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Timber being logged by helicopter in Balsam

By Rose Hooper
Boeing Vertol helicopter - logging in Balsam - Herald photo by Rose Hooper

Although this twin engine Boeing Vertol helicopter can carry 11,000 pounds, gusting winds high atop Balsam limited Friday's load to 8,000 pounds. In two minutes time, the logs are transferred from Wesner Bald to a staging area at 4,800 feet. For more on the logging-by-helicopter operation.

Braving a wind-chill factor of 30 degrees below zero, the five hearty loggers attached three red oak logs, weighing a total of 8,000 pounds, to the sturdy cables.

With the whirl from its twin blades creating gusts strong enough to blow off workers' hard hats, the helicopter lifted the logs from Wesner Bald into the cold morning air. Within two minutes time the logs were air transported down the mountain to the 4,800-foot staging area. From there the mighty oaks were loaded onto a logging truck and taken to T&S Hardwoods in Sylva. At T&S the oak will be converted into lumber and kiln dried, later to be sold for furnituremaking.

This logging operation is being done on the 400 highest acres of a 5,300-acre tract of private property in the Balsam Mountains owned since 1965 by Robert Thomas. Half of the property lies in Jackson County; the other half in Haywood.
Boeing Vertol helicopter - logging in Balsam - Herald photo by Rose Hooper

"When a landowner decides to log by helicopter, he is taking a serious economic hit. The cost for this type logging is very high and not feasible for small tracts of land," said T&S Hardwoods general manager Jack Swanner. The $10 million, two-pilot Boeing Vertol helicopter with twin 1,500 horsepower engines rents for $3,000 an hour. In addition, the Portland, Ore., helicopter company brings its own seven-man logging crew, two full-time mechanics and security personnel.

"The Thomas family wanted to preserve the viewsheds from Waterrock Knob," said resource manager Bud Cantrell of Balsam, who manages the property for the family. "(Family members) are environmentally conscious and didn't want to cut logging roads all up the mountain, but they wanted to selectively harvest the timber. So about five years ago we started thinking about how to do this project."

The helicopter idea originated with logger David Jones of Pumpkintown, a former trade and industry teacher at Smoky Mountain High School. Cantrell, who was already familiar with Columbia Helicopters out of Portland, Ore., researched Jones' idea and presented those finding to Thomas family. The landowner liked the idea and the Oregon company.

"When a landowner decides to log by helicopter, he is taking a serious economic hit. The cost for this type logging is very high and just not feasible for small tracts of land," said T&S's general manager Jack Swanner. "We'd go broke if we used a helicopter all the time for logging. Not only that, but it would drive up the price of furniture where it would be cost prohibitive."

The $10 million, two-pilot Boeing Vertol helicopter with twin 1,500-horsepower engines rents out for $3,000 an hour. Columbia brings its own seven-man logging crew, two full-time mechanics and security personnel.

In addition to the Columbia and T&S crews, two contract teams of loggers - one from Jackson County, the other from Graham - round out the workforce on this mammoth project.
Jack Swanner, general manager for T&S Hardwoods. ­ Herald photo by Rose Hooper

"We'd go broke if we used a helicopter all the time for logging. Not only that, but it would drive up the price of furniture where it would be cost prohibitive," said Jack Swanner, general manager for T&S Hardwoods.

For a sensitive logging project at Standing Indian in Macon County two years ago, T&S used the services of Columbia Helicopters. But this is the first time helicopters have logged for such an operation in Jackson County.

Actual flying began Dec. 17. Swanner said the crew took a week off for the Christmas holidays, but, weather permitting, should finish Jan. 25.

"We'll end up with 1,800,000 board feet of mostly red oak and mountain oak, but there's some cherry, ash, birch and hard maple," Swanner said.

Landowner Thomas, who represents the third generation of a family business, relies on "responsible stewardship" so his children can inherit an ecologically-managed forest. "For logging on private property, water quality is the only thing the state regulates," Swanner said. "But the Thomas family chose to protect the other resources as well."
David Jones, left, with Bud Cantrell, right, ­ Herald photo by Rose Hooper

The idea for logging this steep mountaintop stand of red oak by helicopter came from logger David Jones, left, who discusses the operation with Bud Cantrell, right, manager of the 5,300­acre tract at Balsam owned by Robert Thomas.

Using a team of biologists led by Western Carolina University's Dan Pittillo, geologists, and forester Wayne Horne, flora and fauna surveys were conducted before the first tree was touched.

"Some people have the misconception about logging as massive clear cutting and destroying the land. But working with landowners like the Thomases, who, like T&S, are concerned about the aesthetics and ecology, you're seeing good stewardship in practice," said Swanner, who's been with T&S 13 years. "Wood is a renewable resource, and at T&S we adhere to a sustainable forestry initiative. We're proud of the work we do."
The only mistake the company made on the project, Swanner said, "was not charging admission and setting up a hot dog stand. We've had more people come to look at this project - Haywood Community College forestry students, forestry schools from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and even a group of 25 Boy Scouts. But, I'll tell you who's gotten the biggest kick out of this and that's our old-time retired loggers. Back in their logging days, they would have never imagined a high tech operation like this."

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