Some timber-cutters in Kentucky are reviving an environmentally friendly practice that traces to the state's frontier days.
"Horse-loggers," as they are often called, are using draft horses and mules to snake logs from the forest.
The practice can lessen the damage to many immature trees and other woodland plants that might be crushed by skid loaders and bulldozers.
"That's Amos, and that's Moses," Henry Drake of Casey County said, nodding toward a handsome team of mules he was hitching to a white oak log. "We stay as busy as we want to stay."
Drake, 51, is a welder by trade, but now spends a good part of the year with his team in the log woods. He relocated from his native South Florida to a 230-acre farm in rural Casey County a few years ago, after he and his wife, Charlotte, fell in love with the area during a visit.
Drake's timber-cutting mentor and partner just down the road, Carl Hicks, 67, has been logging since he was 14. Hicks owns a bulldozer, but prefers pulling logs with his team of Percheron draft horses.
A different fuel bill
"A sawmill operator asked me a while back, 'How much was your fuel bill this week?' "I said, 'Aw, about two bales of hay and 10 ears of corn a day,' " Hicks recalled.
"I can put my horses and my bulldozer side-by-side, and the bulldozer will take in a lot more money. But whenever I go to the bank, I can put more money in from the horses day after day -- and keep it -- than I can from the bulldozer."
While animals alone could not feasibly handle the volume of timber harvested in Kentucky, foresters note that some sites are particularly well-suited for horse or mule logging. Especially in woodlands where choice logs are too scattered to make the use of heavy equipment profitable, or where other plant species need special protection.
"It's not quite, but almost, a niche market," said Larry Lowe, of the Kentucky Division of Forestry's timber-harvesting compliance section. "Regardless of what kind of log-moving equipment you use, it's really the attitude of the operator that makes the difference as to whether there is an environmental concern."
Lowe advises that anyone who is considering the sale of timber from their woodlands should request references from prospective loggers and should ask the Kentucky Divisions of Forestry for a free survey of the woodlot and recommendations on timber harvesting and management.
The Kentucky Division of Forestry may be reached at (800) 866-0555, or www.forestry.ky.govThe Courier-Journal
