8 The Mainline News, Events, Reminders Southwest Oregon Area: D & H Logging Co. in Coos Bay, OR SW Oregon Area winner, D & H Logging Co. of Coos Bay, earned the award for its diligent planning and harvesting practices. The company has a record of long-term, conscientious logging practices that meet or exceed the Oregon Forest Practices Act (FPA). Their thoughtful planning and innovative techniques allowed them to protect medium and small fish-bearing streams, small nonperennial streams, and restricted equipment zones along tributary streams, successfully harvest the unit with no damage to the streams or their buffers. D & H Logging made extra efforts to protect the stream buffers and new protection zones by changing skyline yarding patterns and spans of over 3,000 ft. Their efforts left healthy, intact buffers with minimal soil disturbance. The owner and crew maintained excellent communication and coordination with the landowner and ODF throughout the harvest. They thoroughly trained their crews in the new Forest Practice Act rules that went into effect this year, which helped them meet the new resource protection standards and still operate safely. See the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= A1eTDEcXQiY Eastern Oregon Area: BTO Forestry Solutions, Inc. in Enterprise, OR The Eastern Oregon Area winner, BTO Forestry Solutions, Inc. of Enterprise, earned the award for their efforts as a consistently conscientious logging of the state’s three areas. Look for a to indicate which companies are AOL members and a to indicate which members are OPL-qualified. Videos of the Operator of the Year Winners and Merit Awards can be viewed at: https://www.oregon.gov/odf/working/ Pages/default.aspx Northwest Oregon Area: R.D. Reeves Construction, Inc. in Rainer, OR NW Oregon Area winner, R.D. Reeves Construction, Inc. of Rainer, earned the award for their efforts as a consistently conscientious logging company. This company began in 1969 and has not had a citation in the fifty-five years they have been in business. The company goes above & beyond in their preoperational planning efforts. Protection of resources is a high priority for the company. They take preventive actions to protect water quality, for example, by installing silt fences and hay bales, if there’s even a slight chance sediment might reach a stream or wetland. The company is innovative in their use of new tools and technologies for harvesting. The nominated operation had protected resources including streams, a Riparian Management Area’s (RMA) through the middle of the unit, wetlands, roads, steep slopes requiring HLHL protections with downstream homes adjacent to the harvest unit. The company’s attention to detail is demonstrated when they finish an operation. Thorough cleanup and maintenance are completed prior to leaving the site, assuring there are no issues in the future after they have gone. See the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= EUsBwxBZiEo The Oregon Dept. of Forestry (ODF) and Oregon Board of Forestry (BOF) annually recognize forest operators who consistently meet and excel at compliance with the Oregon Forest Practices Act & Rules (FPA). Recognition is for forest contractors, consultants or partners who demonstrate superior project innovation, protection, communication, planning, stewardship, long-term performance, and overcoming financial risk. Since 1971 when Oregon enacted the FPA, forest operation and resource protection here has been a national model for continuous improvement. Contract forest operators and landowners are proud of their ongoing forest stewardship. The awards program spotlights just three quality operators among the tens-of-thousands of successful operations annually statewide. The awards program communicates to Oregon policymakers and publics about this important forestry stewardship success and those professionals who work in the forest. The BOF established the awards program during the 1990’s to honor forest operation exemplars who illustrate the FPA resource protection standards. Regional Forest Practices Committees select the winners and merit award recipients from nominations by landowners, ODF staff, and others. Operators are recognized for responsible harvesting, roading, site improvement, release, thinning, reforestation, protecting streams and habitat. ODF 2024 Operators of the Year The BOF, at its January 2025 meeting, recognized three winners as: ODF 2024 Operator of the Year, an award for each Outstanding Operators Recognized ODF 2024 Operator of the Year Awards for Forest Practices ›By Amanda Sullivan-Astor, Forest Policy Manager
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