[Kettle Falls Steve]

Thanks guys. I hadn’t any idea there were so many others out there. When last in the business, we were the “lone-rangers”. Your information is very, very helpful!

I’d really like to visit an active jobsite. Maybe even swamp some trails or work the landing for you (volunteer). Much can be learned by being around the work.

I’m setting up appointments to meet with a large timber company’s foresters. The possibility of providing them with eco-friendly publicity may work out to be mutually beneficial. We logged some property adjoining theirs many years ago… selectively. Their fieldmen/foresters were less than impressed with our leaving harvestable timber. Now, they are using a similar approach.

Many of the rules have changed in Washington (DNR) so have to bone up on that. One of our previous selling points was the ability to tread lightly near streams and other watersheds. It appears that the set-backs have impacted that advantage. Does anyone know if horseloggers get any breaks from those rules?

We are located about two miles from the Three Rivers District of the Colville National Forest. Does anyone know if the Forest Service prescribes any sales or jobs for horse logging extraction? I worked for them in pre-sale in the late 70’s; they didn’t care how it came out of the woods back then.

Thanks again!
Steve

[Kettle Falls Steve]

Realistically, I’m targeting spring 2009 for start-up. We are currently horseless, tackless and fenceless. Finding the right horses is a biggie! We learned that some horses are fine in the open but edgy in the woods, no matter how much you work them. Locating equipment should be the easier task.

Juniper? Very interesting! I haven’t ever heard of it being logged or milled.

Thanks Carl and Bob!

[Kettle Falls Steve]

Well, I’m not back yet, but hopeful and headed that way. We moved back to the mountains to assist my aging father-in-law. Many of the local owner-operator loggers were squeezed out after NAFTA. Large mechanized operators aren’t interested in the smaller plots of timber. An influx of retirees want their land logged, but park-like afterward. This combo provides opportunity, but it still has to pencil a decent profit.

More to the point, I miss working with the boys (only used geldings). We only worked singles in the woods. Middle-weight Belgians (1500 lbs), a Shire-Percheron cross and a Percheron-quarter cross. We worked some heavier horses but their endurance waned from climbing the hills.

The rat-race lifestyle doesn’t, at least for this teamster, satisfy. Bottom line… if I can make a living doing what I love, it will happen.

Are there very many horse loggers in this forum?

Thanks for the replies!

Steve

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