Page 18 - Tree Line - NCFA - First Quarter 2020

with tracks, a crawler; it was a cable rig. My granddad ran the tractor, and my dad and I
did the handwork,” he said. “Today, all of the tractors on my job are two or three times as big. Most of the time, with the new equipment, you don’t even have to get on the ground unless something breaks. I can cut more wood in an hour now than I used to be able to cut in a couple of days with a chainsaw.”
While the tractors back then were simple, they were not anywhere near as safe, Holcomb recalled. “Most tractors, like the one that my grandfather and dad used on their logging job, didn’t even have a covered cab for the operator. I couldn’t even hire a man to run that machine today.”
The biggest thing that Holcomb was
quick to point out was how much technology has changed the logging industry. “There is definitely a visible difference when it comes to technology; most of the guys that work for me expect modern technology on the equipment that they operate. I think a lot of folks today wouldn’t be able to take the physicality of how logging used to be,” he said. Holcomb noted that he and his son Dylan, who works on his crew as the foreman, take care of 98% of the maintenance on their equipment. “Dylan really has been a big help to me over the past few years. He is starting to realize what it takes to make things work on the logging job and in this business,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb, who became a ProLogger in 1995, shortly after the program started, recounted
the process of becoming certified, and the impact that the program has had. “I took the ProLogger Base Class at Martin Community College in the first year or two that it was offered. Weyerhaeuser required the loggers working for them to have the certification. Today, myself, Dylan and my cutter operator are all certified ProLoggers.”
Although Holcomb enjoys spending time working in the woods, he also enjoys going to the Logging Expo and the annual ProLogger Module Classes. “I get to talk with people in the business that I know, which is a nice change of pace. Most of us loggers have to work or be in the woods full time. The ProLogger program has definitely had a positive impact on the forestry and logging industry. It has made loggers think about what they are doing, and how they are doing it; particularly when it comes to safety, water quality, the environment, etc.,” he said.
Holcomb noted how perceptions of logging and forestry are different in other parts of
North Carolina. “In eastern North Carolina, almost anyone will have a family member who has worked in logging or forestry,” he said. “But when my older son started working in Raleigh, and he told his friends what his dad did for a living, they couldn’t understand it or relate to it. It’s amazing that it’s such a different world, even though Raleigh is just over 100 miles away. ... Out here, you either farm, log or fish,” Holcomb said.
Even as technology takes over so many parts of the workplace, logging remains a profession where skill and labor are still necessary, he added. “If the new logging equipment wasn’t so electronically complicated, we would have fewer breakdowns. Sometimes, I think we are quick to get ahead of ourselves,
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when things can be done more simply,” he said. Holcomb also discussed his thoughts
about the future of logging in eastern North Carolina: “My hope is that in the future, the next generation, my sons’ generation, will carry on this business. It is an invaluable industry for our state’s economy. However, there has been
a lot of drastic change in forestry and logging in recent years, and in my opinion, there is no telling what could happen in the coming years.”
Holcomb and M.M. & D. Harvesting are logging for Canal Wood at present. “Canal Wood has been great to work with. I’m very optimistic about my future with them,” he
said. Having logged in plantations for 10 to 15 years with Weyerhaeuser, Holcomb has faced different challenges working in natural stands. “At 63 years old, I’m still learning and adapting. Logging is an on-going learning process; you
Above: (l-r) Johnny Riddle of Canal Wood, LLC, John-Paul Brown of Toney Lumber Company and Robert Holcomb discuss the status of the logging operation at Rich Square, NC.