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Helping sustain Idaho logging |
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November 3, 2017 |
By U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador
One of the best things about my job is helping
Idahoans solve problems by turning their good
ideas into law. This week, the House passed a
bill to enact a really good idea brought to me
by a pair of third-generation Idaho loggers.
I met Tim Christopherson of Kamiah and Mark
Mahon of Council in 2014. They were in
Washington, D.C., on behalf of the American
Loggers Council, which represents the timber
industry in Idaho and 29 other states.
They told me about an inequity in the law that
prohibits young loggers from learning their
trade in family-owned mechanized logging
operations under parental supervision. An
exemption allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to work
on family farms has long applied to young
agricultural workers.
Mahon’s son had been working for Tom Mahon
Logging, started by his grandfather, when a U.S.
Forest Service official sent him home because of
the lack of an exemption. Both Mark Mahon and
Christopherson worked in their family operations
as teenagers, unaware that the agriculture
exemption didn’t include logging.
“It’s no different than farming,” Mahon said
this week. “It’s just bigger corn. It’s a
renewable resource and it’s something that the
country needs.”
Christopherson, secretary-treasurer of the
American Logging Council, said many U.S. logging
operations are family-owned. His company, DABCO
Inc., is a partnership with his cousin, Rick
Christopherson, and employs 18. Mark Mahon’s
partner is his brother, Joe; their company
employs 13.
Not only are these good jobs that strengthen
rural Idaho, they are a vital cog in a wood
products industry that employs 900,000 people
nationwide and manufactures products worth $240
billion annually.
For generations, people making their living in
the woods have passed on their skills, making
the work safer, supporting families and building
rural communities. These family operations
should enjoy treatment similar to agricultural
families.
“I believe in the industry and I want to see it
continue,” Christopherson said this week.
So do I, and that’s why I first introduced the
Future Logging Careers Act in 2014 and
reintroduced it this year. On Wednesday, we got
a big win as the House passed the Resilient
Federal Forests Act, a bipartisan bill that will
improve forest health, combat catastrophic fires
and restore sensible multiple-use management.
Included in the legislation is the Future
Logging Careers Act.
Christopherson said the bill will help. “Working
alongside family members learning the skills of
moving timber out of the woods safely will
ensure that the next generation of loggers can
continue providing wood products for our growing
needs.”
Shawn Keough, executive director of the
Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho,
represents one of more than 30 logging industry
groups backing the bill.
“Allowing young people to learn to safely
operate modern logging equipment in their family
businesses will replicate the great experience
that’s long been available on America’s family
farms,” Keough said. “As an industry that
provides the wood products we use every day,
logging is both a way of life and a fact of
life. Idaho’s loggers are pleased to see the
House move to help develop the next generation
of logging families to serve a healthy American
economy.”
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch has introduced a companion
bill in the Senate and the legislation also is
supported by Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo and Idaho
Rep. Mike Simpson. The legislation has support
from both Republicans and Democrats.
I look forward to the Senate passing the Future
Logging Careers Act and to President Donald
Trump signing it into law. Thanks in part to the
common-sense advocacy of Christopherson and
Mahon, the result would boost the logging
industry in Idaho and across America. |
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