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Making the most of CTL in Oregon |
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 A cut-to-length operation with John Deere equipment has helped Melcher Logging secure stewardship contracts and market wood to a wide range of customers.
When your grandfather started the family logging company by salvaging timber, it comes naturally to make total utilization the code by which you work. Finding a use for every stem, branch and some of the needles is the way Melcher Logging in Sweet Home, Oregon, operates.
Founded in 1954 and now run by the third generation, brothers Scott and
Robbie Melcher, Melcher Logging offers one of the few cut-to-length
(CTL) thinning services in their region.
“My grandfather got his start salvaging and relogging after the big
companies had gone through,” says Scott Melcher. “They were leaving
behind 4, 5 and 6 foot diameter logs that had a little bit of defect in
them and weren’t deemed valuable when first cut. A few years later the
utilization standards began to change and people began seeing value in
them.”
That operation progressed into steeper ground and yard logging and
Scott’s father joined the company in 1961. He began using steel towers
and steel tree yarders to log the steep slopes of the Cascades mountain
range.
“As opportunities changed, so did his career,” Scott explains. “Towards
the latter part of his career, thinning in young plantations and second
growth stands was coming on and he started looking into CTL. We were up
and running CTL by 1991.” In fact, Melcher Logging was the first CTL
operator in Oregon.
Taking care of business
Scott finished college in December, 1990 and began working full time in
the family business the next spring. A few years later, Robbie joined
the company. The two now split management responsibilities, though
they’re both familiar with all aspects of the operation. Scott mainly
takes care of business and Robbie deals with day-to-day CTL operations,
preparing new sites for the crew and running forwarder. The brothers
have a partner who manages the company’s mechanized clearcutting
services, and subcontractors who chip biomass harvested from the CTL
sites.
“CTL is only one part of our business,” Scott notes. “We still do the
clearcut high production, shovel logging and yarder logging. We offer a
full array of forest contracting services. The CTL and biomass
utilization mostly apply to the stewardship contracts.” These contracts
are with the US Forest Service, the company’s primary client, and land
trusts like the Nature Conservancy and others. “Private landowners and
land trusts manage for long term with a different objective than
commercial forests,” Scott adds.
The current five-year USFS contract is on 5,000 acres against the
eastern foothills of the Cascades around the Three Sisters and Metolius
Basin. “The area’s been protected for the last 30 years but over the
last 5 years it’s been threatened by wildfire a number of times,” Scott
explains. “People that have protected this area and focused on
preservation have seen the value of going in and thinning out the
forest now.”
Adapting to CTL
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