Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home’s Milt Moran led the way last week for forestry professionals to network and learn more about their trade during the 76th annual Oregon Logging Conference’s Logging Construction, Trucking and Heavy Equipment Expo.
“It was the largest equipment show for logging and construction this side of the Mississippi,” Moran said of the event, held at the Lane Events Center in Eugene Thursday through Saturday.
Moran served as president of the Oregon Logging Conference this year and officiated over the conference, opening the session with the president’s address and then introducing keynote speakers.
Among them were Lars Larson, Moran said. “He did a great job talking about the current administration and some of the issues.”
And Larson stuck around and broadcast his radio program by remote the rest of the day, Moran said.
The conference theme was the “Patriotic Spirit of the Timber Industry,” Moran said, and he gave a speech honoring veterans and the military for their service.
The conference provided seminars Thursday and Friday on a variety of topics, including Oregon and Washington forest practices, business, healthcare and better ideas in logging and technology.
Jane Moran served as first lady for the event, and led the “Desserts for Dreams” fund-raising event, Moran said. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Sunshine Industries building project in Sweet Home.
Bob Dalton, a member of the Sunshine Industries Board of Directors, was guest speaker at the event, held at the Eugene Hilton.
The event drew about 100 women, who purchased tickets to a light lunch and dessert put together by the Hilton and the Oregon Electric Station with desserts from area restaurants.
Moran does not know how much the event raised for Sunshine yet but will present the cash to the organization soon.
“It was just a lot of fun,” Moran said. “They got to hear a nice program and eat some good stuff.”
Six or seven logging professionals from the Lebanon and Sweet Home areas competed in the log-loading competition on Friday and Saturday.
About 25 competed overall, Moran said. In the timed contest, loggers stack three logs end to end three times with a log loader three times. Triad Machinery provided the log loader and cash prizes for the 5-year-old event.
The fastest time was 3:38, Moran said.
“We just did that to kind of help draw the crowds,” Moran said.
Saturday is family day, and the public is invited to visit and learn more about the industry, Moran said. A variety of hands-on activities are available for children. They can build a bird box, take home a seedling and learn about salmon and birds of prey.
“We were just tickled about the turnout,” Moran said. About 1,000 registered for it, and Saturday was busy with visitors.
High school forestry clubs kicked off their competitive season with a friendly warm-up event. Sweet Home High School Forestry Club Adviser Dustin Nichol headed up that program for the third year.
Nichol said about 60 forestry club members attended from five schools.
The students can interact with judges about how they performed in the various forestry events, Nichol said. They can work with students from other schools and get to know them.
He likened it to a jamboree in football.
It’s a little more laid back than the upcoming competition schedule, Nichol said. Sweet Home sent 17 forestry students to the event.