Mountain Fir Lumber Company

 This story deals with log utilization standards of what the Forest Service required and what the Purchaser wanted.  It may be a little technical to some readers.   It also shows that those of us on the ground did get some support by those in management at the forest level instead of the usual chewy out.

                                           Gold Beach Ranger District

                                           Siskiyou National Forest

 

Mountain Fir Lumber Company had purchased the West Indigo Timber Sale on the eastern portion of the District, off the Burnt Ridge Road.    Their mill was located in Williams, south of Grants Pass, and their specialty was long dimensional Douglas-fir lumber, normally 20 feet in length.   Utilization standards in all Forest Service timber sale contracts are the same; minimum diameter of 6 inches, minimum length of 8 feet and all logs with at least one-third net scale had to be removed from the sale and presented for scaling to determine how much the purchaser would pay the Forest Service based on their bid value.   There was a flat per acre rate charge for special cull logs and utility cull logs.   These were logs that could be utilized as cull peelers or utilized for chips.   A provision in the contract did allow these logs to remain on the landings if no market was available in the vicinity of the Purchaser’s mill.  

There were two contract loggers operating on this sale.   Sherman Brothers from Nesika Beach was logging on one road system and Warren Cook from Grants Pass was operating on a separate road system.   Loggers and truckers are paid by the Purchaser based on gross volume as determined by a third party scaling organization that also determines how much the Forest Service would receive based on net scale.    As each unit was completed it was my responsibility to check if all logs meeting utilization standards were removed.   As work progressed during the summer I noticed the loggers were leaving special cull and utility logs decked on the landings.    The loggers told me that Mountain Fir had instructed them to leave these logs on the landings as there was no market for them.   This was documented on a timber sale inspection report with a copy that went to the Forest Supervisor’s Office in Grants Pass.   Soon thereafter I received a phone call from Don, the assistant forest timber staff in charge of contract administration.   He informed me there was a market for those cull logs at the Medford Corporation (Medco) cull log processing facility south of Grants Pass.   I informed Mountain Fir of this and they told me they could not afford to pay their loggers to remove this material.    I relayed that to Don, who said Mountain Fir had a reputation for doing this and only wanted logs that met their product specifications.   A meeting on the sale area was scheduled with Don, Pete the District Ranger, Dwight the acting District Timber management assistant and myself to see how much of this material was being left.    The day we drove up to the sale from Gold Beach it was an Industrial Fire Precautionary Level 3, which means all logging operations must shut down by 1:00 pm.     We arrived on the sale after 1:00 pm, driving out the road system that Sherman Brothers operated from.  They had shut down and were gone, except for their fire watchman.   As we got out of the vehicle we could hear logging equipment operating across the canyon where Warren Cook was working.   We immediately got back in the vehicle and drove over to the other road system where yarding and loading of trucks was still in progress.    Everybody in the Forest Service was shocked as I approached the loader operator asking why they were still operating.   He said they did not know it was a level 3 closure.  They stopped operations and were given a notice of non-compliance.   Back in the office a phone call was made to Mountain Fir of this serious breach of contract, which states the Purchaser cannot resume work until authorized by the Contracting Officer.    This time another meeting was held on the sale with all parties involved, including the Purchaser’s representative, Warren Cook, the logger, Don, the timber staff assistant, the District Ranger and myself.    The purchaser’s representative (don’t remember his name) said they do not condone any violations of the fire precautionary provisions of the contract.   Warren Cook said it was his fault for not paying attention to what the fire precaution level was, even though it is broadcast over most two-way radio systems the day before and posted on road signs leading onto the National Forest.    Don told the representative from Mountain Fir to send the Forest Service a letter ensuring this would not happen again and by the way get these special cull and utility logs out of here since there is a market at the Medco plant.   A letter from Mountain Fir was received by the Contracting Officer addressing their intent not to violate the fire precautionary requirements and under protest would remove the cull logs in question.   A few years later Mountain Fir closed their mill at Williams.   

Don, the timber staff assistant from the Supervisor’s office was one of those people in management that would stand up for us grunts on the ground.  He retired after I transferred to Cottage Grove in 1988 and shortly thereafter died of brain cancer.