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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

DNR plans relief to loggers stymied by warm weather

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 2/23/17

REGIONAL— The Department of Natural Resources is hoping that a two-year extension for expiring timber contracts will provide northern Minnesota loggers with a bit of relief in the wake of what has …

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DNR plans relief to loggers stymied by warm weather

Posted

REGIONAL— The Department of Natural Resources is hoping that a two-year extension for expiring timber contracts will provide northern Minnesota loggers with a bit of relief in the wake of what has been a particularly tough winter in the woods.

A wet fall followed by an extraordinarily warm winter left many winter chance logging sites all but inaccessible this year. And with this week’s record thaw testing roads weeks earlier than usual, loggers fear that their already tough season could come to an early end.

“Their winter weight increases didn’t go into effect until the latter half of December,” said Scott Dane, executive director of Associated Contract Loggers and Truckers. “To have load restrictions to go on in the latter part of February, would mean barely a two-month season.”

That’s a challenge for an industry that relies heavily on cold weather, according to Ray Higgins, the director of the Minnesota Timber Producers. “Two-thirds of the wood supply is normally harvested on frozen ground,” he said. While technology, like exceptionally wide tires and tracks for logging equipment, has enabled loggers to work effectively on softer ground than in the past, there’s a limit to what can be done when harvesting species like black spruce, which is highly sought in the paper industry for its long fibers. “A spruce swamp is a different animal,” said Higgins. “With spruce, you can only harvest when the ground is frozen.”

And that’s where many loggers found the going toughest this year. “There were a lot of sites where it never froze enough for access,” said Patty Thielen, the DNR’s forestry supervisor for the northeast region. Dane agrees. “It’s been impossible to get in some of the spruce swamps this winter. It’s affected the spruce supply at some of the mills.”

Some loggers tried to access swampy locations, and more than one ended up sinking equipment. That put those with contracts expiring in 2017 in a tough spot, which is why the DNR is willing to issue extensions. Thielen said the forestry division expects the commissioner to sign off on the extensions within days. “We have not sent out the letters yet,” she said. “There are a few fine details still to work out.”

Meanwhile, the counties are also considering allowing adjustments to some of their logging contracts.

The DNR extensions will apply to all logging contracts that were set to expire in May of this year, and will provide loggers an additional two years to get their work completed. “There was just too much volume out there to expect loggers to catch up in a single year,” said Thielen.

Industry officials are also aware that this year is the second straight winter where access to spruce has been challenging. “Last year was tough as well,” noted Higgins. With two years of limited spruce harvest, the uncut volume is adding up.

While the conditions have limited the supply of spruce for paper mills, it has actually been good news for wood mills that rely on aspen and other upland hardwoods. Dane said the warm conditions have prompted loggers to focus on their drier aspen sites, rather than spruce, and it’s left most wood mills sitting with good supplies of aspen going into an apparently early break-up.

Response to conditions

For now, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is holding off on imposing spring load restrictions in hopes of giving northern Minnesota loggers a bit more time. MnDOT has already imposed load limits in southern and central Minnesota, but held off through this past week’s thaw.

A couple northern Minnesota counties gave loggers a little more breathing room this past week. Rather than impose spring load restrictions, both Koochiching and Itasca counties set up voluntary hauling guidelines, asking loggers to limit their hauling on county roads to the overnight hours, after roads had a chance to stiffen up.

Some of the bigger wood products manufacturers are doing their part, as well. Packaging Corporation of America, formerly Boise, has only been accepting wood from 10 p.m.- 10 a.m. to limit hauling to the overnight hours. Sappi, in Cloquet, stopped taking wood deliveries altogether during the latest melt. But Sappi, which uses mostly aspen, has a relatively full wood yard as loggers have focused on upland logging sites this winter.

Higgins said the industry is doing what it can to reduce any impact to state forest and county roads. “It’s about trying to be good stewards,” he added.

Meanwhile, loggers will be watching the weather closely and keeping their fingers crossed that MnDOT will hold off a bit longer on issuing road restrictions. This weekend’s forecasted cool-down should, at least, give them a few more days to operate.

“We go through this every year,” notes Higgins, “but it’s usually in March.”