English
Log and load
Spring 2014
Eighty years after the historic Tillamook Burn swept through the northwest Oregon coast range, destroying 13 billion board feet of timber, Olstedt Logging started its morning thinning a mix of alders, fir, hemlock and cedar near Jewell, Oregon. The trees had grown on the same hills that were once scorched in the blaze sparked from a logging operation 40 miles to the east at the North Fork of Gales Creek. Reigniting every six years until 1951, the massive fire eventually consumed 355,000 acres in its path.
Four generations of logging
Ironically, this soggy morning was not unlike the early fall days of 1933. The annual September rains that finally extinguished the first of the catastrophic forest fires had arrived again, soaking the forests. Around a busy schedule of commercial projects, Herb Olstedt's crews were assisting his nephew, Roric, with clearing and shovel logging one million board feet of wood — all first- and second-growth trees from the original Tillamook Burn fire — on 80 acres of a 225-acre parcel of Roric's personal property.
This fourth-generation logging family knows the meaning of survival, and lending a hand to one another in times of need remains a strong part of the Olstedt DNA. Teaming up to help with that effort were Doosan DX300LL-3 and DX225LL log loaders. Piles of felled trees awaited the company's automated log processor, but recent rains made the dirt roads impassable for the machines. Roric operated the 213-horsepower DX300LL-3 to swing tree bunches to various landing sites where even retired family members helped process them by hand with chainsaws. The logs were being cut into lengths of 8- and 10-foot multiples to meet the loading specifications of Cascade Hardwood, a sawmill in Chehalis, Washington.
Processing the old-fashioned way would stretch their 15 loads from a single day to an entire week. Herb continued the selective thinning using the 155-horsepower DX225LL, and cleared a stand of trees on an adjacent hill. In a mountainous region marked with steep sloping terrain, the mature trunks ranged from 12 to 14 inches in diameter, with heights up to 40 feet tall. To be productive in these challenging conditions, the Olstedts looked for key features and performance, focusing on swing torque, reach and stability on grades.
"Nothing here is really flat, so you've got to make sure you've got firm footing, and the DX300LL-3 has excellent stability," Roric says. "The swing torque is good too, and with this 38-foot boom, I can swing two large or three medium-size trees uphill."
Operations Manager Dan Olstedt agrees. "That's 100 percent operator confidence to be sitting flat-footed on a hillside and not rocking back and forth and not having to stop all hydraulic movement just to settle the machine down. When it's productive, your guys feel good about it."
Doosan leads a recession rebound
Like many forestry contractors, the recession was extremely difficult. Olstedt Logging was not immune from the effects, but it never closed its doors. Nearly every piece of equipment the company owned was parked for several months and a few employees were dismissed. Today's logging market is much more competitive, and although there are still challenges in the marketplace, there are also signs of recovery. Olstedt Logging's workload has picked up from key customers such as the Oregon Department of Forestry and Weyerhaeuser. Demand has steadily increased from sawmills, wood yards and a flattened pulp mill market.
"Looking back, some of my proudest moments are being able to stay together in the family business over the last few years," Dan says. "It was a rough time and there were a lot of hard calls to make. Being able to keep our employees is super important. We've got a lot of guys who are ground workers, and it's a tough way to make a living, but they do a great job."
Olstedt Logging has grown to 30 employees, and the business has been sustainable enough for Herb and Barbara Olstedt to raise four sons — three of which now work in the family business that specializes in cable-logging and shovel-logging operations and trucking its loads to mills and other processing customers. One of Dan's responsibilities is rebuilding the company's aging log loader fleet that is tasked with selectively thinning, cutting and loading trees in rugged environments for 10 or 11 hours a day. Loading is equally demanding since an average logging truckload holds 4,500 board feet per load and weighs as much as 26 metric tons.
The Doosan log loaders are fulfilling both of those needs. The 40-ton DX300LL-3 is an all-purpose machine that picks and places the Olstedts' heaviest timber with a lift capacity of 28,540 pounds over the front of the machine and a swing torque that exceeds 82,000 foot-pounds. The smaller 32-ton DX225LL has a 36-foot reach, a swing speed of more than 11 rpm and a maximum loading height of 42.5 feet.
Efficient and reliable
Containing operating costs is a big part of the company's game plan, and maintenance is a key expense that has become easier to control with Doosan equipment.
"I feel really good about Doosan and its reliability," Dan adds. "We've had no service calls in two years. Their machines are simplistic and smooth to operate."
Doosan's advanced technologies are providing quicker cycle times, increased torque and measurable fuel efficiency compared to the company's non-Doosan models. During the shovel-logging process, Dan says the Doosan log loaders, on average, are typically burning 6 gallons of fuel per hour.
"With the previous machines, we were burning 8.5 gallons per hour," he says, "and on the landing, we were burning 3.5 gallons per hour with the Doosan and 5.5 gallons an hour with the other machines. It was a $1,400 savings per machine per month on fuel alone. I can make machine payments with that kind of money."
He would be the first to say that not all logging profits grow on trees.
