Inside This Issue
COVER: Mississippi: Drew Massey Stands Up For Loggers
PHILADELPHIA, Mississippi – Even before Drew Massey, 36, started his companies, Massey Timber LLC and Massey Timber Transportation, LLC, it seemed he was destined for a life connected to the forest products business one way or another.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
SOUTHERN STUMPIN': Logger’s Son/Top Gun
You may have seen this story via American Loggers Council’s social media, but in case you missed it, ALC’s Executive Director Scott Dane wrote an article about Minnesota native James Kuehl this summer. Kuehl, Dane wrote, started working in the woods with his father and grandfather when he was old enough to shave. Growing up in a logging family in the small logging and mining town of Ely instilled in Kuehl a strong work ethic that would later be critical to his success in an entirely other area.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
Fall Tradition
NEWRY, Maine – October is supposed to bring with it beautiful fall foliage and cool temperatures to the state of Maine. This year it brought more than that. Logging industry professionals and advocates from throughout the U.S. (and a few from beyond it) converged on the far northeastern New England state for this year’s American Loggers Council annual meeting on October 4-6.
FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW: Grandma And The Dirty Truck
Hope is a fragile commodity. We can so easily lose our grip on it, and yet the Apostle Paul describes our faith in Hebrews 12:1 as the substance of things hoped for . . . thus hope has to be more than solid. It cannot be something that flies from our hands and hearts when difficult times come, because it is exactly what Christ has given to us when we bring him into our hearts; we bring in his hope.
Excerpted from Trees, Traps, and Truth, Bradley Antill, author
INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP
- Kiosk Improves Truck Turnaround
- Machine Innovator Neil Peterson Dies
- Waratah’s Cochrane Dies In New Zealand
- Bandit Industries Celebrates Big 40
- Acres Partners With Forisk
- SFPA Announces Safety Awards
- West Fraser Invests In Newberry Mill
- CW Mill Equipment Celebrating 50 Years
- Weyerhaeuser Reports On Third Quarter
MACHINES – SUPPLIES – TECHNOLOGY
- Deere Beaver Tooth
- New Serco Loaders
- Bruks Siwertell Mobile Chipper
- Wood-Mizer Battery Powered Sawmill
SAFETY FOCUS
Log Truck Driver Struck By Falling Stem During Unbinding Process
Mississippi: Drew Massey Stands Up For Loggers
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
PHILADELPHIA, Mississippi – Even before Drew Massey, 36, started his companies, Massey Timber LLC and Massey Timber Transportation, LLC, it seemed he was destined for a life connected to the forest products business one way or another.
Both his dad and his maternal granddad logged, and in fact on his mother’s side, logging goes back five generations. “I grew up in the woods all my life,” Massey says. “I don’t remember learning how to run a piece of equipment; I just knew as far back as I can remember.”
In 1993 Drew’s dad, Sid Massey, saw an opportunity with the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) so he started a crew designed to specialize in plantation thinning. Still, Sid had moved on to other things by the time his son was finishing up his higher education around 2010. After completing a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering technology from Mississippi State University in 2009, Drew accepted an offer from the school to teach classes and work as a research assistant in exchange for a stipend and paid tuition, allowing him to further earn a master’s degree. “So I did that, and enjoyed it,” he says. “I loved every minute of it.”
When that was done a year later, he started looking for jobs and responded to a posting through John Deere that Waratah had an opening. He spent the next couple of years as a Waratah product rep for the Southeast. This position afforded him the opportunity to travel to logging job sites all over the U.S., including a fair amount of time out west. Seeing all those different styles of logging operations in different terrains allowed him the benefit of a different perspective, he believes. “I feel like I try to go about things a little different than normal and it works for me.”
That’s one of the reasons he likes getting involved with American Loggers Council events today. “You can talk to people from everywhere and see how they do it and why. If it’s something else I can learn a better way to do, then I want to learn and see if I can make it even better than that.”
Drew decided to leave Waratah in 2012 so he could start his own logging business. Sid was less than enthusiastic when his son told him. “You’re crazy!” the senior Massey thought. But Drew wrote up a business plan, went over the financials and decided he could make money. Convinced, Sid got on board and went to work for his son for a few years. “It was great,” Drew smiles. In 2017 the younger Massey had two crews; Sid bought one crew from his son, and went back to logging on his own, which he’s still doing today at 62.
From left, Roderick Miller, Drew Massey, Sammy Miller, Henry Smith, Sandrick Kelley, David Smith and Kenny Ray Stevens
Massey sets up and moves around his loading decks to keep skid distances under 1,000 ft., with help from a map app on his smart phone.
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