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Loggers voice frustrations
Over 60 people attended the meeting at logger Billy McConnell's shop in the Whatley community to express concern over the cost of fuel, parts and insurance. There were also employees from dealers and area mills on hand. "We're losing (loggers) fast," said Ricky Carnes of R.L. Carnes Logging Contractors of Monroeville, who chaired the meeting. "There's not nearly as many loggers out here as there were six months ago or six weeks ago. "…This is not just our issue. It's a whole industry issue." If loggers don't survive it will hurt mills and landowners, Carnes said. "Look at the age of the guys that are here. With the exception of one or two, you don't see many young guys." According to a recent survey, the average age of loggers in the Southeast is between 50 and 60." Carnes made it clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to start a union. "We can't do that," he said. "We're not employees of any of these mills. We are independent businesses."
Carnes encouraged the loggers to join together in a centralized dispatch system so there would be less empty hauls. He had been involved in such a co-op. "It helps out big time and saves a lot of money." More than half the time loggers had empty hauls, he said. Another logger said there was nothing that could be done about fuel prices. It is regulated by the federal government. Loggers should ask the mills for increased payment. "We're logging now for what my father logged for back in the late '70s and early '80s," he said. "The price of timber has increased somewhat, but most of that increase has gone to landowners. It hasn't gone to the loggers. We haven't seen much of it going in our pocketbook.
The problems for loggers has been coming a long time. "Our costs kept going up and up and up," Carnes said, "and we're not being compensated. What we're getting paid is not coming up to the cost. The fuel has been the thing that has really pushed it to the front lately. "…I'm burning about threefourths of a gallon of fuel getting the tree on the truck, about another gallon and a quarter loading it to the mill and getting the truck back to the woods. I'm figuring on a 60-mile haul. …Just a small operation like I've got (with two crews) - we burn so much diesel fuel," Carnes said. "We'll burn close to 2,000 gallons of off-road fuel every week….It's gone up say a dollar-a-gallon since the first of the year. That's costing me $2,000 a week more. I'm not making that kind of money. I can't survive unless I have some help. "Some of the mills are starting to recognize that there is a problem, and they are starting to help us." Loggers were also encouraged to join the Independent Logging Contractors of Alabama, only in existence for three years. "This is formed by loggers, for loggers, and run by loggers," Carnes said. "It's not a part of the (Alabama) Forestry Association or any other group." Carnes will attend a meeting next week with industry representatives sponsored by the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce. "They understand that timber is the number one industry in this part of the country," he said. "…They realize the loggers are hurting….( The meeting) is a step in the right direction."
"If we weren't all in the same shape, we probably would have had just five or six of you tonight," Billy McConnell said. "…As long as we stick together, we are going to get some results. There's no quick fix to this thing."
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