November 2021
EDGEFIELD, South Carolina – South Carolina’s Mark Mims, 49, hasn’t always been a logger. After high school he farmed, and then got into tree work. He enjoyed lot clearing, climbing trees and the general tasks with limbing. After spending a while climbing with the chain saw, Mims says he “graduated” to a bucket truck.
Inside This Issue
COVER: South Carolina’s MAM Stick Haulers Stands Firm
EDGEFIELD, South Carolina – South Carolina’s Mark Mims, 49, hasn’t always been a logger. After high school he farmed, and then got into tree work. He enjoyed lot clearing, climbing trees and the general tasks with limbing. After spending a while climbing with the chain saw, Mims says he “graduated” to a bucket truck.
Article by Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
SOUTHERN STUMPIN': 1 Month, 2 ALC Meetings
Just two weeks after convening the American Loggers Council’s 27th Annual Meeting in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, on October 7-9 (Southern Loggin’ Times and Timber Harvesting editors David Abbott and Dan Shell attended), ALC’s new Executive Director Scott Dane traveled to Prattville, Alabama, just a few miles north of our publishing headquarters in Montgomery, to address the 2021 Annual Meeting of another ALC, the Alabama Loggers Council. SLT/TH editor Patrick Dunning attended this meeting.
Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
More Dirt
CAMPOBELLO, South Carolina – Norman Arledge, 64, counts himself blessed when he considers all the activity in his area. “It’s unbelievable,” he says, pointing to housing construction on both sides of the highway in the Campobello community. “I could drive you by development after development of what we alone have cut.” There’s so much ongoing development here that it not only keeps him working steady, it allows him to keep working within a 30-mile radius of his shop.
Article by Patrick Dunning, Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
“We Have Arrived”
This year’s ALC meeting took place on October 7-9 in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. Current American Loggers Council President Tim Christofferson welcomed attendees to his home state of Idaho. New ALC Executive Director Scott Dane rose to the challenge of his first annual meeting admirably well, while his predecessor in the position, Danny Dructor, who handed the reins over to Dane earlier this year after 20 years on the job, clearly enjoyed the chance to sit back, relax and enjoy the meeting free from all the headache of organizing it.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, and Dall Shell, Senior Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Scotch Steps Up
WAYNESBORO, Mississippi – A mill fire is a devastating event on multiple levels and the January 6 fire that destroyed the Scotch Plywood Co. veneer facility in Waynesboro was no exception. The fire occurred while the mill was in operation, and every on-site employee, many of whom helped fight the fire, was accounted for and found unharmed.
Article supplied by Scotch Plywood, as written by Stamp Ideas for Forest Landowner magazine.
SPOTLIGHT ON: Transportation
NOTE: SLT invited manufacturers/dealers of forestry transportation products/services to submit information about their offerings.
- American Truck Parts
- Big John Trailers
- FMI Trailers
- Kaufman Trailers
- Loadrite Southern Star
- Magnolia Trailers
- Maxi-Load Platform Scales
- McComb Diesel
- Pitts Trailers
INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP
- As We See It: As We Are Seen
- Westervelt Expands Timberland Holdings
- Cooperative Efforts Provide TST Driver Safety Programs
- Roseburg Continues Growth In The South
- Maverick Environmental Reps For Morbark
- Southern Sawmill Patriarch Varn Passes
- Barko Teams Up With Stearns Bank
- GP Plans To Build Sawmill At Pineland
- West Fraser Purchases New SYP Sawmill
- Bandit Announces More Expansion Plans
SAFETY FOCUS
Limb Of Hung-Up Tree Kicks Back, Fractures Chainsaw Operator’s Leg
Supplied by Forest Resources Association.
Article By Jessica Johnson, Senior Associate Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
South Carolina’s MAM Stick Haulers Stands Firm
EDGEFIELD, South Carolina – South Carolina’s Mark Mims, 49, hasn’t always been a logger. After high school he farmed, and then got into tree work. He enjoyed lot clearing, climbing trees and the general tasks with limbing. After spending a while climbing with the chain saw, Mims says he “graduated” to a bucket truck. That’s when his crew started to grow, as various family members began wanting to work for him. As lot clearing took off, Mims noticed a strong market for the timber that was being cut – he didn’t have trouble selling it to local wood dealers at all. His hometown of Edgefield, SC is positioned well between markets in South Carolina and Georgia for pine pulpwood, especially with OSB, MDF and pellet plants all within 75 miles.
While the transition into logging seemed like a natural fit, thanks in part to a decision in 2006 by Mims to being running two contract haul trucks under the name MAM Stick Haulers for Edgefield-based timber dealer/logger, Log Creek Timber, it wasn’t until after an accident in 2009 that he got serious about logging. Mims was taking limbs out of a tree on a golf course when he fell and broke two vertebrae in his neck. Thankfully, he was able to make a full recovery, but between the accident and the tree work equipment getting older, after a few years the move away from tree work made sense.
MAM Stick Haulers has a fair mix of John Deere and Tigercat iron, all late model to get the job done.
MAM hauls thin pine pulpwood pulpwood 90% of the year, pushing 50 loads per week.
The Mims had been hauling for a timber buyer since 2006 – the move into full-time logging made sense for them in 2012.
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