The 79th annual Oregon Logging Conference kicks off Thursday in Eugene. As KLCC’s Brian Bull reports, the latest trends and tech will be all the buzz.
At the Lane County Fairgrounds, stands an odd pair of heavy machines. One’s a directional feller – which takes down trees. It tethers to a tractor through a boomerang-shaped winch and pulley.
Oregon logging conference board member Milt Moran says these enable “steep slope logging”…a relatively new technology.
“Traction-assisted with a set of cables off of another machine, that the operator runs remotely, through Bluetooth or radio communications," explains Moran.
"And they’re able to work up and down those steep slopes.”
There will also be drones…unmanned aerial systems that loggers can use for surveillance.
“You can get a drone up in the air, and zip around on a piece of timber much faster than a guy can. We’re able to spot areas, maybe where there’s disease or insects.”
There’s even a virtual reality booth that lets people experience a modern-day logging camp.
As for trends, Moran says tall wood buildings are taking off. He says there’s a 12-story building in Portland being made that’ll be safer than standard steel or concrete.
“And what we’re looking at with large wood timbers, is that they actually char over, protecting the steel joints and bolts, from fire. And they flex during earthquake type movements.”
The conference wraps up Saturday.
Copyright 2017, KLCC.
