Logging Service Expands Operation to include fuel, markets mulch production

REMUS, Mich.: With many of America’s industries moving production overseas and with the decline of the United States forest products industry, it can be difficult for long-established businesses who supply raw materials to these markets to adapt. For W.T. Gardner & Sons, Inc., change, while difficult, has been good.

Gardner, established nearly fifty years ago, has been fortunate. When some of their primary market’s doors began to close, they found a way to turn around and open a whole series of doors.

Since the late 1800s, Maine has been a leading paper producer in the nation. W.T. Gardner & Sons, family owned and operated since 1961, initially worked for the state’s big landowners, namely Great Northern Paper Company and International Paper, performing logging services for the mills.

As new competition entered the scene from Canada and other foreign countries, many of Maine’s original paper mills began to feel the pressure. W.T. Gardner & Sons saw this market shift as an opportunity. As some of the pulp mills began to move out, they took advantage and began buying up the land base.

Today, W.T. Gardner & Sons owns over 150,000 acres of land, in addition to logging property in Aroostook, Piscataquis and Penobscot counties (in northern Maine). No longer limited by working solely for big pulp mills, W.T. Gardner & Sons now provides materials for a wide range of markets.

“We supply everything,” explains Tom Gardner, president of W.T. Gardner & Sons, Inc. “We supply the pulpwood, we supply the chips for the pulping process, we supply the logs to the sawmills for lumber boards, the whole gamut.”

“We try to market every tree to it’s highest value, right down until there’s nothing left on the forest floor when we’re done, from the tops right down to the stumps.”

Gardner is more than capable of servicing such a wide range of markets. The operation consists of three chip mills and a sawmill, as well as a mulch grinding operation. He also employs over 175 highly qualified workers. “My greatest asset continues to be my employees,” says Gardner. “Without them, none of what we have accomplished would be possible. I can’t stress enough how important they are to me and to the success of this business.”

In order to work as efficiently as possible, Gardner’s crews are assisted by a variety of equipment. Prior to logging an area, the trees are surveyed for quality using Timberjack processors. These machines analyze the tree from base to crown and determine how to best process the tree to yield top value. Anything that does not contain marketable saw logs or pulp wood is stacked into piles. Then, they use their Bandit Model 2400 whole tree track chipper to go up and down the piles and chip the unmarketable trees. The Bandit 2400 is a 24” capacity chipper with a powerful five-wheel feed system to crush and compress limbs and tops. “We can do 60 tons an hour through our Bandit 2400, easily,” said Gardner. “Sixty tons is a lot of material when you consider the average diameter of the material is under four inches.”

The chips produced by the Bandit 2400 are then used in the fuel market. There are a handful of wood-fired power plants within trucking distance from Gardner’s main operation.

“Fuel markets in northern Maine have become stable in recent years,” said Gardner. “We’ve been fortunate to be located within close proximity to so many wood-fired power plants. Recent competition has helped drive the prices, but if the price of diesel would go down, it would be even better.”

W.T. Gardner & Sons provides roughly 300,000 tons of fuel chips to these power plants annually. Another 300,000 tons of material is debarked and used in their on-site sawmill and chip mill operations. Overall, Gardner processes nearly a million tons of material annually, including 18 million board feet of Hemlock, a softwood species native to the state of Maine.

Because Hemlock is so abundant in the region, Gardner often markets the material to landscapers, producing mulch and landscaping ties. Hemlock is naturally resistant to rot, disease, bugs and termites, and the bark is very desirable in the mulch market. “Over half of all the Hemlock we harvest goes into the landscaping market,” explained Gardner. “We also run the Hemlock bark through a grinder,” he continued. “It naturally turns into a beautiful red color. It’s the preferred bark mulch in the New England area.“

The fuel markets will remain an integral part of the company’s future. Wood chips provide energy at nearly 60% of the cost of fuel oil and propane. With rising fuel costs throughout the nation sparing no one, a turn towards wood-fired energy is on the horizon. Whole tree chippers, such as the Bandit 2400 used by Gardner, are ideal for use in wood-fired power plant operations due to their efficiency and their ability to produce a uniform end-product out of logging and sawmill waste. While the paper and landscaping industries will likely remain steady, the wood fuel market should see a steady increase in coming years.

Gardner remains optimistic and on the lookout for new opportunities to expand his operation. The efficiency of his logging crews is dependent on his equipment, which is why Gardner turns to Bandit Industries for his whole tree chipper needs.