vernonia’s
voice community
august
2008
individual site, how many trees need to be left standing
on the site, and how much cleaning up needs to be done
after the job is finished. Extremely steep access roads
need to be built. Parts of the job, like the actual cutting
and transporting of the cut logs, might be subcontract-
ed. Environmental concerns need to be addressed.
Paulson has to put together a bid that includes his
best guesstimate as to how much it’s going to cost his
company to do the logging. It is not an exact science,
and complicated calculations need to be done. Some-
times bids are based on only a couple of days of driving
or walking an area. Jobs can last two years or longer.
Put together a sloppy bid or underestimate costs, and a
company could be rewarded with a contract that makes
for a couple of very lean years for the owners.
Paulson is a second-generation logger. “My father
did the hard part. He absorbed the initial equipment
costs and took the real chances to get us established,”
Paulson explained. Most of the equipment they use
costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, some in
the millions. It’s a risky and precarious business. And
I haven’t even seen any actual logging yet.
A couple other things I learned: the sale of these
logging rights by ODF funds the management of our
state lands, but more importantly, is a major source of
educational funds for counties throughout the state.
Don’t log as much or set areas aside and take them
out of production, and we have less funding for our
schools.
Logs from state lands can’t be directly exported out
of the country, so they tend to end up going to smaller
local mills, creating local jobs and helping support lo-
cal economies. Don’t log as much and local economies
suffer. Friends and neighbors lose jobs.
McNair drives us past Reeher’s Horse Camp to
Round Top near the headwaters of the Nehalem River
where the Paulson outfit is working. We stop and look
at an area that McNair logged last summer, an area that
was thinned as opposed to being clearcut. The area
is shady and cool, with some sunlight streaming in,
and I can see far into the forest. Ferns, small trees and
brush grow close to the ground leaving a lush feeling
of beauty. A hiking trail crosses the road through this
area. This is a place where I would like to hike. It looks
like a healthy forest one year after being logged.
As we drive McNair explains his view of state log-
ging practices, a view he described as “enthusiastic.”
“Thinning has brought back the technical challenge
to the job,” McNair explains. “When we clearcut, it
doesn’t take as much skill. Machines do a lot of the
work. With thinning, it takes knowledge and ability.
A logger has to know what he’s doing on these kinds
of jobs.”
McNair expressed respect for the ODF staff forest-
ers. He says a lot of their people are graduates of the
Oregon State University Forestry program that some
consider the “Harvard” of forestry programs. “They
could be making a lot more money in private industry.
But they choose to come here where people are putting
intelligent ideas to work.”
Eventually we arrive on the job sites where I get a
chance to meet the crew. Kurt Paulson, Greg’s brother,
is a contract cutter, and I watch him fall a tree. Jake
Hartman is the Cat Skinner, dragging the trees up the
hill. We move to another spot where Bryant Luttrel
is the Yarder Operator, mechanically pulling logs from
the bottom by a hanging cable up to the landing. Salva-
dor Lopez is the Landing Chaser, releasing the logs on
arrival. Skip Goodman is the Shovel Operator today,
normally Bruce McNair’s job, stacking the logs and
loading them on the transport trucks.
McNair and I hike to the bottom of the steep hill to
watch the rigging crew - Robert Raymond, Eric DeW-
itt, and Derek Warwick - set the choker, attaching the
logs to the cable to be sent up the hill. It is extremely
challenging work moving over and around the piles of
fallen logs. I struggle to navigate the hillside, not hav-
ing developed my “brush legs.” The crew gives Mc-
Nair a hard time about not working today - poking fun
and ribbing him. I see this kind of banter all day long
among the crew.
After climbing back to the top of the hill, we head
to one last location. On the way, McNair shares some
more of his views. “It’s my opinion our federal gov-
ernment should emulate what is being done here in Or-
egon,” said McNair. “Instead of just locking up lands,
they should find ways to
manage and get production
from them.”
McNair points out that
ODF encourages Succes-
sional Forests where the
trees are different ages and
species. This can help pro-
tect against disease wiping
out a forest. It also protects
against fires. By actively
managing the forests, ODF
develops a source of in-
come that supports the road
system throughout state
lands, allowing access for
both fire suppression and
recreation. “Without a vi-
able timber program, there
is no way to support these
roads,” said McNair. He
points out that there have
JOIN AND
OWN
been almost no significant fires in northwest Oregon
for many years, in part because of northwest timber
management practices.
He had earlier pointed out that the roads ODF
builds and maintains are some of the best he has ever
worked on, another example of the care and pride that
ODF takes in their work. Another interesting point -
there are no gated logging roads on state lands, except
where there is active logging taking place, meaning
they are available for everyone to use, all the time.
Our last stop was a “modified clearcut,” a term that
I think is supposed to sound more ecologically friendly.
We have a fantastic view of Saddle Mountain on our
way there. John Hartman was loading a truck with logs
that had been cut here. This area looked like what I
usually find objectionable about logging: land stripped
bare. ODF does recommend this kind of logging in
certain areas because it is more efficient and economi-
cal, and it creates open areas where large wildlife can
thrive.
When I returned home, I decided to ask for a dif-
ferent perspective about ODF and how they manage
Oregon’s forests. According to Maggie Peyton, Direc-
tor of the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council, ODF
usually has loggers go beyond the required protective
measures, asking them to leave buffers beside small
streams and generally being good stewards of the land.
“They manage our forests at a much higher standard and
try to maintain them for the greatest permanent value
for the public benefit. They are under a lot of pressure
from environmental interests, public use interests, local
counties, and the private timber industry. Local coun-
ties want to see the forest produce revenue for them,
and private industry doesn’t want them to raise stan-
dards because it is not to their economic benefit. ODF
appears to take a lot of pride in their work,” concluded
Peyton, confirming what I had seen that day.
As expected, after touring three different sites in
one day, I have more questions than I started with. How
do they decide where to thin and where to do “modified
clearcuts”? Is a modified clearcut any different than
a clearcut or is it just term to quiet critics? Are the
amounts being logged sustainable or is it too much?
And how do you know? But I also had a chance to
have a lot of questions answered and a chance to see a
logging operation in action. I now have a much better
understanding of how ODF manages our state forests,
at least from a logging point of view.
The level of care the crew showed for their work
impressed me. I was impressed by Paulson Logging’s
ability to embrace more sustainable practices while
working within the system developed by ODF to ac-
tively manage our public lands. I still don’t like what
I see when I look at a clearcut. But I was especially
impressed by the end result of an area that had been
thinned. What I saw was a place that provides for many
varied activities and uses: wildlife habitat, stream pro-
tection, hiking and camping, and logging. All that, and
it still pays the bills.
Vernonia’s Voice would like to extend a sincere
thank you to Greg Paulson and his crew for welcoming
us onto their site and taking time to explain their work.
And to Bruce McNair for taking a day off from work to
be our tour guide.
Walk in like you OWN the place!
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