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BUNN LOGGING: 2004 NATIONAL OUTSTANDING LOGGER
RELEASE: April 6, 2004
CONTACT: Neil Ward (301/838-9385)
nward@forestresources.org
Rockville, MD – The Forest Resources
Association honored Nipper and John Bunn, owners of Forsyth, Georgia’s
Bunn Logging, Inc., as the National Outstanding Logger for 2004 at its
annual Awards Dinner, March 28 in New Orleans, Louisiana. FRA Chairman
Allen Bedell presented Nipper and John with an axe plaque and noted a
generous cash award from Stihl.
Nipper Bunn accepted the award, remarking, “I’m grateful to be here and
grateful to stand up here as a logger, an American logger. I am grateful
to be a resource provider. This is a family business, and the keyword is
‘family.’” He also stated, “For too long, our only contributor to the
industry has been the load at the mill gate. It’s time to get involved, on
behalf of our family and Bunn logging.”
Nipper’s brother and partner John added, “In a business that’s ever
evolving, I still love to cut trees. The obstacles are too many to name
but not too many to overcome. We’re going to succeed because it’s our
business, and it’s a great American tradition.” He also thanked
Weyerhaeuser—-“They pushed us; they made us better.”
Bunn Logging has been a leader in middle Georgia’s timber harvesting
community for more than 50 years. Today the company employs seven workers
with four months’ to twenty years’ experience, performing all types of
harvesting, from first thinnings to regeneration harvests. Teaming with
Quality Forest Products, another distinguished Forsyth-based timber
harvesting firm, Bunn Logging created a sister procurement enterprise,
Resource Improvements LLC, to provide timber.
For Bunn Logging, safety is the most vital part of every logging
operation, and communication is key. Nipper and John encourage every crew
member to identify hazardous situations, so they may address them before
an accident occurs. For the past ten years, Bunn Logging has received
unannounced third-party audits to ensure achievement of safety,
environmental, and industry standards—-always receiving an above-par
rating.
Nipper is now Vice President of the Southeastern Wood Producers
Association and will assume the presidency this August. In addition, he
co-chairs SWPA’s Inconsistent Practices Committee and participates
actively on Georgia’s SFI State Implementation Committee. He also finds
time to chair the Georgia Forestry Association’s Logging and
Transportation Committee.
A Weyerhaeuser representative has commented, “Bunn Logging’s focus on
safety, employee growth and longevity, a customer-focus for all parties
involved in business interactions, and the willingness and ability to
adapt to the challenges of the forest products industry today has kept
their business in the forefront of logging operations.”
FRA has honored 15 National Outstanding Loggers since establishing the
national award in 1990. Recent National Outstanding Loggers include Jim
Carey of Michigan (1999), Travis Reed of Georgia (2000), Randy Pew of
California (2001), Michigan’s Dave and Sue Sidell (2002), and Ken and
Lynetta Griner of Florida for 2003. Nominees for this year’s award passed
through state-level recognition to regional award programs administered
through FRA’s Region structure. A jury of 25 national-level
leaders in forestry and conservation selects the winner.
The other nominees for this year’s National award were:
Don
and Willie Cole, Trees Ltd., Sidney, Maine
Leroy Conley & Ken Laubon, L.A. Conley Forest Products, Oscoda, Michigan
Robert and Carol MacMillan, MacMillan and Company, Montesano, Washington
Jim and Randy Studer, Studer Management Services, Dunlap, Tennessee
Caskey Terral, Terral Logging, Farmerville, Louisiana
The
Outstanding Logger program is designed:
-
to
recognize outstanding logging contractor performance;
-
to
raise the visibility of competent, professional independent logging
contractors in the forestry community;
-
to
encourage other independent logging contractors to emulate the outstanding
performance of the award winners; and
-
to
improve forester-logger relations by publicly recognizing outstanding
logging performance as an essential element of every planned timber
harvest.
The
Forest Resources Association Inc. is a nonprofit trade association
concerned with the safe, efficient, and sustainable harvest of forest
products and their transport from woods to mill. FRA represents wood
consumers, independent logging contractors, and wood dealers, as well as
businesses providing products and services to the forest resource-based
industries.
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Rockville, MD 20852
FRA National office telephone: 301/838-9385
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