Problems with a logger

   / Problems with a logger #1  

MarkV

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Cedartown, Ga and N. Ga mountains
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1998 Kubota B21, 2005 Kubota L39
Hi all, I am wondering if anyone has any experience with how to handle damage done by a logger. Here is the story. My MIL, late 80's, has a nice tract of 120 acres that we pretty much manage these days. An adjoining property was just logged and the loggers remove about 400' of her fence and used a trail on her property to skid trees without permission. Besides the damaged fence some of their left overs were pushed on to the property, a culvert crushed, the trail damaged and piles of tree tops left on their side leaning against the remain sections of our fence line.

We have contacted the owner of the property, another senior lady, and told her of the damage. Also let her know we expected to have our property restored to what it was in a timely way. It seems the loggers also dropped a tree on her barn and another on a well house so she is none to happy either. I have photographed everything for a record and we have started a log of conversations in case they are needed. We also have the state forester coming out to take a look, although they do not get involved in private contract disputes. They do keep a list of preferred contractors though as a public service.

It is a wait and see situation at the moment but I thought I would bounce it around here to see if anyone thought I was missing anything. Hopefully the logging company will respond with repairs and that will be fine by us. If not though, what do you think the next step should be?

MarkV
 
   / Problems with a logger #2  
Hi all, I am wondering if anyone has any experience with how to handle damage done by a logger. Here is the story. My MIL, late 80's, has a nice tract of 120 acres that we pretty much manage these days. An adjoining property was just logged and the loggers remove about 400' of her fence and used a trail on her property to skid trees without permission. Besides the damaged fence some of their left overs were pushed on to the property, a culvert crushed, the trail damaged and piles of tree tops left on their side leaning against the remain sections of our fence line.

We have contacted the owner of the property, another senior lady, and told her of the damage. Also let her know we expected to have our property restored to what it was in a timely way. It seems the loggers also dropped a tree on her barn and another on a well house so she is none to happy either. I have photographed everything for a record and we have started a log of conversations in case they are needed. We also have the state forester coming out to take a look, although they do not get involved in private contract disputes. They do keep a list of preferred contractors though as a public service.

It is a wait and see situation at the moment but I thought I would bounce it around here to see if anyone thought I was missing anything. Hopefully the logging company will respond with repairs and that will be fine by us. If not though, what do you think the next step should be?

MarkV

File a claim against the property owner. Hopefully she has insurance. It is up to her to settle with the logger, not you.
 
   / Problems with a logger #3  
IMO, your neighbor harvested the trees(hiring the logger to do the work), it is your neighbor's responsibility to fix the end results/damage caused by this activity...
 
   / Problems with a logger #4  
My personal experience with some loggers that did this area... these guys.. well, let me rephrase this... "OUR" guys didn't give a rats patooey what anyone thought.

They even ignored stipulations in their contract regarding cleaning up their area. They even tried, well, they DID bury one of those HUGE tires from their machine in one of the slash piles. When asked about it, he simply told me to go ahead and burn it with the rest of the slash pile :mad: I said I wasn't going to do that and he needed to get it out of there.

To give you an idea of just how "screw you" his attitude was, I finally had to contact the county and essentially, file a complaint against OURSELVES (father in law) for having this situation and in the same complaint, I had to name the logger. Seems their process is to go after the land owner first and if the land owner (my FIL) knows who is responsible, they will then go after that person. Interstingly, once the county was notified, the tire disappeared one day later.

Those idiots could not get off this farm fast enough. They even told their friends "oh yeah, we've got a job over there...just go ahead and get all the firewood you want from the scrap piles"

I caught about 4 different people who were trespassing because the loggers gave them permission... I explained to each one of them that the logger did in fact purchase the timber and it's theirs to take...HOWEVER, it is not their place to allow strangers onto someone elses land. If the logger wants to carry firewood logs/piles out and give them away that's one thing but to tell strangers to come onto someone elses land to get it...wasn't going to happen....at least not here.
 
   / Problems with a logger #5  
I give all my friends this adv ice and if you log your property it will serve you well. Before anyone logs your property hire a private forester who will work for you. They will mark the trees to be harvested and send out request for proposals to mills who purchase the types of logs you have for sale. When the quotes come back you can review them with your representative and choose who you want to purchase the logs.

The successful bidder will pay the forester the agreed upon price + a cleanup fee that will be returned when the logger has cleaned up his mess. The forester will also oversee the progress of the harvest and if the weather causes unusual damage to the property he can make sure it is delayed until better weather. This up front payment makes the trees his and from a legal standpoint he is harvesting his own trees and you are no longer liable if any accident happens.

Foresters usually take a 10-15% fee for this service but let me say that I know for a fact that they will get a lot more for your timber than you will get on your own. I know someone who got a quote from a logger and was going to sell his timber for $17,000, he decided to get a forester and when the bits were opened the winning bid was $42,000, and guess what the winning bidder was the same guy who offered $17,000.

What can you do about the damage to your property? First I'd check and make sure that none of your trees were harvested. Also as others said the neighbor contracted with the logger and is responsible, they can deal with the logger.

If I could prove that the logger took down your fence and crossed your property I'd contact the local law enforcement agency and have them served for trespass.
 
   / Problems with a logger #6  
You reckon that logger has bullet proof tires on his machines? Darn the luck, 4 flat tires hmm how you reckon that happened. Don't get angry, get even, with extreme prejudice.
 
   / Problems with a logger
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thanks for the responses so far. Yes we have contacted the landowner and agree with those of you who say it is their problem. We need to give it a little time and see what they can/will do. Unfortunately the widow land owner is pretty senior and it doesn't seem that her kids are of much help. We will see.

Richard I know what you are talking about. Pine trees are one of the only things that grow well in my NW Georgia area so we have many small logging companies around. Like anything, the bad ones make all of them look bad. I've yet to see a logging site where their idea of clean up and mine were the same. Some are worst than others though.

ToadHill we give the same advice as you when ask about having property logged. In this case we didn't have any input though. We found out in another situation that you still need to be careful even with a licensed forester representing you. Whole new thread in itself.

Latest up-date! I talked to the state forester this afternoon and it didn't take long to find out this logging company has a history of problems. His opinion was that the landowner would find them hard to reach now that the job is done. So tomorrow I am going to the county tax accessors office to see if they pulled a timber permit. It is required here as well as copies of the load tickets from the mill at completion of the job. Taxes on timber harvests are due on completion and that permit is how the county is suppose to track the moneys due. We understand this company sometimes forgets those requirements. I figure it can't hurt to have some facts if the landowner can't make our repairs happen and we need to talk to the logging company.

MarkV
 
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   / Problems with a logger #8  
Where did the money from the timber sales go? Did the widow get anything or did they blow town with all the timber money, too?
 
   / Problems with a logger
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Where did the money from the timber sales go? Did the widow get anything or did they blow town with all the timber money, too?

As far as I know they received what was agreed. Funny time to log though. In our area timber prices are in the toilet, quoting the state forester this afternoon.

MarkV
 
   / Problems with a logger #10  
Play dumb -- phone the logger, tell them you want logging done, ask for their bond or insurance company, -- file a claim with their insurance or bond company:p:p -- no insurance or bond sue them for public damage and liability -- you might end up with a logging company!
 
 
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