Under warm, sunny skies, the 88th Redwood Region Logging Conference filled the familiar outdoor spaces of the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale from March 19-21 with a shiny array of washed and polished logging trucks, and a noisy mix of old and new equipment demonstrations turning logs into sawdust, shingles, lumber and firewood.
Jeannie Fulton, executive director of the RRLC, paused in her busy Friday schedule to explain why the conference had moved from Redwood Acres to the Ferndale fairgrounds. “The Logging Conference location in the past has had a nomadic tradition,” she said, with Willits and Ukiah rotating locations in Mendocino County. “With the timber industry always evolving, the board decided we should be present in the Eel River Valley for the first time. I like that the fairgrounds’ footprint offers a place for all of our three-day events to be held in one location.”
Fulton said the Industry Insights Panel was a new educational feature of the RRLC this year with six presentations ranging in topics from safety to Cal Fire updates to carbon credits. On Saturday, the field hosted the John Iversen Invitational Logging Sports Competition for college teams and for others to test their skills.
Inside Hindley Hall was a packed trade show with the latest industry information and equipment, and a mix of educational and advocacy booths, including my favorite: Cal Fire advice on how to identify invasive insects in your firewood.
Artist Claudia Lima, of Arcata, attracted a crowd to her vendor space with her display of large, strikingly beautiful paintings of loggers, logging trucks, fire bombers and historical scenes like teepee burners. “My husband, John, is a logging contractor and I grew up in the logging business,” said Lima. “I started taking classes at Humboldt State University with Leslie Price, Teresa Stanley and Mimi LaPlant to improve my painting skills, and I asked them about what I should paint. After seeing my early logging-industry paintings at the time, they all said, ‘Stay with it!’ I want my paintings to be a record of logging history and the men who work hard and need to be recognized.” Lima’s paintings can be seen at the Ferndale Art Gallery.
Outside, more vendors lined the fairgrounds walkway loop (including at least one 50-year-old Ferndale business, Northcoast Pumphouse, now owned by Arnold Steiner). “Our traditional business was all about Eel River Valley irrigation and pumps and we’ve expanded now into water-filtration systems for residential and commercial use,” said Steiner.
At the fairgrounds’ west entrance, a steam locomotive’s loud whistle and ringing bell attracted a large crowd lining up for a rare opportunity to ride in a car on a short track behind the 1913-era oil-fired Mountain Quarries No. 202, a restored 1913 0-4-0 tank engine locomotive. Members of the Humboldt Bay Scenic Railroad and the Timber Heritage Association were there offering their detailed knowledge of the locomotive and its steam-powered generator (for the headlight) on loan from the Roots of Motive Power organization at the Railroad and Logging Museum in Willits, since the two locomotives from the THA are down for maintenance.
Next to the tracks, high school FFA student Katie Junge from Red Bluff was working on scaling logs by measuring the diameter and length to estimate board feet as part of the on-site forestry competition. From the east end of the fairgrounds on Thursday and Friday, you could hear the cheers and applause from a logging-sports demonstrations by college students from Cal Poly Humboldt, College of the Redwoods, U.C. Berkeley, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the University of Nevada, Reno. Competitive demonstrations included the power saw timed race, the obstacle run choker-setting race, the “misery whip” single buck timed saw, the underhand speed chop of a red alder log, the double-buck timed saw, the ax throw at a bullseye target 20 feet away, a Jack and Jill team for double-buck timed saw, a vertical chop and birling (log rolling in a small pool on an artificial log covered in AstroTurf).
The Cal Poly Humboldt Logging Sports Team club adviser Austin Nolan said at last year’s birling competition in Ukiah, it was snowing and hypothermia was real threat, unlike Friday’s warm conditions. He also pointed out that the men and women swinging the ax to chop wood between their feet were wearing chain-metal socks under their shoes for protection.
For the club members, it’s a year-long commitment. Some 80 students are enrolled in the popular Forestry 170 class taught by Austin Nolan and meet for Saturday practices at a field in Freshwater. He and the students are off to Cal Poly SLO next week for the Collegiate Logging Sports Competition as part of the 84th annual American Western Forestry Clubs Conclave.
On Saturday the logging-sports field hosted the John Iversen Invitational Logging Sports Competition for the college teams and for others to test their skills. In the college-team competition, Cal Poly Humboldt’s team finished in first place, followed by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and University of California Berkeley. CPH’s Iona Mahony-Moyer earned the Belle of the Woods award, and CPSLO’s Daniel Auten earned the Bull of the Woods award.
At the chainsaw-carving location, a convincing Bigfoot emerged out of a large redwood log. Artist Brian Vorwaller, of Bandon, was hard at work finishing off the details with a specialized chainsaw as Bigfoot and other sculptures created by the large chainsaw-carving artists were going into the live auction to support educational events like the Education Day and Career Day for high school and college students. Artist Ryan Anderson, of Coos Bay, said, “I’m enjoying being here in this weather as I just got back from an ice-carving job at -40 below in Alaska.” He created the head of a wild-looking bearded skull logger sculpture for the auction.
Next year’s conference will return to Mendocino County. For more information, see rrlc.net.
Mark Larson (he/him) is a retired Cal Poly Humboldt journalism professor and active freelance photographer who likes to walk.
This article appears in On the Matter of Censure.