Knee deep in mud, log haulers around the Piney Woods region are trying to keep inventories up for surrounding plants and wood yards.

With environmental restrictions on logging operations under the Best Management Practices (BMP) guidelines, and Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), logging operations require more use of low-impact equipment such as dual flotation-type tires, and crawler-tracked equipment in the woods, local foresters said. Wet-weather logging becomes a challenge to avoid deep rutting of haul roads and equipment trails, and transfer of heavy mud to public roads by log trucks.

West Fraser (South), Inc., Joyce sawmill reports that the above-average rainfall made a significant impact on their operations.

"The rains came a lot earlier this year than in past years. It was definitely more of a challenge this fall to be able to provide enough logs to carry us through," said Ken Jordan, procurement forester at West Fraser in Joyce.

Yet, according to foresters there, the hard work and dedication of the log yard personnel made it possible to find ways to process all of the logs received as quickly as possible.

"We lucked out," said Jordan. "Our own logging contractors have been willing to equip their machines to log under extremely wet conditions and in some cases they have had to move rather frequently. Independent loggers, from which we buy a significant portion of our logs, have also been up to the challenge and are continuing to bring us logs."

Others have not been so fortunate, mainly because rain totals for the three month period from September through November were 19.48 inches. The average for that time of the year is roughly 11.32 according to the Louisiana Almanac. That puts the area 8.16 iches above average.

"We had 11.29 inches of rain for December," stated Estes Bozeman, of Winnfield, official U.S.NOAA weather observer for the Winn area. "That's almost double the usual rain total."

From December through February, rain totals rose to 22.75 inches and that was with a dry January where only 1.34 inches of rain fell. The average rainfall for this three month period is about 14.95 inches. That's more than 7 inches above the usual rainfall. For February through the 27th, there had been 9.94 inches of rain with rain still falling in some areas and forecast to be continuing through month-end. According to Bozeman, an average February experiences between 4 and 5 inches of moisture. That makes this February an almost record breaking month.

(Visit the Piney Woods Journal's home-town website, http:/dodsonla.home.att.net for regular unofficial rainfall reports for the area.)

"We usually plan for time periods when there is too much rain for loggers to get into the woods," explained Larry Taylor, Jr. a forester with Smurfit-Stone at their Hodge paper mill facility.

An important item for loggers and foresters alike during these rainy periods is a rigorous effort to stay within the (SFI) Guidelines.

"One of our main objectives is to maintain woodyard inventories," said Taylor. "But while we keep real controls over wood supplies, we make an all-out effort to follow the SFIs. The purpose of both SFIs and BMPs is to avoid jeopardizing the future of forestry by what we do today."

Some companies have slowed down the manufacturing process. Smaller mills took down time, using the opportunity to repair machinery.

"Naturally, some of these slowdowns are market related as well, but some are simply because of the overly wet weather we have experienced," Taylor stated. "Unfortunately, that's typical of Louisiana weather. You never know what to expect."

Some loggers say they speeded up work during the dry month of January. That has helped when the long wet weeks drag on.

"We haven't worked this week," reported Steven Gaar of Gaar Logging and Equipment Sales company, when contacted the last week of February.

However, he did say his crews had been fortunate and were able to work during one of the dampest Decembers on record.

"We worked in places that were easily accessed, where we could move and still work," Gaar said.

Meanwhile, foresters who manage Weyerhaeuser Company's Raw Material procurement and Landowner Assistance (LOA) program said in late February that continuing rains are having a negative impact on logging for their mills in the North Louisiana area.

Meeting at the Dodson forestry office for a planning session on Tuesday, February 25, they said that unless conditions turned for the better almost immediately, "We could be out of logs by the weekend."

With gray skies and rain still forecast, the log pile underneath the big yellow crane that feeds the high-tech, high-speed mill was running low, and contained a large percentage of what appeared to be logs from water storage-the yards often seen by passers-by as stacks of wood being sprayed by constantly revolving streams of water, which is used to prevent insect damage in the "rainy day" pile.

The Raw Materials group operates from offices at Taylor, Dodson and the Red River paper mill outside Campti, Louisiana, and manages timber for about 500 private forest landowners with about 125,000 acres in North Louisiana, Southern Arkansas, and East Texas.

Weyerhaeuser's approximately 2 million-acres of company-owned forests in this region are managed by a different division.

At Martin Forest Products, Inc., in Winnield, general maanger Todd Martin has a serious problem.

"We have a large hardwood contract to fill," Martin explained. "Hardwood generally grows in low areas." That means during normal rainfall, those forests are difficult to access. When the water comes by the bucketful - it's becomes impossible.

"It slows production," Martin said, "we have no volume in the hardwoods."

He also commented that the relatively dry winters for the previous three years had made some in the industry complacent, perhaps forgetting that Louisiana weather could often throw a few curves at the timber industry.

"I guess in a way, you could call this just a normal Louisiana wet winter," Martin said of the state's unpredictable weather. Then he summed up the rainfall, echoing the feelings of many in the business. "It's outrageous," Martin concluded.

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