D & H Logging Company of Coos Bay has been chosen as Operator of the Year for Southwest Oregon by a regional advisory committee to the Oregon Board of Forestry.
D & H Logging will be recognized in Salem at the January meeting of the Board along with the two other regional Oregon honorees from Eastern and Northwest Oregon.
The Operator of the Year award recognizes forest operators who while harvesting timber or doing other forestry work protect natural resources at a level that consistently meets or exceeds requirements of the Oregon Forest Practices Act.
The law requires people to manage forests responsibly and protect streams and water quality. The law also requires landowners to replant forests after harvesting.
A Merit Award was also given to Brothers Excavation and Construction, LLC. They protected water quality in Jumpoff Joe Creek north of Grants Pass during the upgrade of an old mining road needed to access a timber harvest and local homes.
ODF Forest Resources Division Chief Josh Barnard said nominees showed they could meet the challenge of working under new rules that came into effect this year. The updated Oregon Forest Practices Act rules provide more protection for forest resources such as wider stream buffers and limitations on equipment use around tributaries of fish-bearing streams.
