Rip City Firewood

My name is Roy Anderson and my "real" job is working as a consultant at The Beck Group (www.beckgroupconsulting.com).  We offer a variety of services, but the bottom line is that we help people in the forest products industry operate their businesses more efficiently.  In the summer of 2011, I was studying the feasibility of firewood manufacturing for a client and came across the Oregon Woodland Cooperative. 

​I traveled to Forest Grove Oregon to meet with OWC president, Neil Schroeder, and firewood producer, Terry Howell.  They demonstrated firewood bundling and explained that they had developed a good market at New Seasons stores in the Portland Metro area.  It turned out that our client wasn't interested in manufacturing firewood, but I was so intrigued with the concept that I decided to join the fun myself and help OWC produce bundled firewood.

I was soon introduced to Richard and Anne Hanschu, OWC members who helped me get started in the firewood business by providing a source of firewood.  Richard and Anne own several properties west of Portland that total about 500 acres.  I've worked with them on several thinning projects on their properties.  During one of the early projects, we took some video of tree felling and skidding and then edited the footage into the short clip shown here.  Many thanks to Richard and Anne and other Co-op members for their continued support of our family firewood business.