Idaho Health Group Plan Keeps Growing A note in the March-April Idaho Logger publication of the Associated Logging Contractors-Idaho loggers association says the group’s health plan that launched August 1, 2023 is showing good growth with more than 200 individuals now covered under the ALC-Idaho’s new program. Officials with PacificSource Health Plans, the insurer that has partnered with ALC-Idaho, are happy with the program’s growth and overall success during the first six months. The ALC Health Plan is nationwide medical insurance with five deductible-copay opt ..read more

New From Tigercat: Triangulated harvesting head In late September 2023, visitors to the Pacific Logging Congress, a live demo event held in Washington state, got a sneak peak of the new Tigercat 573 harvesting head processing logs on the end of a Tigercat 875E logger. Since then, multiple units have been testing in far flung regions from Alberta to Australia and the results are in. The 573 is shaping up to be a high performing, reliable head for roadside processing and harvesting. Best suited to medium and large tree profiles, the 573 has a 800 mm (31 in.) maximum cut capacity and offers opt ..read more

aol health insurance now available in oregon Following approval from Oregon’s  Division of Financial Regulation at the end of 2023,  Associated Oregon Loggers is now offering logger health plans through the association. The new AOL Association Insurance Program, offered by a partnership between the AOL Health Benefits Trust and the insurance provider, Health Net of Oregon. The AOL Health Benefits Trust is a new AOL subsidiary, owned by the association, that will oversee the AOL Insurance program and its several partner organizations. Additionally, third-party administrator TailorW ..read more

Equipment Innovator Paul Bell Dies At 66 Amazing logging equipment innovator Paul Bell of Bell Equipment died December 27, 2023. He was 66. Taking the Southern U.S. pine plantation and natural stand conversion applications by storm in the late ‘80s with his odd-looking three wheel feller-buncher, Bell redesigned a machine originally meant for sugar cane plantation harvesting and turned it into a highly productive and flexible timber cutting system. The machines were hugely popular, and Bell sold 2,000 units its first 10 years in the market. Rene Cuchens (van der Merwe), who headed Bell’s sal ..read more

Research Shows Thinning Benefits Bees, Forests Researchers in Colorado over a 10 year period have determined that forest thinning opens up canopies and benefits key tree pollinators by allowing more flower and shrub species that attract and sustain bee populations. Biologists from Colorado State and Utah State studied 15 thinned and 15 unthinned forest plots and found more species diversity and better overall forest health in the thinned tracts. The researchers were also able to identify key pollinator plant species such as blue mist penstemon, field chickweed, pineywoods geranium and others ..read more

Bureau of Land Management Withdraws Timber Sale Project The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has withdrawn a timber project east of Eugene, Ore. after three environmental groups filed a lawsuit last November claiming the BLM had failed to consider the project’s impact on water quality and spotted owl habitat—and also carbon storage. The project had included logging, thinning and forest management activities on about 4,600 acres in the Calapooia and Mohawk River watersheds, although timber harvest was limited to only 1,050 acres. Observers note that agency officials supported the project initi ..read more

Tigercat Opens West Coast Parts Warehouse Tigercat Industries is pleased to announce that it has opened a new 35,000 sq. ft. (3,250 sq. m) parts warehousing and distribution facility in Kelso, Wash. with a current stock of inventory valued at $3.5 million. “We are excited about opening the western warehouse for many reasons,” explains Tigercat parts manager, Brian Jonker. “To have inventory closer to our western dealers and customers will reduce both downtime and freight costs. To be able to potentially service any customer for an extra three hours of the day is also a benefit to the entire ..read more

Wallingford’s, HSP Gripen Of Sweden Announce Partnership Wallingford’s Inc. is pleased to announce a new partnership with HSP Gripen of Sweden, one of the largest global manufacturers of forestry, construction, and terminal grapples. Wallingford’s Inc., with headquarters in Oakland, Me. has distribution facilities in New Hampshire, Oregon, Quebec, and Alberta. Founded in 1975, Wallingford’s is the largest wholesale distributor of logging supplies in North America. In December 2021 Wallingford’s, Inc. became a member of the pewag Group, a leading global company in traction devices and indust ..read more

2024 Oregon Logging Conference Preview Drawing loggers from around the Pacific Northwest and some much farther, the 86th Oregon Logging Conference (OLC) February 22-24 provides key resources for logging contractors including sessions covering the latest in regulatory issues and business management topics along with the big draw: Hundreds of exhibits and displays highlighting the latest in logging technology, equipment, machinery and services to help loggers operate more efficiently and most important—profitably. As part of the event at the Lane Events Center & Fairgrounds in Eugene, Ore ..read more

Weyerhaeuser Completes Carbon Credit Sale Weyerhaeuser announced an agreement for the sale of nearly 32,000 forest carbon credits at $29 per credit. This agreement marks Weyerhaeuser’s first transaction in the voluntary carbon market and represents the sale of all credits issued by American Carbon Registry for the first year of the company’s Kibby Skinner Improved Forest Management (IFM) project in Maine. Weyerhaeuser will immediately retire these credits on behalf of the buyer. “We are pleased to be delivering our first forest carbon credits from our Maine project,” says Russell Hagen, sen ..read more