November 12, 2026 3:50 a.m.
Lone Rock Logging, based in Roseburg, has recently been named Operator of the Year for Southwest Oregon, by an advisory committee to the Oregon Board of Forestry.
A release from the Oregon Department of Forestry said Lone Rock Logging was given the honor in the region for their track record of meeting the highest standards of the Oregon Forest Practices Act. In particular, they were cited for successfully working under new Forest Practices Act rules requiring wider stream buffers to be protected as well as new equipment limitation zones on draws leading to fish-bearing streams.
The release said Lone Rock took extra efforts to protect the retained trees without damaging them while running cables through the tops. They did not break a bunch of limbs or damage tops despite having to make multiple yarding corridor changes through trees in the buffer. They succeeded by using several harvesting practices and preplanning cutting to position logs where the yarding equipment could reach them without damaging the leave trees. These practices protected thousands of feet of protected tree buffers along a wetland and similar retention zones in hillside draws.
Leaving trees in those stands served various purposes, including protecting soil from erosion and downstream water from sediments. Trees left standing would also be available when they eventually fell over to deliver woody debris for future fish habitat. To do so, Lone Rock had to set up multiple yarding sites and haul logs up to landings.
One innovation the company is trialing is the use of synthetic cable as an extension to the traditional, heavy steel cable. The lighter cable is less likely to damage trees when it is passing logs through a buffer.
A Merit Award was earned by another Douglas County-based firm. It went to C and M Timberland Resources LLC, headquartered in Glide. They earned the honor for placing a large culvert in a deep ravine on a concrete base they built, then piling tens of feet of dirt on top to create a stable crossing for logging trucks, then faced the whole thing with boulders to prevent erosion. They also built a bridge over a fish stream, hauling in 52-foot long sections on a winding logging road. Their work improved the channel and stabilized the streambank on either side. On the same parcel they also had to excavate a steep forested hillside to put in a logging road, all while successfully preventing sediment from reaching a nearby stream.
Both Lone Rock Logging and C and M Timberland Resources will be recognized at the January meeting of the OBF along with two other regional operators of the year and two other merit award winners.
Videos about all the winners can be viewed on the ODF website: https://www.oregon.gov/odf/Working/Pages/default.aspx