Third-generation logger appreciates ties to CJ Logging Equipment, Inc.
NORTHVILLE, New York – “Every day is a good day,” said Tim Wadsworth, co-owner of Wadsworth Logging, Inc. That’s the sort of sentiment we would like to hear more often.
Tim and his brother, Arthur P. Wadsworth, are co-owners of Wadsworth Logging, a company with a root that extends to their grandfather. A third-generation logger, Tim explained that his father and grandfather skidded with true horse power in the early days of the company.
Wadsworth Logging went cut-to-length 15 years ago. It got started in c-t-l with a Timbco 825 processor with a Risley Rolly II head and a Timbco 820B forwarder. Tim and Art bought both machines from CJ Logging Equipment, Inc., which is headquartered in Boonville, N.Y. In doing so, he began a relationship with the equipment dealer that continues to this day.
Six years ago, Tim purchased a machine from CJ Logging Equipment that he imagines would amaze his father, who passed away before the move to c-t-l. It is a TimberPro TL725B FB with a Rolly II head. And it is something of a linchpin in his company’s operation.
When Pat Crawford began making TimberPro, a descendant of sorts of his earlier Timbco machines, Tim could not have been happier. TimberPro machines get the highest marks from Tim. “I just think they’re fantastic to tell you the truth,” he said.
“We cut 15 million feet a year,” said Tim. He reckons he got a three-fold increase in production with his key TimberPro machines, the feller buncher and two TimberPro 830 forwarders. And he did not have to add employees.
Tim runs one of the TimberPro 830 forwarders. Arthur operates the TimberPro TL725 FB, as well as doing turns on a new Komatsu processor also purchased from CJ Logging.
“We run two to three job sites at a time,” said Tim. There are six loggers, including Tim and Arthur, and four truck drivers in the employ of Wadsworth Logging.
In January, Tim purchased a Tigercat 610E skidder from CJ Logging Equipment. Other machines on his roster includes an excavator and a dozer.
“We use the excavator and dozer to clean up,” explained Tim. New York State requires that sites be leveled before a job is considered complete.
“All we cut is softwood – red pine and spruce,” said Tim. “The spruce goes to Canada for dimensional lumber. The red pine goes to Angelica [Forest Products] in the Finger Lakes for fencing and vineyard posts that are 22 feet lengths.”
Some red pine also goes to Boonville, N.Y. for telephone poles that range from 30 to 62 feet in length. Shorter lengths see their way into stakes for grapes in the many vineyards in the western Empire State.
When we spoke with Tim in early April, his team was busy at two job sites. One was an over story removal for the city of Johnstown, N.Y. Another was a clearing – in preparation for replanting – of a watershed area.
“We do big tracts,” said Tim, explaining the size threshold for any job. The site must be large enough to justify use of the feller buncher and ancillaries.
The brothers choose equipment carefully, matching the needs of his company with the high expectations for loggers in the state where he works. New York puts weight limits on equipment. He chose the Tigercat 610E skidder “because it’s the lightest machine built” that gets the job done.
The TimberPro 830 forwarders got the nod because of their agility. “They do a 360-degree rotation,” said Tim. “They will handle the telephone pole [lengths].”
In winter, each TimberPro 830 forwarder is fitted with tracks on the back sets of wheels. The forwarders were purchased with the tracks.
A track machine, the TimberPro TL725B FB is able to carry the Rolly II head and still move easily across snow and what is often challenging terrain. Stability is built into it.
On the fleet side are four tractors — two Peterbilt, one International and one Kenworth, as well as four log trailers – three Pitts brand and one aluminum.
Home to Wadsworth Logging is Northville, N.Y., a town with a population of 1,100. Northville is part of Fulton County in the east-central part of New York State.
The Boonville site for CJ Logging Equipment is just 50 miles or so to the northwest of Northville. CJ Logging is always at the ready to help, said Tim. “They’ve been very good about their service. You call and they come.” Across the years, Tim has worked particularly closely with team member Billy Bourgeois at CJ Logging Equipment.
Besides New York, the territory for CJ Logging Equipment encompasses Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. To serve customers in the best possible way, CJ Logging Equipment has locations in Little Valley, N.Y. and Allenwood, Pa. in addition to Boonville. A new location will open soon in Bruceton Mills, W.V.
The equipment sold by CJ Logging offers abundant choices to loggers who work in the Adirondack region, the Appalachian Mountains and environs. Tim appreciates being able to get the TimberPro machines that he favors from a dealer so close to him. TimberPro is headquartered in Shawano, Wis.
When Tim started working fulltime alongside his father in 1985 he had just graduated from high school. They cut with chain saws – “always Stihl,” said Tim.
“We cut for Union Fork and Hoe,” said Tim. “We did a ton of work for them – cutting mixed hardwoods.” The mill closed and Wadsworth Logging moved to other ventures.
“It was the way the government taxed employees” that pushed Tim to c-t-l logging, he said. The premiums for workers’ compensation just became too high to allow his employees to continue using chain saws.
With the adoption of c-t-l methods, Tim was able to reduce his workforce and be more productive at the same time. The transition “paid for itself,” he explained.
Despite Tim’s embrace of c-t-l methods, he is not certain what his father would think about the changes in the industry. “He believed in manpower,” said Tim. “He wanted to see me work.”
Tim laughed when he reminisced about his father wanting to see him work. He explained that the environmentally-controlled and ergonomically-designed cabs of the TimberPro equipment would amaze his dad. “You don’t get wet” or cold or hot, said Tim. “There’s no reason to go home.”
Recalling working with his father, Tim explained how intensely everyone labored. “We would do 100,000 feet in a week and go home,” he said. “We needed so much help to do it, we couldn’t keep up.” It was simply that the ratio of revenue to cost centers stopped being positive.
Committed to the industry, Tim and Art’s father and others – 11 members in all – developed a self-insurance group. The economics of that worked for a time, but it could not be sustained.
Reflecting on the transition from hand-cutting to c-t-l, Tim recounts the changes in product. “We did four-foot pulp for International Paper, then eight-foot pulp and now 16-foot pulp.” Wadsworth Logging still sends pulpwood to International Paper. But so much has changed since his early years of logging, said Tim.
“It’s all computerized,” said Tim of working with TimberPro machines as partners. That makes the day an easy one. “I enjoy every day.”
Occasionally, well beyond working hours at Wadsworth Logging, Tim does use a chain saw to cut his own firewood. He relies on two Husqvarna saws for that. Among the diverse array of equipment sold by CJ Logging are Husqvarna saws.
Wadsworth Logging, which logs only in New York State, is a member of the Empire State Forest Products Association (ESFPA), which is headquartered in Rennselaer, N.Y. The association represents the interests of an industry that contributes $8.8 billion to the state gross product and employs more than 67,000 residents of the state.
ESFPA (so named in 1909) derives from the Adirondack Lumber Manufacturers and Shippers Association, which was founded in 1906. Yes, 110 years ago, the interest in sustainable practices, which that earlier group promoted, was high and sincere.
Tim and Art’s company is also FSC certified. It has met the criteria for certification of the Forest Stewardship Council, which works to ensure that well-managed forests are the source of products, respite, and floral and faunal riches now and in future (in perpetuity). As part of their commitment to ongoing sustainable forestry Wadsworth Logging replants on average 20,000-30,000 trees each year, with some years up to 100,000 replants.
The new Tigercat 610E skidder is being driven by a fourth-generation logger, Tim’s daughter, who is a recent graduate of Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt. Green Mountain College, which was established in 1834, educates students while putting a particular focus on the environment.
Wadsworth Logging and CJ Logging Equipment share a firm attachment to the wood products industry. CJ Logging began selling products to meet the needs of loggers in 1981. Its experience benefits loggers, such as Tim, who is confident he can contact the team at CJ Logging Equipment any time.
As for Tim, he is committed to Wadsworth Logging. “I don’t take much time off,” said Tim. He really likes what he is doing
“We take one vacation a year,” explained Tim. “I fish and I hunt. My brother does the same.”
