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A lifetime in the timber business

Spring 2011

Some of the numbers associated with John Barber's timber business are truly impressive: 42 years; 10,000 acres; and 10 million board feet. Numbers, such as 14 and 200, are significant, too, in understanding the success of this lifelong Adirondack Mountain-area resident.

"Once I got into the timber business, I was hooked," says Barber, 63, who owns Evergreen Timber Corporation in Hadley, N.Y. "I am not interested in retiring; this is what keeps me alive."

At age 14 he purchased his first parcel of land in northern New York, near the Vermont border.

"I worked all summer in a hay field to earn the $200 I needed to buy the 11.86 acres," he recalls. "I put up a little shack and sold it and the land for $3,500 two years later. Then I bought 100 acres and built my first house. Those transactions as a teenager got me started. I have been buying and selling land ever since."

By age 21 Barber was a real estate broker. After a logger asked him to find some forest land he added the timber business to his list of interests. "I've been involved for 42 years and have enjoyed it immensely," he says.

Evergreen Timber is one of the oldest operating timber companies in the Adirondack region. Last year the firm sold about 10 million board feet in the United States and Canada - some harvested from the 10,000 acres of land that Barber owns and some from land he manages for others. One company in Quebec has been a customer for more than 35 years. Another regular buyer is furniture maker Ethan Allen in Vermont.

"The key to success in the business today is finding decent timber so you can deliver what the buyer wants," Barber says. "And if you do not own the land, you have to sell yourself to the private property owner in order to cut their timber. It's all about marketing yourself and your product."

Barber has been exploring opportunities overseas in order to expand, and expects to ship up to 36 million board feet a year in containers to China. Softwood (hemlock and spruce) will be first, followed by hardwood.

The timber operation is managed by his son, John Jr., and includes four full-time crews (three workers per crew). He also purchases wood from about two dozen other crews.

To keep his fast-paced timber business and other enterprises moving forward, Barber relies on a variety of equipment, including a pair of Doosan^® excavators.

DX190W - a 156 hp wheeled excavator
"This excavator is used exclusively around our central log yard for loading logs," Barber says. "I have some similar equipment, but I prefer to use this machine, and so do my operators. The DX190W constantly loads and unloads trucks. It is also used to load the firewood processor. This excavator moves materials quickly, and has the power and lifting capacity to handle all our products. It has been easy to maintain. I couldn't ask for anything better."

DX180LC - a 122 hp excavator
"The DX180LC replaced a similar product a few years ago," Barber says. "I have been very pleased with the machine. It has performed very well in a number of applications. One of the uses is the construction of logging roads, back in the woods. I also use the excavator to build roads, ponds and other features for real estate subdivisions on my own property. Visibility is excellent and the controls are precise. It has been a big help."

Barber was not at all concerned about bringing the Doosan brand into his business for the first time.

"My dealer — Commercial Truck & Equipment in Glen Falls, N.Y. — recommended the excavators and that was good enough for me," says Barber, who has owned dozens of pieces of equipment over four decades. "I tried them, liked them, purchased them and have been well satisfied. That's it. No problems; they have held up and have served all my businesses very well."

Barber's resume also includes cutting, splitting and selling firewood, helicopter logging in difficult-to-reach areas (he once harvested 800,000 board feet in two weeks) and managing reforestation to support environmental and conservation endeavors. He also donates land to create "forever wildlife areas" and is generous to local and national charities.

"There is nothing better than working with wood - planting, growing, harvesting, buying, selling and delivering," Barber says. "I like it all."