SALEM, Ore. — Two logging companies and a forest road builder have been selected as Operators of the Year for their regions of Oregon. The selections were made earlier this fall by regional advisory committees to the Oregon Board of Forestry, and the recipients will be honored at the Board’s January meeting in Salem.

This year’s honorees are:

• Southwest Oregon - Weber Logging and Construction, Inc. (Roseburg)
• Eastern Oregon - Boulder Ridge Logging, LLC (Bend)
• Northwest Oregon - Quality Excavation, Inc. (Seaside)

The Operator of the Year award highlights companies that demonstrate exceptional performance in protecting natural resources and improving forest health during timber harvest and other forestry operations. To be recognized, operators must show work that consistently meets or exceeds the standards of the Oregon Forest Practices Act, which requires responsible forest management, protection of streams and water quality, habitat preservation, landslide risk reduction, and replanting after harvests.

The Oregon Department of Forestry has published videos spotlighting each Operator of the Year recipient, along with five Merit Award winners — including Eagle Point–based Dave Wilkerson Logging, LLC — on the ODF website.

Southwest Oregon

Austin Weber and Weber Logging and Construction were selected for their work implementing new Forest Practices Act rules that require retaining several stands of trees on steep, landslide-prone terrain. Leaving these trees in place protected soil stability, reduced sediment entering downstream waters, and provided future woody debris for fish habitat once trees naturally fall. The work required multiple yarding configurations to move logs uphill to roadside landings.

Weber was nominated by Michael Williams of Roseburg Forest Products, who noted the company’s nearly two decades of consistently high-quality work in difficult landscapes. Williams said Weber also successfully protected a fish-bearing stream by preventing damage to trees within the stream buffer.

Eastern Oregon

Boulder Ridge Logging was selected for thinning nearly 2,000 acres of overcrowded ponderosa pine and white fir on the eastern Cascades. Landowner Shanda Asset Management nominated the company, describing the work as exemplary.

Aidan Myers, Director of Timber Operations for Shanda, said Boulder Ridge faced challenges due to limited capacity at the area’s sole local mill. As a result, the company coordinated hauling to 14 different trucking destinations, including Gilchrist, Sisters, Culver, Christmas Valley, and even Roseburg.

Myers added that the thinning helped reduce wildfire risk and removed trees infected with dwarf mistletoe, which spreads more easily in dense stands and weakens or kills trees.

Northwest Oregon

Quality Excavation, nominated by ODF Stewardship Foresters Craig Sorter and Bryce Rodgers, earned Operator of the Year in Northwest Oregon for its work replacing an outdated culvert that blocked fish passage on the North Fork of the Necanicum River.

The landowner, Lewis and Clark Timberlands, needed the culvert replaced to enable logging access and meet modern environmental standards. Founder Jay Bergeson assigned the project to his 28-year-old son Cole, who has worked alongside him from a young age.

The crew diverted the stream through hundreds of yards of pipe, removed the old culvert and underlying old-growth logs, and installed a much larger culvert positioned for proper water flow and fish passage. They then rebuilt the logging road over the structure using stone quarried on site.

Selection Committees’ Observations

ODF Forest Resources Division Chief Josh Barnard said this year’s nominees represented a high level of quality across the state, particularly as operators adapted to newly updated Forest Practices Act rules aimed at protecting steep slopes and sensitive resources.

Barnard noted that many harvest sites involved extremely challenging terrain, and the Operators of the Year demonstrated careful planning and stewardship to protect streams, improve forest health, and reduce wildfire risks.

Merit Award Recipients

Five companies also received Merit Awards for their forestry work.

Southwest Oregon

• Dave Wilkerson Logging, LLC (Eagle Point)
  Recognized for halting operations multiple times during a wet spring to prevent soil damage, safeguarding young trees in a mixed-age stand, and fully protecting a fish-bearing stream along the harvest boundary.

Eastern Oregon

• Forestry Consultant Jeff Maben
  Awarded for assisting private landowners in Grant County with improving forest health by removing encroaching juniper and thinning dense ponderosa pine. His efforts increased stream flows, revitalized aspen groves, reduced shade on mountain mahogany, and lowered wildfire danger.
• Staton Forestry
  Honored for thinning work in the Gilchrist State Forest, removing dense lodgepole and ponderosa pine to reduce drought stress on remaining trees, enhance habitat for elk and deer, and protect nearby communities from wildfire risk.

Northwest Oregon

• Emerald Valley Thinning (Philomath)
  Recognized for harvesting extremely steep slopes in the Coast Range using tethered logging and hand cutting. The company protected buffer trees along the Siuslaw River and complied with new rules for steep-slope logging.
• Rick Dennis of RDL Northwest (Lebanon)
  Earned the award for detailed planning on steep terrain, using multiple logging systems and machinery to protect stream buffers and minimize soil disturbance.