Associated Oregon Loggers 41st Annual Meeting

By: Mike Crouse

Loggers from all over the state convened at the valley river Inn Eugene for the 41st Annual Associated Oregon Loggers Annual Meeting. Some 350 were in attendance, many arriving on Thursday to participate in the Western Region Council on forest engineering Seminar, where additional AOL Professional

Loggers credits were available as well. the keynote speaker for this year’s conference was Brenda Rocklin, President and CEO of the (Oregon) State Industrial Accident Fund (SIAF) who reviewed the status and future of the program, which insures many of the state’s logging contractors. She noted that the decrease in accident claims over the past several years is, “...testimony to your safety programs,” working well.

Part of SALF’s cost containment has been due to their staff of six investigators and ongoing fraud investigation. “the changing environment in workers comp... requires investigation, forensics investigations,” to find then prosecute those who would defraud the system. They’re also closely monitoring for duplicate billing, excessive charges, etc, and noted they’d “...reduced bills by $3.2 million in 2010. Economist, Dr. Lynn Michael is, spoke on predicting future market conditions. Michael is, is both engaging and informative, using charts to elaborate his points, and humor. He outlined the many factors, which led to the economic plummet of two years ago, and those factors which have helped in the gradual recovery we’re experiencing now. he explained this is a, “...slow recovery by historic standards, but we’re in recovery.”

He’d noted that the recovery will continue gradually, saying in particular the lumber (and logging) business “...should be back to 2006 levels in 2014.” “There’s reasons to be optimistic,” Michaelis said, “about your industry long term.”

The transportation panel completed the morning programs, starting with Caterpillar’s Mary Roethler explaining their tier 4 engine technologies now introduced into the marketplace. It’s a very complex maze of legislation, technological advances, and regulatory changes that will affect us all in the immediate future, and she did an excellent job of explaining Cat’s approach.

Oregon DOT’s Rick Listella outlined the changes in fees, rules, regulations passed by the Oregon Legislature, and Andy Eno with the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration explained the current status of CSA program being implemented this year.

The new Oregon State treasurer, Ted Wheeler, spoke at lunch providing a refreshing perspective from state office holders from anywhere on the west coast... he actually noted he sees logging trees and utilizing natural resources as a necessity in the recovery of the state’s economy.

While a shock for the audience to hear such from an elected official, it was a pleasant surprise, which hopefully will find its way to concrete action as well. Following lunch was the annual membership meeting, with reports on the AOL’s business and goals. Their restructuring in reducing from seven districts in the state to four has been under consideration and will be implemented this year, the goal being increased involvement and better communication with the members, “When all is said and done, the number (of members) on the board is roughly the same.”

In recognition of changing technologies, they’ve shut down the state’s radio system, which has essentially been replaced by cell phones.

Overall the membership has (understandably) decreased but the Association remains vibrant and economically sound. Following Saturday morning’s motivational speaker, Michael Broome, we heard from Syd Muzzy, who describes himself as a “...driver behavior specialist,” which he demonstrated a number of times over the course of his presentation. Muzzy is  entertaining, motivating, and passionate in his mission to have drivers pay attention and being prepared while driving. his  message is dead on the value of focusing on the task at hand, keeping yourself, your passengers, and others on the road, by learning to be prepared and avoid doing, “the natural thing” which can lead to an accident or worse. “We do things without thought,” said Muzzy. “Sometimes we forget (in the mistaken belief) ‘It will never happen to me! ... We take short cuts, sometimes we take things for granted, don’t pay attention, and are easily distracted.”

“Chances without thought,” said Muzzy, “... that’s risky behavior.”

Speaker for the Scholarship Luncheon was Oregon co-speaker of the house, Bruce Hanna, covering the upcoming session and the benefits of a balance of power in the Oregon Legislature for the first time in many years. he outlined the design of governance in the 30-30 makeup of the house, and what he hopes will be the changes that he said will benefit the citizens of Oregon. AOL has a reputation of a full schedule of both useful and varied programs at their annual meeting, which keeps to schedule and continues to bolster a strong association, and again delivered in that tradition.

Mike Crouse 
Publisher, Logger's World