Page 16 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Second Quarter 2021

BY AMANDA MURPHY, ECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
SAWDUST IN YOUR BLOOD
Chip Capps, Arcola Logging
Being new to forestry, I had never visited a logging site before. I have seen them in my travels over the years, but my visit to Arcola Logging Co. Inc.’s site north of the North Carolina-Virginia border — near Lawrenceville, VA — was going to be my first
professional experience.
The owner of Arcola Logging, Chip Capps, texted me a state
road to follow, then mentioned turning off onto a dirt road. My little SUV was in heaven bumping along the dry, dusty logging track. Living in the Triangle has its advantages, but it’s got nothing on a lonely country road for peace of mind.
I met Capps onsite, where the pickup trucks were parked at a landing or deck. Our interview was held in the front seat of my vehicle to avoid the noise of the machinery working across the dirt road. (We both had our masks on.)
Capps graduated North Carolina State University in 1981, and went to Texas to work in corporate America for three years. In 1984, Capps got a call from his dad: he needed help with the family logging business. So Capps headed back home to work for the business his grandfather had started. Within a few years, Capps bought the business from his family.
“Once you work on your own and get involved in the woods, sawdust is in your blood,” he says. “It’s always there, and once you get used to being independent, you can’t go back to the corporate world. In the corporate world, you do a lot of putting your ideals aside to toe the corporate line. With jobs like logging or contracting or driving trucks, you can tailor your business to your ideals.”
Arcola Logging runs two crews in the woods daily: a small crew and a larger crew, depending on tract size. The organization owns nine trucks in total, but only seven run on a daily basis. Capps’ son, Weldon, has been working with him full-time for three years. Capps admits working with your children can be stressful but he and his son both realize this and work to keep the relationship strong personally and professionally. Capps’ succession plan is that Weldon will eventually take on the business so Capps can step back and work on other things he wants to pursue, like fishing and boating. He loves both inshore and offshore fishing and has hopes to retire in less than 10 years.
Capps has received numerous awards, including the 2000 NCFA Logger of the Year, American Pulpwood Association Southeastern Logger of the Year, and the Georgia Pacific Regional Logger. He volunteers his time on the Forestry Mutual Insurance Company (FMIC) Board of Directors, as Chairman of the Carolina Loggers Association (CLA), and with the American Loggers Council Board of Directors. He was formerly a member of the NCFA Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Capps also has volunteered his time as a County Commissioner in the past
in Warren County and was the State Chairman for Log a Load for Kids for four years.
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14 ncforestry.org / SECOND QUARTER 2021
Owner of Arcola Logging Chip Capps, and his son, Weldon.