OWC members met on June 10 at the Kinton Grange near Scholls, OR for our Annual Meeting. Neil Schroeder and other Co-op members reported on Co-op activities during our last fiscal year.
 
Firewood Sales
Sales of firewood bundles continues as our primary product line. The Co-op is seeking new members interested to bundle firewood so that we may meet increased demand.
 
Equipment Sales
Neil described the types of equipment and the success we have had selling through the Logrite and Supersplit distributorships.  He showed and demonstrated the new ergonomic handle that OWC has designed for the Supersplit machines. 
 
Bough Sales
During the winter holiday season from Oct. to Dec., we once again sold fresh evergreen boughs to florists and individual customers in the Portland and Salem area. We also had significant sales to out of state buyers.
 
Oregon Heartwood
Oregon Heartwood is a spinoff from OWC that is also selling “goods from the Oregon woods”.  Members are utilizing their woodworking skills and crafting beautiful wood items for sale. See some of their work at OregonHeartwood.com.
 
Canopy Essential Oils
Canopy was a division of OWC that was sold to individual members a few years ago.  They reported that the distillation of conifers for essential oils is going well.  Approximately 2/3 of the oils go to businesses that use them in the manufacture of their beauty products, with the remainder going to sales to the public. 
 
Truffle Hunting
Marilyn Richen reported on an opportunity for OWC members to consider truffle hunting on their properties.  Marilyn and Tammy have demonstrated how their dogs do an amazing job of locating truffles in woodland areas.  She is looking to possibly expand this avenue of the OWC income stream.
 
Business Meeting
Members present voted to approve the proposed amendments to the Co-op Bylaws related to the distribution of profits from product sales. They also voted to elect Mike Barnes to the Board for a three-year term.
 
Speaker on the Private Forest Accord
Taylor Johnson of the Oregon Dept. of Forestry, Forest Grove office, gave a detailed description of why and how the Accord came about, the impact on the small woodland owner and the required paperwork for logging on our properties as of January, 2024.
 
Equipment Demonstrations
After lunch, there were demonstrations of splitting and wrapping firewood, as well as promoting the OWC firewood business for added income for OWC members. The Logrite tools and Supersplit were featured.

About 30 members gathered on June 18 at Little Beaver Creek Tree Farm near Forest Grove, hosted by Richard & Anne Hanschu. It was the first in-person meeting for two years due to the pandemic. After a brief business meeting, there were several forestry demonstrations on site.

See photos from the event on OWC's Flickr photostream.
 
Mobile Sawmill Demonstration
Dallas Boge brought his new mobile mill, a Woodland Mills HM130 Max. He showed the process of milling lumber from an old cedar pole. His model of Woodland mill can produce dimensional lumber from logs up to 30” diameter. Although it’s made in Canada, there is a local warehouse in Portland so there are no long-distance freight charges. Fiona also took a turn running it.
 
“Clearwood Patch”
Richard Hanschu described the management of their “clearwood patch.” He and Anne planted the stand of Doug fir in 1988 at an initial tight spacing  of 480 tpa. He started pruning the trees in ’97, using the NZ ladder system to remove branches up to 22 ft. They established a 10th acre sample plot to measure growth. The objective, he explained is to grow tight-grain trees with more rings per inch (e.g. 11-12). Roy Anderson is working on thinning the stand to 290 tpa. “Will a mill pay extra for clear, tight-grain logs?,” Richard asked. “It will be up to our grandkids to harvest the stand at the best price,” he said.
 
Thinning and Log Skidding Demonstration
Roy Anderson discussed his work thinning stands at the Hanschu’s tree farm. In addition to his day job as a consulting forester, Roy has been producing and selling firewood through OWC for 11 years (dba Rip City Firewood). It’s a family affair, he explained, involving his wife Jenny and their four kids to help bundle. He sources wood from co-op members, and the family produces 1500-2000 bundles per year, averaging 40-50 per week. He demonstrated skidding a log with his ATV and a plastic skidding cone. The skidding cone helps keep logs from hitting obstacles or collecting brush will being dragged behind the ATV. It’s more maneuverable than an arch, Roy said, and can pull several small logs at a time.
 
SuperSplit Demonstration
Neil Schroeder, Chuck Price and the Hanschus demonstrated the operation of the SuperSplit log splitter which the Co-op sells to members at a discount. They discussed safety and shared tips on how to maintain it for better performance, e.g. lubrication.

OWC invites all members to attend our 2022 Annual Meeting on June 18. After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, we look forward to gathering in person once again. If you are not already a member, this is a great opportunity to learn more about our co-op.
 
Richard and Anne Hanschu will host the meeting at their tree farm near Forest Grove. Following a business meeting and potluck lunch, there will be three live demonstrations to view on the tree farm. Roy Anderson will discuss stand thinning and firewood processing under his small business, Rip City Firewood. Dallas Boge and Lyal Purinton will operate a Woodland Mills HM130 Max XL Woodlander mobile sawmill to produce dimensional lumber from logs up to 30” diameter. And Neil Schroeder and Chuck Price will show off the SuperSplit firewood splitter and the LogRite forestry tools that OWC sells to Co-op members at substantial discounts.
 
Please RSVP no later than June 15 to indicate how many will attend. We ask everyone to please bring a generous potluck dish to share (salads, sides or desserts). Ham will be provided as the main course for lunch. To get the schedule & directions, please RSVP by email to [email protected], or call either 503-539-5988 or 503-357-2551.
 
Please note that this will be an outdoor event, rain or shine, so wear weather-appropriate clothing and footwear.

​By Neil Schroeder
 
Our activities this year have set records in many ways.  We have a large increase in membership. Our sales of equipment are accelerating.  Bough sales have increased.  More younger folks are joining our organization. Interest in protecting the environment is much more obvious in the membership.  Bundled firewood sales have nearly doubled!
 
On a negative point several members suffered losses from the terrible fires of last Summer and Fall and the ice storm this winter created severe losses to the woodlands of an even greater number of farms in our membership. Our customers have agreed to help us help our people.  New Seasons stores will sell bundles of firewood obviously retrieved from the burned forest. The ice damaged trees will also be converted to bundles and our customers want to tell their clientele how they are assisting tree farmers in recovery. Rebuilding Oregon forests is high on the list of goals for our members and our business partners.
 
SuperSplit log splitters and Logrite forestry tools are selling faster than the factories can fill the orders. We have enhanced our profits and gained new members through sales of these outstanding products.
 
Our membership continues to change in such a positive way.  If you could just look at a list of the job titles and occupations of each OWC person, you would share my enthusiasm.  Enjoy a conversation with another salesman or a physician or a horse breeder or cut flower grower or a logger or forester or CPA or attorney or teacher or veterinarian or policeman or artist or engineer or videographer or government inspector. You can imagine the considerable skills and qualifications of all, yet the common ground is our beautiful forests and keeping them healthy and productive.
 
Our dedicated members are willing to provide their resources to enhance and build the organization. Through volunteer efforts new customers have been found for firewood boughs and equipment. Videos made by our members are helping us gain new members and new customers.  We have some very creative people in our organization!

​By Karen Karger
 
As members of the Oregon Woodland Cooperative, we all appreciate the woodlands, forests and even individual trees. Now The Oregon Department of Forestry has announced that Gov. Kate Brown has declared April as Arbor Month, extending the time for communities to plant trees and to celebrate and recognize the importance of trees throughout the state. Quoted in a news release from the Oregon Dept. of Forestry, Oregon State Forester Peter Daugherty explains, “There has long been a broad understanding of the economic and environmental benefits of our forestlands, but this proclamation helps highlight the equally vital social benefits that both rural and urban forests provide to the people of Oregon.”
 
Kristin Ramstad, manager of the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Program, says Arbor Month is the perfect time to reflect on the contribution trees make – to our physical, mental and emotional health, to the livability of our communities, to our safety, the quality and quantity of our air and water, and to our economy.
 
The month-long celebration comes at a time when many of our members, friends and neighbors are still recovering from the devastating wild fires last year and we recognize the need for vast tree-planting efforts.
The proclamation was the result of more than a year of collaboration between the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Urban and Community Forestry Program and Oregon Community Trees, a non-profit organization that promotes healthy urban and community forests. The full text of the proclamation can be read here.

This recent video shoot of the OWC distributed SuperSplit log spitter took place at OWC member, Lyal Purington’s farm where he used his SuperSplit J Model 5.5 HP Honda Gas Engine log spitter with extra wide production table, ergonomic handle, and heavy duty bearings to showcase how quickly and easily he cuts through large and small pieces of wood. Neil, once again, served as our voice-over talent to talk through the benefits and features of the SuperSplit.  Huge thank you to OWC member Karen Karger for creating the script!  Roland used a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone to record flying over the forest and into Lyal’s work area.  Then, Roland circled the drone around Lyal as he cut through large logs and chucked them right into the back of his truck and then smaller logs right into a wooden bin.  Roland then switched to his iPhone with BeastGrip case to record Neil’s OWC bundled wood shots.  The SuperSplit performed flawlessly every time and it was truly a team effort! ​See the new video on OWC's YouTube channel.

By Neil Schroeder

We are now a dealership for Supersplitter Company.  They manufacture the fastest small log splitter on the market.  This wonderful machine is very well built, has almost no maintenance problems and is a pleasure to use.  Most of the folks presently involved in the OWC firewood program are now using them because it dramatically increases production and allows us to split the wood in the sizes needed to make exemplary bundles. It is possible for two folks to easily split a cord an hour with the Supersplit!
 
As a dealer we can now offer discounts to members. We believe we should pass on the benefits achieved from being a dealer to our members. If you own forestland in Oregon, you are welcome to apply for OWC membership.
        
Find further information here on all the SuperSplit models and options that are available to customize your machine.

For more information, price quotes and to order, contact [email protected] or (888) 800-1192