Oregon Department Of Forestry Announces State’s Top Forest Operators For 2026 (Photo) - 11/10/26
SALEM, Ore. – Three logging companies have been chosen as Operator of the Year for their respective region of Oregon. Three regional advisory committees to the Oregon Board of Forestry selected the trio last month. The recipients will be recognized in Salem at the January meeting of the Board. The honorees are:
- Eastern Oregon — Wood River Timber, Inc., headquartered in Klamath Falls, Ore.
- Northwest Oregon — Iron Horse Logging, Inc., out of Mapleton, Ore. in Lane County
- Southwest Oregon — Lone Rock Logging based in Roseburg, Ore.
The award recognizes forest operators who, while harvesting timber or doing other forestry work, have a track record of protecting natural resources and improving forest health at a level that consistently meets or exceeds requirements of the Oregon Forest Practices Act *. The Act requires people to manage forests responsibly and protect streams and water quality, protect and enhance habitat, and reduce landslide risks. The law also requires landowners to replant forests after harvesting.
Videos about each of the three Operators of the Year and three Merit Award winners can be viewed on the ODF website at https://www.oregon.gov/odf/Working/Pages/default.aspx
Eastern Oregon
Wood River Timber, Inc., was named Operator of the Year for Eastern Oregon for the company’s many efforts to help small landowners improve the health of their forestland while reducing catastrophic wildfire risk. The selection committee cited owner Ray Driscoll for the time he spends educating landowners and providing a quality harvest while meeting the landowners’ objectives. One project that committee members cited, in particular, was his work thinning overcrowded ponderosa pine on two adjoining parcels west of Klamath Falls. The selection committee agreed the work was a great example of skillful logging that protected trees one landowner wanted retained while removing juniper and enough other trees to open up the forest floor to grazing by cattle and wildlife. The thinning also reduced the risk of devastating wildfire.
Landowner Karen Crawford praised Wood River’s owner Ray Driscoll for the meticulous attention he paid to felling each tree and removing it without damaging trees to be left. “He was very meticulous in his operation. It’s been a year and you can barely see skid trails, everything looks fantastic.”
Northwest Oregon
Iron Horse Logging was able to keep trees intact in multiple buffers on a unit right above a wetland and fish-bearing stream, both of which were protected from any sediment runoff. The buffers that were protected included new ones in draws leading to that fish-bearing stream that are now required under revisions to the Oregon Forest Practices Act. Iron Horse uses tall yarders to bring logs up to a landing with minimal damage to soils. Because equipment to handle big trees has become rarer in recent years, Iron Horse serves many landowners with difficult harvesting jobs other loggers often turn down.
Iron Horse’s careful attention to protecting forest resources was also cited by the selection committee, which cited the firm’s consistently good work over many years logging in heavy rainfall areas of the Coast Range.
Southwest Oregon
Lone Rock took extra efforts to protect the retained trees without damaging them while running cables through the tops. They did not break a bunch of limbs or damage tops despite having to make multiple yarding corridor changes through trees in the buffer. They succeeded by using several harvesting practices and preplanning cutting to position logs where the yarding equipment could reach them without damaging the leave trees. These practices protected thousands of feet of protected tree buffers along a wetland and similar retention zones in hillside draws.
Leaving trees in those stands served various purposes, including protecting soil from erosion and downstream water from sediments. Trees left standing would also be available when they eventually fell over to deliver woody debris for future fish habitat. To do so, Lone Rock had to set up multiple yarding sites and haul logs up to landings.
One innovation the company is trialing is the use of synthetic cable as an extension to the traditional, heavy steel cable. The lighter cable is less likely to damage trees when it is passing logs through a buffer.
Merit Awards
Merit Awards were also given to three other companies.
Eastern Oregon
- Josh and Jacque Cobb own and operate J and J Timber Resources based in Haines in eastern Oregon’s Baker County. Their company earned the Merit Award for work to improve elk habitat on a federal winter-feeding ground in Baker County. Cobb thinned out an overcrowded ponderosa pine forest to allow more grass and brush to grow between remaining trees, creating better forage for elk and deer. The Cobbs reduce wood waste by sending it to large sawmills to burn as fuel for those mills’ operations. The Cobb’s own small mill provides an outlet for smaller landowners to take log loads that wouldn’t be large enough to interest mills needing greater wood volumes.
Northwest Oregon
- Todd Perrigo is owner of Perrigo Timber, LLC, based in Warrenton, Ore. His company earned the Merit Award for the care with which he pre-plans each logging job, walking every part of every unit to identify issues and have a plan to prevent or mitigate any damage to forest resources.
He was also cited for how he and his crew handle woody debris from logging. Perrigo carefully piles brush so that each debris pile burns fast and hot and is encircled by mineral soil, reducing the chance of it setting fire to the surrounding clearcut when burned. The company’s leadership in sorting out large woody debris and piling it to create dens for small creatures was also noted.
Southwest Oregon
- C and M Timberland Resources, LLC, is headquartered in Glide, Ore., east of Roseburg. They earned a Merit Award for placing a large culvert in a deep ravine on a concrete base they built, then piling tens of feet of dirt on top to create a stable crossing for logging trucks, then faced the whole thing with boulders to prevent erosion. They also built a bridge over a fish stream, hauling in 52-foot long sections on a winding logging road. Their work improved the channel and stabilized the streambank on either side. On the same parcel they also had to excavate a steep forested hillside to put in a logging road, all while successfully preventing sediment from reaching a nearby stream.
ODF Forest Resources Division Chief Josh Barnard said, “the selection committees had excellent candidates this year when choosing who they would honor, all of whom showed they went to great lengths to protect the forest environment.”
Barnard said nominees showed they could meet the challenge of working under new harvesting rules. The updated Oregon Forest Practices Act rules provide more protection for forest resources, such as wider buffers for fish-bearing streams and retaining more trees in especially steep areas.
“Many of the harvest sites this year had terrain that was quite challenging,” said Barnard. “The Operators of the Year showed extraordinary care and diligence to protect slopes and streams. We’re proud to recognize those efforts.”
* Oregon enacted the Forest Practices Act in 1971 as a national model for forest management laws. The law focuses on ensuring responsible forest operations and protecting natural resources in forestland. The Act has been updated many times based on new scientific information and values to create a balanced approach to natural resource management.
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