January 2001 - Logging and Sawmilling Journal -

Alain D'Amours speaks with passion about logging, with every inflection in his voice punctuated by hand gestures in the air. When asked about starting out as a contractor just a year ago, the Quebec born logger turns red in the face and waves his arms recalling nightmare stories, including not getting paid by one employer, while working near Thunder Bay, Ontario. But business has taken a turn for the better for 40yearold Alain and his three brothers, Dan, Marten and Carl, who make up Dambros Timber Ltd, now a contractor for Buchanan Forest Products.

Alain and Carl, the youngest at 25, together formed the company; they hired Dan, who owns and operates a skidder, and Marten, who has the delimber. With strong French accents, and with much joking as well as some serious head shaking, owners Alain and Carl say starting out has been tough and they're not out of the woods yet. "You have no life for the first three years," Carl says, forecasting another two years of the same after just completing the first year on their own. "We had to sell our stuff I had a brand new truck, Alain sold a hot rod just to get going."

Even after getting hired by Buchanan the largest forest company in northwestern Ontario with sawmills around the region, including three in Thunder Bay the brothers' first setup with the big company was a low production job cutting blowdown. Only since early September have they been working in the jack pine flats of the boreal forest, about 250 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. They stay at a bush camp there that offers few amenities. Although there is no running water, there is satellite television. The D'Amours spend four or five nights in the bush before coming to Thunder Bay for supplies and a shower. "It's just like home," Alain says, with a laugh, about his small trailer in the woods. "The advantage is I don't see the bills coming in with the mail ." The area where the brothers are logging is a hilly section of the Canadian Shield. It's full of rocks and high stumps and there aren't always roads to the places where they're cutting.

High Walking the Forest Operator Dan Melo (below in cab, with Dan D'Amours) says he likes the ground clearance and speed of the John Deere 200 machine. "You can see on top of your pile, rather than looking level with the pile. And when you've got to go over stumps, it's nice and it's fast."

Also, according to Buchanan Forest Products rules, all the timber has to be delimbed before the contractor gets paid, versus paying on a full tree scale. That makes delimbing the most important step in the process as it essentially creates the pay cheques. After having their delimber fall off a float during a move, the D'Amours decided to try the new John Deere 200 Logger highwalker unit this past fall, as part of a rent to purchase agreement. The high walker has a Denharco 4400 telescopic boom delimber. Also in their equipment lineup are a Komatsu with a Denharco 3500 delimber, a Tigercat 845B feller buncher and a John Deere 748 GII skidder. The new delimber, the buncher and the skidder were all purchased from Ontrac in Thunder Bay. "What John Deere has done," says Ontrac sales representative Tom Trembath, "is they've taken an excavator and converted it into a high walker, purpose built bush machine with forestry cab and heavy duty side panels to suit the needs in the bush when you're bumping and grinding. It gets you in and among the stumps and around the rocks, and you're not wrecking your undercarriage. "We're forecasting this machine should last maybe 5,000 hours without touching the undercarriage.

A standard excavator undercarriage wouldn't last more than 3,000 hours." Operator Dan Melo, working for Dambros Timber, says he likes the two foot, six inches of ground clearance. "The height is better, it's perfect. You can see the top of your pile, rather than looking level with the pile," Melo says, shutting down the machine for a short break. "And when you're not on the road and you've got to go over stumps, it's nice and it's fast. The cables are nice too having the cables self tighten so you never have any drag." In addition to automatic winch cable tensioning, the Denharco 4400 features a variable displacement motor with 30 per cent more speed and 50 per cent more power than previous Denharco delimbers. The telescopic boom moves up and down the log, trimming off the branches with knives on both sides of the grapple arm. The unit also features delimbing arm bumpers and a modular butting saw is a welcome feature among operators. "It's a better set up than the 3500," Melo says. "With the 3500, the saw is in front. Having it in the back and having your grab arms close is way better, because your saw doesn't bind at all. It just cuts right away."

Even where the D'Amours have already been cutting, a few trees are left standing including eight and nine inch jackpine. It's part of a program introduced last year by Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources that ensures the occasional tree is left standing, for woodpeckers and martens. The D'Amours see that kind of environmental focus continuing in the future and they are already discussing a shift to a cut to length operation, with a harvester or processing head on a buncher. "That's the way it's going," Carl says. "The industry is heading towards that environmentally more friendly." But that's a few years down the road for the D'Amours who, in the meantime, plan to eventually add another skidder to their operation. Both Alain and Carl credit Ontrac and Tom Trembath for helping them arrange financing in the last year.

The D'Amours, originally from RiviereDu Loup, Quebec (Wolf River in English), have been living in Thunder Bay for 10 years. Their father, Marius, once ran six cable skidders before being injured in a logging accident. "If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be in this business. It stays in the family," says Alain, who has been working in the bush since he was 15yearsold. His advice to other contractors is to watch your finances and invest heavily back into the operation for a long-term payoff. "Don't even think about the money," he says. "The money's there. We just had to take a different approach. If we had to start over, we'd wait for Buchanan. "It's a good business," he adds with a French accent. "I go to work. I own my own stuff. I go home Friday. It's all I know. I hope we're around for a long time." Alain (left) and Carl D'Amours who, with brothers Dan and Marten, formed Dambros Timber. With the current strong focus on the environment, the brothers are discussing making the move to a cut to length operation

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Hi Walking the Forest

Ontario's Dambros Timber takes a John Deere high walker machine equipped with a Denharco 4400 delimber out for a stroll.

By Dave Lammers