Dale Erickson's logging company is in the northernmost reaches of Minnesota.
But even in what's supposed to be one of the most frigid parts of the state, his Baudette-based Erickson Timber Products is having a tough time getting timber out of the forest.
At a time of the year when Minnesota's logging industry should be booming, unfrozen ground and a continued run of mild weather has loggers facing a potential crisis.
Unable to move timber across soft logging roads, Minnesota's loggers are shutting down or looking for higher and drier stands of timber to harvest.
"What's going on is nothing," said Erickson, president of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association. "This is the time of the year when everyone should be running hard, but we can't because the (logging) roads aren't frozen. It's just soft ground all over. It's really going to be ugly if this doesn't turn around -- and turn around shortly."
Under Voluntary Site Level Forest Management guidelines, timber producers aren't allowed to create ruts while transporting timber from forests. Ruts created by heavy equipment can break root systems and affect regrowth.
Many loggers who operate conventional skidders, which have a heavier "footprint" than more modern cut-to-length equipment, have shut down, said Jerry Birchem, owner of Birchem Logging in Mountain Iron.
Birchem estimates that 30 percent to 35 percent of the state's loggers are shut down and hoping for lower temperatures.
"This is as bad as it's been in a long time," Birchem said. "There's a lot of loggers not working right now. It's causing a lot of hardship."
January, February and March are the prime months for logging.
During those three months -- when the ground typically is frozen -- logging companies transport up to half of the annual harvest on state land, said Doug Ford, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources timber sales program supervisor. About 750,000 cords are harvested annually on state land.
However, the absence of an extended cold snap is affecting loggers much more than it has in recent years.
"One of my men was out in the woods walking the other day and left footprints in the snow," Erickson said. "When we came back later, the footprints were filled with water."
Species such as spruce and tamarack that grow in wet, swampy areas are most affected. Swamps across most of the state haven't frozen over, so timber producers are unable to move spruce and tamarack out of the areas.
"It's a statewide problem," said Wayne Brandt, executive vice president of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association. "If we don't get some significant cold weather in the next several weeks, we're looking at a disaster. There are a lot of loggers just flat shut down right now."
Independent truckers who haul wood for a living also have been affected.
"There's been very little movement," Ford said. "But they had a good summer and fall, so the mills have good inventories and have kind of backed off taking wood."
Timber that can't be transported this winter would remain in the woods until next winter in the hope that logging roads will freeze.
"The biggest fear is that it rolls over into next winter," Ford said. "If this year's (winter) harvest rolls into next year, will the mills be able to take it?"
Meanwhile, some loggers are moving to higher and drier ground, harvesting stands that otherwise would be cut in summer months.
That means loggers won't have those stands available to harvest this summer, which could slow summer deliveries to mills.
"It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul," Erickson said. "We know what's coming ... deliveries are going to slow down. This is all just the tip of the iceberg."
The impact on each mill would vary because mills use different species. But after a dry late summer, most northern Minnesota mills entered winter with good inventories, said Kent Jacobson, Ainsworth Engineered USA LLC woodlands manager.
"We're OK for now," Jacobson said. "But we're watching. Typically in the country when you have a full moon and the temperature plunges, it gets cold. But this year, when you wake up in the morning and look, it's 25 degrees."Duluth News Tribune
