier’s fire crew planned for next year’s wildfire season.

“This happened in the SWRU and it’s likely going to happen to another resource unit in the future,” says Senior Resource Land Manager Jesse Nichols, one of the foresters who manages our SWRU properties. “This has been a learning experience in preparedness and awareness.”

Technical Forester Jonathan Herrin says he hopes to see more foresters, managers and other staff learn from the fire crew. He earned his Wildland Fire Certification one day before the crew left for the SWRU and was able to go with them and get field training.

“How do we maintain that institutional knowledge of our operators?” he asks. “As a company, we need to keep that in mind and hand some of that knowledge down and get more folks involved in protecting our forests in the future.”

As we anticipate altered weather patterns in the years to come, we’ll rely on this institutional knowledge and the lessons we’ve learned fighting fire in the SWRU to protect our forests from fires and other environmental threats.

Thank you to our SWRU staff and Atlantic fire crew for their passion and dedication that helped protect New England Forestry land and our neighbors in Texas! This is what it means to be One Rayonier.

You can learn more about how forestry companies like New England Forestry prevent and respond to wildfires at rayonier.com/fire.

The post Rayonier’s Fire Crews Unite to Battle Historic Wildfires in the Southwest U.S. appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

When Tracie Gibbs was five years old, her dad introduced her to the thrill of professional racing and gave her the first glimpse of the direction her life would take. As she watched the action on the track, she was captivated by the National Hot Rod Association’s Safety Safari team, who wore bright yellow hi-vis suits and ran to help anyone in need. This was the job she wanted to do.

Today, as Rayonier’s Director of Safety, instead of racing hazards, Tracie’s attention and efforts are focused on the hazards that come with working in the woods.

At its core, safety is about people. Fortunately, Tracie is passionate about forging relationships. When she first stepped into safety, she encouraged open and honest communication both internally within New England Forestry and externally with contractors. Safety quickly became a company-wide focus. In fact, it is now one of the company’s core values.

What started as a team of one has expanded to a safety department with five employees reporting to Tracie. In six years, she has taken Rayonier’s safety program from one that had only a few measurable goals to one that is applying for OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) — the highest safety certification available.

Under her leadership, New England Forestry has launched a myriad of new reporting and training tools, including a safety app that can be used in the woods without access to cell service. In 2022, the company hosted safety training events in 8 states, helping the logging companies New England Forestry works with to begin developing safety programs of their own and educating more than 650 contractors on OSHA’s safety standards. You can learn more and watch a video about the logger safety training events here. 

Not like other safety professionals

No one goes into safety because it’s glamorous or an easy way to punch a timeclock, especially when it comes to the timber industry, which consistently ranks in the top three of the most dangerous industries in the U.S. Safety professionals are often thought of like police, but Tracie is not like other safety professionals. She doesn’t want to police her coworkers and contractors, she wants to help them think differently about safety. Her philosophy is that, if they understand why certain policies and procedures are in place, they will be more likely to adopt safer behaviors.

Loggers and foresters report some of the highest job satisfaction rates of any profession, but missteps in safety can quickly become a matter of life and death.

“I have three rocks on my desk from the first fatality I investigated. I wanted something to remind me of how I was feeling in that moment because it was the exact situation I wanted to help prevent.

“Seeing a tragedy like this firsthand and knowing there are things we can do—through education, training and maintenance—to help prevent this type of emotional, physical and financial mess from happening to others helped me see the disconnect and wonder what I could do about it. The experience personally changed me.”

Helping others understand why

Convincing folks in the timber industry to think differently about safety can be a challenge. Tracie’s mission is fueled by her passion for helping others and by a deep personal understanding of loss.

She also understands the types of “what-if” questions that pop up in the aftermath of a tragedy. Tracie’s father had a heart attack at work and his coworker, who wasn’t trained in CPR, was unable to save him. Since then, Tracie, who is a certified CPR and first aid instructor, has personally trained all of Rayonier’s U.S. employees.

“When I’m talking to people, they understand my passion is genuine. Safety conversations are often about telling others what to do, but if you focus instead on what it means to experience a loss or feel a sense of fear about what might happen if you don’t behave in a safe manner, it helps them understand why they need to adopt safer behaviors.”

Day in the life

In Tracie’s world, no two days are the same, but there are some tasks that remain consistent from one day to the next. She begins each day by skimming her email and new near-miss reports to get an idea of what’s happening at New England Forestry locations across the country. She finds out if there are any major issues or fires to put out — sometimes this even includes actual wildfires.

While many of the tasks on Tracie’s to-do list are obvious, such as refining policies, working on new initiatives, reviewing safety communications prior to publication, preparing reports for Rayonier’s Board of Directors and keeping up with OSHA changes, she also handles things that most people don’t ever think about. On any given day, she may help a department create a job hazard analysis (JHA) for the top four hazards facing their employees; determine how many straps need to go on a load before a truck leaves a landing and how far they can travel before they finish strapping; or work with Rayonier’s safety mentors to help prepare for the upcoming VPP audits.

Tracie enjoys interacting with others and says, “When you know the people, you really connect.” Because of this, she goes into the woods at least once a week and is often on the road, visiting New England Forestry locations from coast-to-coast. As the main safety resource for Rayonier’s U.S. employees and contractors, she likens her role to “keeping a ship going in the right direction all the time.” The rapport she works so hard to build is essential for making course corrections as safety issues arise.

Safety as a way of life

A commitment to safety doesn’t end when her workday is done. When Tracie is tempted to look at her phone while driving or do something else that isn’t safe, she asks herself if it’s truly worth the risk. She reminds herself and family and friends of their own value, so that everyone understands what’s at risk if they don’t practice safe behaviors.

“Safety doesn’t have to be painful. It doesn’t have to be intimidating. There are a lot of resources out there that make it accessible to everyone.”

A steadfast dedication to protecting others and Tracie’s willingness to challenge the way things have always been done have inspired her to extend her focus beyond the walls of Rayonier’s safety program. She truly wants to show everyone that New England Forestry is passionate about safety and unafraid of sharing what they’ve learned.

“People in the timber industry take a lot of pride in what they do and how well they do it. I’d like to see them adopt that same level of pride in doing their jobs safely. To do the work we do should not cost a life.”

Tracie’s goal is to challenge safety practices industry-wide. She is convinced that the only way forward is for the entire timber industry to come together and raise the bar. Strong safety cultures are fostered when expectations and accountability pertain to everyone from the CEO or owner to the new hire breaking in that first pair of boots. It will take an industry-wide effort to improve safety statistics and get off the list of the most dangerous occupations. Everyone must get on board.

“Safety is unique because we all have the right to it. It doesn’t matter what job we have, how much money we make in a year or how we’re different from anyone else. We all deserve to be safe.”

Article written by Karie Kermath, Safety Manager, Western Operations

The post Tracie Gibbs Brings New Perspective to Forestry Safety appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Actively pursuing “Safety as a Way of Life” is one of our core values at Rayonier, not only for our own employees, but for the 100s of small, local-owned businesses we work with every day.

One way we recognize the great work our colleagues are doing to create a safer workplace is a monthly recognition called the Safety Star. This program recognizes contractors who are making contributions to improve the safety culture within their business.

Here are three recent honorees who were recognized by the New England Forestry team:

Dillon Stratton, 3D Trucking, Lake City, FL

Dillon was recognized for the innovative camera and driver alert system he uses on log trucks for his company.

“It costs more money to do the right thing, but we take care of our equipment because our employees are like family,” he says. “Some of them have been with me for more than 20 years. You can replace or fix a tractor that’s been in an accident. You can’t replace someone’s life.”

Each of Dillon’s rigs has a camera facing out through the windshield and one looking back down each side of the truck. This helps keep his truckers protected in case of an accident. In addition to taking video, the system records issues such as hard braking and speeding, which Dillon uses to coach his employees on safe driving techniques. He encourages his drivers to be active with Team Safe Trucking by awarding them a financial incentive for each class they complete. (Team Safe Trucking is an online driver training program designed for the logging industry.)

Dave Dilley, Dilley and Soloman, Forks, WA

Dave was nominated for his continued efforts to invest in new, safer logging technology for his company, Dilley & Soloman Logging Co., which began operations in 1987.

Prior to forming Dilley & Soloman, Dave ran his uncle’s small logging business for 10 years. Some of Dave’s employees have been with him since those early days, making them more like family than employees. Dave says, “A lot of our people have been with us for a long time. I want all of our employees to go home at night and be in one piece.”

About six years ago, he started investing in new logging technology. (Watch our video of him demonstrating winch-assisted logging here.) He was a little hesitant at first, but says that when he attended a steep slope logging conference, his eyes were opened and he bought in completely. Since then he has continued to add new technology and make other changes, such as hiring a safety officer, that enhance the safety of his business.

Kim Nettles, True2Shine, Wildlight, FL

As the Day Porter for Rayonier’s Wildlight office, Kim, who works for True2Shine, is always on hand to clean up a spill or remove boxes and trash to keep walkways hazard-free. Not only does she keep things clean, but she also maintains the janitorial safety data sheets (SDS), keeps the safety closet organized, and goes above and beyond. She is always ready to help team-lift heavy packages and assists in packing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shipments to send out to New England Forestry offices across the U.S.

Kim loves being in the office and is dedicated to doing whatever she can to keep folks safe. When the worksite at a prior job wasn’t being properly maintained, a coworker was injured and Kim saw firsthand how keeping things clean and organized is critical for helping everyone stay safe. She says, “My job is easier when I do it in a safe manner—and when everyone else does their job in a safe manner.”

Continuing to Improve Safety Across the Industry

We’re proud of each of our Safety Star recipients for their leadership and initiative. We also recognize New England Forestry employees each month for their safety efforts in an internal Safety Star program, which we highlight from time to time on social media.

And that’s just one aspect of the way New England Forestry is working toward a safer workplace, not only within our forests, but across our industry. We also have a safety app that allows users to look up industry safety guidelines for equipment and materials while working. They can also report near-miss incidents, which can be used as a teachable moment for their peers. In addition, in 2022 New England Forestry hosted safety training seminars across the U.S. for more than 650 contractors.

We thank all of our colleagues, including Dillon, Dave, Kim and many others, for their continuing effort to improve safety for all of us!

The post Safety Stars: Recognizing Our Contractors’ Commitment to Safety appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

While safety has always been a priority at Rayonier, we recently boosted our commitment by adopting safety as a core value. After all, priorities can shift, but our dedication to safety should be fundamental. Our hope is that this increased focus on safety will encourage employees, contractors and even competitors to take a hard look at their own safety practices and see how they too might evolve. 

Bill Monahan, Rayonier’s Director of Western Forest Resources, describes his own safety evolution as one that has shifted from passive to active: “Early in my career, I thought about safety almost like it was a condition or simply the environment I was in—is it safe or not safe? Now I think about safety in an active way, almost like a mindset or a commitment to a set of behaviors.”

Creating a Series of Logging Contractor Workforce Training Sessions

This April, in an effort to encourage our contractors to shift their own safety programs from passive to active, the New England Forestry Safety Department kicked off an ambitious series of coast-to-coast Contractor Workforce Safety Training events that brought safety experts together with New England Forestry contractors to focus on best practices and OSHA training standards.

A core team of 12 New England Forestry employees and safety consultants traveled from town to town, and—with the help of more than 100 New England Forestry volunteers from offices around the country—conducted 15 sessions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington. 

By the end of June, this effort brought more than 650 contractors and 100 New England Forestry employees up to speed on OSHA requirements and prepared them to implement their own active, written safety programs by 2023. 

Mark Hebert, Director of Eastern Forest Resources described the trainings as “a way to demonstrate our commitment so we can have credibility to go to our contractors and convince them that we need to do this together.”

Designed to help us learn from one another

The unique event format was designed to keep participants engaged throughout a full day of training. During each event, attendees were broken into small groups that moved from one 30-minute roundtable discussion to another. This allowed participants to hear from eight different safety professionals as they learned to develop, maintain and enhance their own safety programs. 

The discussions covered topics such as maintaining a safe working environment, determining which OSHA standards apply to their business, building an effective safety program, keeping records that satisfy OSHA requirements and navigating valuable safety tools to help manage and strengthen their program.

Some of the larger events hosted almost 100 attendees, but by breaking into small groups, participants were able to get comfortable with one another and engage in more thoughtful discussions.

While many contractors shared common challenges, like how to keep workers focused on safety while also meeting production goals, others brought up unique solutions to common problems, such as making new workers more visible by having them wear a different-colored hard hat as they learn to navigate a dangerous work environment.

The Contractor Workforce Safety Training events were the brainchild of Tracie Gibbs, Rayonier’s Director of Safety. Tracie is passionate about giving people the tools they need to stay safe both on the clock and off: “Safety is about people, and we can’t turn a blind eye or neglect the fact that this industry needs help. This is not about trees. This is not about real estate. This is about people. From road builders to loggers to beaver catchers to truckers to brush pickers, each individual is worth the incredible effort that New England Forestry has put into hosting these training sessions.”

Safety decisions can change our industry

Logging is consistently one of the top three most dangerous jobs in the United States, and it’s important to remember that the safety decisions each one of us makes affect more than just ourselves—they also affect our families, our coworkers and our coworkers’ families. 

During his presentations, Tom Hoffman of Site Safety Services LLC offered a compelling perspective to attendees. Early in his career, Tom was crushed by a rolling log and lost part of his right arm. Several months into his recovery, he decided that when he finally got out of the hospital, he was going to work in safety. He then spent the bulk of his career working for OSHA and investigating more than 300 fatalities in Oregon. 

When asked why he agreed to participate in the New England Forestry training events, Tom said, “You never get over when somebody gets hurt. You never forget what it looks like or what it feels like. Being part of this training has allowed me to talk about some of the things I’ve seen and done, and it’s helping me get through it.”

“Hoping” we’re safe is not enough

Presenter John Boren, owner of RÄV EHS Consulting LLC, said when he asks each employer what they’re doing to provide a safe workplace free from recognized hazards, they often respond that “they hope they’re doing enough, and they hope they never have a serious incident. It’s important to understand that hope isn’t really a health and safety strategy.” We want to be more deliberate when thinking about the safety of our teams. We want to use the specific tools that make our workplaces safer.

New England Forestry Safety Specialist Kathy Brooks explained why taking a step back to evaluate the effectiveness of a safety program is so essential: “There’s always room to improve, so it’s important to identify the things you’re doing well and find ways to improve the parts that aren’t working. Continuous improvement is the goal.” 

At Rayonier, safety is a way of life, and we believe it’s time for the timber industry to take a step back and rethink our approach to safety. Our safety programs shouldn’t be kept private; they should be shared—with contractors and with competitors—so that we effect rapid and dramatic progress that strengthens the safety culture of not just one company but also of the forest industry as a whole. Safe workers benefit us all. We’re proud of our safety team for taking a step in the right direction with these Contractor Workforce Training events.

Article written by Karie Kermath, New England Forestry Safety Specialist.

The post New England Forestry Safety Team Trains 100s of Loggers and Contractors appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

There’s no arguing that the West Coast has had catastrophic fire seasons in recent years. Wildfires have burned millions of acres across California, Oregon and Washington, leaving families grieving for lost loved ones, homes, businesses and even entire towns. 

It’s excruciating to witness on television and social media and absolutely terrifying for those who live through it firsthand. 

Many are left asking: how on earth did these fires get so large and out of control?

For answers, most of us turned to our trusted news outlets, where various experts, politicians and even celebrities weighed in with their opinions on the cause and who’s to blame. The focus was primarily climate change, high winds and weather, with some concerns about lackluster forest management thrown into the mix.

Could better forest management make a difference, reducing or even preventing mega fires in the future?

Two of Rayonier’s West Coast foresters who are experienced with wildfires and fire prevention share how forest management can and does prevent forest fires while maintaining the health of our precious forests and ecosystems.

What is Forest Management?

Forest management is a rigorous, methodical and time-tested combination of practices and technologies designed in part to reduce the severity and frequency of forest fires and mega fires.

According to our experts, before you can understand forest management in the context of forest fire prevention, you have to understand the different types of wildfires.

There are three key types of wildfires:

• Crown fires engulf the tops of trees and, with the help of high winds, can leap as much as a half mile. These are the most dangerous and difficult to control (this is what happened in Oregon in 2020).
• Surface fires only burn the surface of the landscape and are the least threatening because they are easiest to put out.
• Ground fires can burn beneath leaf litter, peat moss, and other debris, damaging the trees and even the soil. These are dangerous because they can go undetected for months and even smolder unseen until the weather warms up. Then they can become a potential source of a crown fire.

In a managed setting, like a New England Forestry forest, a variety of forest management tools are used. Different fire conditions exist in different regions, and thus different management tactics are deployed.

See our video of our Southeast forest rangers team, which often deals with fires in marshlands, here. 

Forest management tools we use in the Pacific Northwest include:

• Creating fire breaks, which are wide, open areas that can stop fire spread by the removal of the vegetation that fuels it. This is done with tractors or other heavy equipment.
• Properly spacing planted trees.
• Reducing vegetation which, if left unchecked, acts as fuel for a fire. 
• Choosing root rot resistant trees, which are less susceptible to fire than diseased trees. 
• Thinning forests, which is removing weak and diseased trees to give healthy trees more space.
• Controlled burns to reduce fuels.
• Monitoring the forest for pests and diseases. 
• Fertilizing occasionally to strengthen healthy trees. 
• Diversifying tree species.

Why Healthy Tree Plantations are Less Likely to Burn

“Much of what we do to manage forests and prevent fires involves managing a healthy, fast-growing forest,” explains New England Forestry Senior Resource Land Manager Jessica Josephs. “It’s like anything else: when you’re healthy and strong, you have the ability to avoid sickness like the flu. It’s the same for trees.”

Well-managed forests retain more moisture and resist damage from insects and disease

On a tree farm like Rayonier’s, trees are naturally bred and managed to resist insects and disease, making them less likely to die and dry out—which would make them prime fuel for wildfires. They’re also spaced apart in a way that optimizes their access to water, allowing them to hold a healthy amount of moisture.

“You’d be amazed,” Jessica says. “When we’ve had small wildfires, the fire will actually stop, especially in a young plantation. The trees hold so much moisture, they’ll either stop or slow the fire dramatically. And that’s even true of larger trees. When trees are healthy and functioning and translocating water, they can withstand a small fire.”

Thinning forests eliminates many of the weak trees that could fuel a fire

Neris Biciunas, a New England Forestry Resource Land Manager, elaborates on Rayonier’s Pacific Northwest forest management practices: “We spend a considerable amount of money every year hiring contract crews to do a pre-commercial thin of forests. That reduces the number of trees in a younger stand (ages 10-20 years). We’ll go in and selectively cut down the weak or defective trees.

“Reducing the number of trees allows the whole forest to be healthier and grow vigorously so that the forest is less susceptible to fire.”

To learn more about thinning, watch our video, What is Thinning Trees, and Why Do Foresters Do It?

Controlled burning helps prevent mega fires

Controlled burns are a tool that has been used for many centuries to prevent fires. Today, working in concert with local fire officials, foresters and other landowners use small fires in specifically selected locations to rid the forest of flammable debris and underbrush.  

“Every year, I burn slash piles,” Neris says. “In order to further reduce the fire risk, the loggers will make piles of leftover branches and treetops. Then in the fall and winter, when the burning weather’s appropriate, we will light those piles on fire. The ash and charcoal that’s left behind will nourish the soil, it reduces the fire risk, and I have enough space to plant the next healthy forest.”

The long history of prescribed burning

“Prescribed” or “controlled” burning is a forest management tool that was first used by Native peoples as a way to prevent large fires and create healthier forests. The practice is still widely used today, with an estimated 6.42 million acres of forests burned via controlled burning in 2017 per data reported in the global business data platform, Statista.

“Managed fire can be part of a healthy ecosystem,” says Neris. “Back in the 1930s and 1940s when fire was largely uncontrolled in the United States, that was the impetus for deciding to fight all wildfires aggressively.

“That’s when Smokey the Bear came along. Well-intentioned foresters were concerned that there was too much fire on the landscape. Smokey helped those foresters educate the public about how to prevent fire in the forest.

“Since then, we have learned many things about how a forest functions, and particularly how important fire is to a healthy ecosystem,” Neris says.

“Smokey’s message used to be ‘All forest fires are bad,’ but really, it would be more helpful to say something like: ‘We need to manage forest fires. Use fire where appropriate, put it out where appropriate.’”

Controlled burning is frequently practiced in the United States, but experts warn it’s not being used enough to prevent mega fires like the ones we’ve experienced in recent years. This was confirmed by a recent study published in the journal Fire entitled: We’re Not Doing Enough Prescribed Fire in the Western United States to Mitigate Wildfire Risk, which showed the number of prescribed burns in the U.S. has not increased in over 20 years. Quoted in news articles across the country, the study said the findings “suggest that the best available science is not being adopted into management practices, thereby further compounding the fire deficit in the Western U.S. and the potential for more wildfire disasters.”

An honest look at the risks and benefits of prescribed burns

For all the benefits of controlled or prescribed burns, you’re still dealing with fire in a forest, so there are risks. In some forests, some of the other methods listed above may be a more favorable choice to remove fuels. But prescribed burns have clearly made an impact in preventing mega fires. 

“You don’t hear about the thousands of operations that went well, just the one that didn’t, Neris says. “With any opportunity there is risk. I am responsible for using fire as a management tool on many hundreds of acres every year. Other foresters on our team—and other landowners as well—are actively using it as a tool in the forest.  Most people don’t even notice that it is going on.”

Healthy trees critical to fire prevention on private and public lands

Regardless of the method used, prioritizing the health of America’s forests is critical. In 2020’s devastating wildfire season, nearly half of the acreage burned was on federally-protected land. Since then, there have been renewed calls among experts and politicians to provide the support needed to improve forest health across the board by reducing fuels, addressing overstocked conditions, removing dead trees and treating disease and insect infestations.

Also in our Forest Management series:

Story #2: How Forest Management Helps Protect Firefighters. A fire manager from Coos Forest Protective Association in Oregon shares how managed forests reduce risks for those fighting a wildfire.

Story #3: Preventing Wildfires and Protecting the Environment Together. Firefighters, foresters and loggers each play a role in preventing and responding to wildfires. Interviewees discuss how technology has impacted wildfire response, the role of forest management in climate change, and how the forest itself adapts to fire.

The post How Forest Management Prevents Forest Fires appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

GRAYS RIVER, Washington—When it’s your job to safely remove trees off mountainsides without disturbing the soils or nearby streams, you have to be a talented problem-solver.

Every forest presents new challenges, like a recent tower logging site here in the beautiful mountains of Grays River. Until recently, there would have only been one way to unwind cable down one steep mountain and up another to set up the skyline: on foot. But a new drone has turned a multi-day job like that into a 10-minute job.

How does Tower Logging Work?

First, a quick background on the steps it takes to remove trees from a steep slope here in the Pacific Northwest:

Step 1: Cut trees in an organized layout

A logging crew cuts the trees and places them on the ground in an organized layout, which will make them easier to move. 

Step 2: Set up the tower and skyline

Loggers set up a tower connected to a cable system. The skyline cable has to stretch from the tower, across the slope the logs are on, to the top of a nearby slope. Setting this cable into place is the step where drones are involved, replacing the work of loggers who would have to spend hours if not days unwinding 100s of pounds of haywire down one slope and up the other to get the cable in place.

Step 3: Use skyline cable to move logs to sorting yard

A motorized “carriage” carries the logs up the skyline. Loggers called “choker setters” attach the logs to a chain that hangs from the carriage, securing them with an interlocking mechanism called a choker. Then the carriage lifts logs up into the air and moves them to a sorting area. 

Did you know? Logs are lifted into the air to prevent them from dragging in the soil, which could lead to erosion and deposit sediment into nearby waterways. Airlifting also prevents damage to the log.

Step 4: Prepare logs for transport to the mills

Once the logs are in the sorting area, they are prepared for transport. This could include the removal of any remaining bark and branches, cutting the logs to fit the truck they will be on, and sorting them by species and size for the various needs of the mills they will be sent to.

For a more detailed description of this process, read our article, How Tower Logging Works.

How Drones are Making it Easier to Place a Skyline Cable

In order to lift bundles of 70-foot logs with a skyline cable, you first have to put a cable into place that stretches high above the ground. To do that, loggers start by unwinding 250-foot sections of synthetic cable (called haywire) as they walk from the tower at the top of the slope the logs are on, to the top of a nearby slope or peak.

This is usually done on foot. It can be exhausting and dangerous because of the terrain. The crew often has to go up and down the mountains multiple times to get more rigging until they finally reach their destination, often thousands of feet away from the starting point.

Stuck Between a River and Two Cliffs

On a recent logging job in Grays Harbor, featured in the video above, ENB Logging owner Ed Bryant knew his team would have to do the job differently. Between the slope they were logging and the slope their cable would stretch to, there was a deep river with high cliffs on both sides.

It would take a team of several people a long time to get the haywire in place. And they would have to get creative to get it across without losing it in the river. In the old days, they might have attached the cable to an arrow and shot it across with a bow. Or they might have dropped it over one cliff and fished it out from the top of the other cliff with a fishing pole. 

But the cliffs were a safety hazard, the terrain was rough, and they would waste valuable time. Ed wasn’t going to put his team through that. It was time to call in a drone.

“It’s a good tool. If we didn’t have that option, we would’ve taken a few more days to get across,” Ed said as the drone pilot arrived.

An Unusual Drone to the Rescue

Thankfully for Ed, he’s not the first to run into this kind of challenge. Mark Standley of Banks, Oregon, spent most of his life logging. He saw many hours waste away placing haywire on dangerous terrain. Then he got into the business of creating drones to solve the problem.

Pacific UAV offers custom-made “workhorse” drones that can lift heavy weights, release items and even spout fire! While not all logging companies own the high-end drones, those that do own them can be hired to fly them for their colleagues.

Ed called C&C Logging Company. Soon, their drone pilot, Operations Manager Rex Pitullo, made his way up the mountain to help.

Rex attached the haywire to his Hector T drone using a servo attachment that releases by remote. Meanwhile, one of Ed’s team members drove to the peak of the next mountain. He then walked into the forest to find a strong tree to serve as the “tailhold” that the cable would connect to. Then he communicated with Rex by radio, guiding him to drop the cable nearby with his drone.

Using a Spotter to Guide the Drone

As the drone took off, haywire followed after it, quickly unwinding itself from a large container. Ed’s team stood alongside Rex, holding up binoculars to try to find their spotter on the ground across the slope. The man waved his orange coat, trying to help the team spot him. But with tall trees all around him, he was barely visible.

“A little to the right, a little to the right, now come in straight ahead,” the spotter said over the radio.

“I’m not the one flying the drone,” Rex said as he positioned the drone above the spotter. “My spotter guides me where I need to be.”

When the spotter could clearly see the drone within close proximity to the tailhold, Rex used the remote to command the drone to drop the haywire, trying to avoid any tree branches that could tangle with it. After a few minutes of searching, the spotter found it and secured it into place.

Rex says that’s just one of the many ways the drone is impacting forestry work. His drone can assist in firefighting, deliver bags of seedlings to planting sites, bring tools to workers whose equipment breaks down in remote areas, and countless other uses.

Celebrating a Milestone in Safety and Efficiency

With the cable line quickly in place, Ed’s team got back to work. The team pulled a stronger cable through a pulley, or spool. Finally, they pulled a strong cable through. This one would be able to support the weight of the motorized carriage and its loads of logs.

They were days ahead of where they would have been, thanks to a single drone flight.

“I’ve been doing this for 47 years, and this is pretty new to me,” marveled ENB logger Dave Johnson.

To Rayonier’s Timber Production Forester Scott Grigg, who works with our logging contractors to come up with the safest possible harvest plans, it’s an exciting step forward in forestry safety.

“The dollar value (of using a drone) is a big deal, but the safety factor is insurmountable,” he says. “It shows just how much this industry has embraced technology to keep people safe.”

The post High Power Drones Are A Safety Game-Changer in Tower Logging appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

FORKS, Washington—After more than 40 years of using chainsaws to cut trees on steep slopes, Dave Dilley remembers the first time he watched a winch-assist machine in action.

He stood in the forest, unable to take his eyes off a feller buncher as it eased up and down the mountain. Without the winch-assist machine, the buncher—a machine that efficiently cuts down trees and “bunches” them together—would be at risk of toppling, sliding or at least digging deep ruts into the soil. 

But the winch, a machine that anchors into place and supports the buncher with a powerful cable, enabled the buncher operator to move across the terrain easily, using a simple device to operate the winch-assist machine from within the cab of the buncher.

“I just saw where it would work here,” says Dave, owner of Dilley & Soloman Logging Company and a lifelong resident of this small town on the Olympic Peninsula in northwest Washington. It wasn’t long before Dave had two winch assist machines of his own.

The Logging System is Safer for Loggers

“The most important thing with this procedure is safety. It’s always our first concern,” says New England Forestry Timber Production Forester Dennis Cox, who encouraged Dave to make the change.

The logger agrees.

“You need less people on the ground, so there’s less danger. That’s the big reason we got into this type of logging,” he says.

Slopes that are too steep for a buncher have to be cut on foot. Loggers walk down the steep terrain and cut trees by hand with chainsaws. It’s one of the most dangerous jobs in the industry. 

There are still some slopes that are too steep to operate a buncher on, even with a winch-assist machine, but the machine has enabled many sites to be logged in a safer, more efficient and eco-friendly manner than ever before. 

Helps Lighten Environmental Impact

“Logging operations on any slope steeper than 30 percent need some form of support,” says Rayonier’s Senior Timber Marketing Manager Dan Stransky. That guideline, set by the Department of Natural Resources, helps ensure a harvest that’s safe for workers and the environment.

“They don’t want us putting big ruts up and down the hillside because, when the rains come later, all that water runs down those gullies and it delivers sediment to those streams,” he explains, “so it’s just something we work hard at avoiding.”

Seeing the Environmental Benefits of Using the Winch Assist Machine

Dave says the winch assist machine allows him to do his work with a lighter impact on the soils.

“There are certain spots where you have to be pulled” by the winch-assist machine, he says. “There are others I could probably log unassisted, but I’d be turning up my tracks and making ruts. 

“If I just push [the winch assist controls] to, say, a four, it just pulls me right up and doesn’t create any tracks.”

Up against the heavy rains this region is known for, the winch-assisted logging system is one of many ways New England Forestry works with contractors to keep sediment from reaching waterways. 

Why? Sediment would interfere with precious habitats in and around the water. It would also be harmful to our work, washing away the rich soils we’ve developed over decades of forestry. As we explain in the article Forest Engineers Build 100s of Eco-Friendly Roads and Bridges, we adjust all projects and operations to have the lightest possible impact on the environment.

How a Winch Assist Logging System Works

So how does a winch assist logging system keep a feller buncher from slipping on a steep slope? The base machine anchors into place on flat ground above the slope.

Dave explains: “You just dig, point the bucket all the way forward, and get it down.”

He double-checks that it’s secure by ensuring the boom doesn’t move. Then he connects the cable from the winch to his buncher and gets to work, using a remote to control the strength of the winch’s pull on the buncher.

As an extra security measure, if the winch assist base machine moves at any point after it is set, an anchor switch immediately sounds a blaring alarm and applies brakes to the winch drums.

Dave says the trickiest part is the logistics of figuring out how best to position it on each site, “but the machine itself is very user-friendly.”

An Organized Harvest

At ground-level, the results of a harvest operation may look messy. But the view from above shows how carefully-planned each step of the harvest is. The trees lay in neat, straight rows.

“When we log with this system, we get a lot less breakage. It’s very organized,” says Dennis, New England Forestry Timber Production Forester. “With a drone, when you look down on it, it should look like combed hair. And it does.”

After cutting finishes, a second operation involving a cable yarding system, also known as tower logging, is used to bring trees up the slope (again without damaging the soiles). At the top of the landing, they’re sorted and loaded onto trucks.

Harvesting in a Responsible Way

Dave has been in the logging industry for four decades, starting out with his uncle when he was a young man. He’s seen a number of changes over the years, and he’s proud of the strides the industry has made to protect loggers’ safety—as well as the environment.

Despite the stereotype that loggers “pillage” the land, he says, “we may be the best environmentalists out there. Yes, we do want to harvest, but we want to do it in a responsible way. We’re very conscious of streams and wildlife.”

The post Winch-Assisted Logging Boosts Safety on Steep Terrain appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.