Turley Logging & Timberland Management Inc

Tom T[redacted] addresses in great depth of detail the entire logging operation on my property but he does not discuss the main reason for my complaint and that was his broken verbal agreement to fill out the Timber Management Plan. I assisted Tom in every way possible to make it easier for him. I went online and not only searched for an easy template for him to fill out, but also went a step further and searched and found, "Washington State Integrated Forest Management Plan Guidelines" to assist him filling out the template. On the day Mr. T[redacted] was finished logging, I gave him these forms and he reassured me he'd fill them out and mail them back.
 
Again...I will reiterate how important a Forestry Plan signed by a Forester/Logger was to me; in the past I contacted Valerie M[redacted] from the Spokane County Assessor's Office. She sent me an application to rezone my land parcels from 'Residential' to 'Forest Land' I filled out the app, and sent it in on 9/29/14 with a fee check for $432. She called me back and told me I still needed my logger to fill out the Forestry Plan, but everything else looked good. Rezoning my 70 acres would decrease my property taxes by approximately 3k. I've been paying over 6k in annual taxes so a savings of 3k or more every year would really have helped me out financially.
 
Tom T[redacted] also told me that with a Forestry Plan, I could also get help with the DNR to thin my pine seedlings. There are several acres of my property crowded with these little trees. They are so thick a person cannot even walk through them. Because of this overcrowding the forest cannot develop, but is a severe fire hazard. So upon hearing this from Mr. T[redacted] I was doubling anxious to have a signed Forestry Plan by him.
 
The logging job was finished in the middle of October, 2015. That gave Mr. T[redacted] 2 & 1/2 months to fill out the plan and mail it back to me. Adequate time. I really needed to file in 2015 because there is a waiting year with the County to rezone. My waiting year would have been 2016. But if Tom did not return the signed forms until 2016, then 2017 would be my waiting year. Which would have meant a lot more waiting time, and money lost.
 
Well, Tom never returned the Forestry Plan to me during the end of 2015. I was disappointed, but figured he was a busy man and decided to give him more time in 2016 to fill it out. When the Forestry Plan still was not returned this year, my significant other, [redacted] called Mr. T[redacted]. Tom told [redacted] he'd get the forms returned in a week. A week went by, and we still had not received the Forestry Plan from Tom. So [redacted] called Tom again, and was told he'd have them in the mail the following day. Three more days went by before receiving the packet. I opened the manila envelope fully expecting a signed Forestry Plan, only to see the documents had not been filled out, every page was left blank. I was really confused by this, so this time I called Tom T[redacted]. He answered the phone and said in a very brief statement, "I do not want to do it anymore". When I told him we had an agreement this would be done, Tom T[redacted] hung up the phone in my ear.
 
In regards to his other statements in his response:
 
1) On the last day of the job, Tom T[redacted] told me he would not be burning the two, 3 story piles of leftover tree debris his machinery had piled up. He said I would have to pay a property lineman to do this job because it was not factored in his bid. When I mentioned my previous logger from Washington State, (not Idaho) 10 years earlier had included burning the slash piles as part of the complete logging operation, T.T. became very sensitive about it. Tom's response about the mill secretary not realizing this job was in Washington is incorrect. She told me most loggers in both WA and ID, do include burning the slash piles, so there is no extra cost to the homeowner.
 
2)  I trusted T.T[redacted]'s estimate of what my timber would net me. He had been in the logging business for at least 35 years, perhaps longer and was well aware of mill contracts and price of logs. When my check from the mill arrived way below his estimate, I was dumbfounded. I would not have even had my property logged for such a nominal share of the timber proceeds. Not only was the estimate incorrect, but now I must pay a property lineman a large fee to burn the 2 gigantic slash piles.
 
3) The electrical lines out at the barn were well marked, but they were damaged by the machinery. My previous logger did not damage them. Tom's crew also tore apart a segment of irrigation line, but refused to repair it. Again....the prior logger from 10 years earlier did not damage any cables or wires.
 
4) Tom T[redacted] failed to restore the County ditch. He filled in an area of ditch with dirt so his heavy equipment could access my property. He said once the logging job was complete he would restore the ditch. This was not done. 
 
5) Tom told [redacted] and I my property after the job would resemble a "park", it did not. Tom and crew did not fully clean up all of the debris throughout the woods per contract. There were small slash piles left here and there. [redacted] had to clean up them by pulling a large steel fork through the woods behind my garden tractor.
6) At no time did T.T. ever complain about cutting trees around the house. In fact, he wanted these large Ponderosa pines because they were some of my biggest trees and would net more money at the mill. He informed us to call Inland Power to shut off the power while he was in the backyard. We did this especially for Mr. T[redacted]. In his response, it sounds like Tom was doing me a favor in cutting them. Not true. [redacted], my insignificant other even disassembled 2 sections of cyclone fence for Tom so his equipment could enter the backyard. Mr. T[redacted] thanked [redacted] for doing it. And later [redacted]  fixed the fence after they were finished cutting back there.
In Closing:
 
I'd still like Tom T[redacted] to honor his commitment to fill out the Forestry Plan he agreed to do, so I can rezone my property with the County. I ask the Revdex.com for help with this.
 
Thank-you,
 
[redacted]

RE: Revdex.com ID #[redacted]
Dear Revdex.com Resolutions Consultant,
In response to this complaint I will start by saying that I take my companies reputation VERY serious. I do not advertise or go door-to-door. My reputation continues to keep us booked out 1 to 2 years, while continuing to turn down or lose jobs...

because our schedule is so far out.
When I arrived on site to go over and sign the contracts I was asked by the landowner, how much money they will receive for their timber? (a fair question) I explained in detail that my company charges one price per thousand board feet to mark trees, broker logs, fall trees, skid and process trees and cleanup. Then my company charges another price per thousand feet board feet to sort logs, load logs, and haul the logs to their different locations or mills. The land owner receives the balance between these charges and what the mills are paying for each diameter and length of logs. The mill pays this directly to the land owner.
The landowner is fully aware of the prices that the mill is paying. They signed the mills contract with all of the prices listed, it was sent to them by the mill. They also read and signed my contract with my fees all spelled out. I explained to them that there is no way to give an accurate figure on how much money they will receive for their timber without completing a variable plot cruise that would be done by a third party. I told them that I could arrange for this third party to complete this for them, but they would be charged for this by the third party. I also explained to them that even a plot cruise was an educated guess. The more accurate they wanted the numbers, the more plots it would take, and the more it costs.
The landowner asked me to guess. I told them that it would be a number pulled out of the sky and wouldn’t be accurate. But they still wanted me to take a guess. I reluctantly gave them a figure and commenced with this project.
Upon commencing this project, we immediately had a problem. The land owner neglected to tell me of a powerline that was 2 inches under the ground, going across part of the project from the house to the machine shed, approximately 400’ from the home, with a power receptacle in between barely above the ground. There was also one of these outlets buried in an old storm damaged tree top.
My operator was not aware of the powerline or the outlet located amongst the trees, and in old slash. He tore up the outlet and powerline. We repaired this at no cost to the landowner. I also was not told about a waterline and a 220-volt powerline that was laying on top of the ground but covered with pine needles from the county road to the middle of the property, approximately 600’. Luckily I found these while marking trees. These two limitation added more time and cost to the project. I said nothing to the landowner and did not charge them for the additional labor and costs of repairing the power lines.
When I first looked at this job the landowner showed me numerous very large trees she wanted removed right up by their house. Some in flower beds surrounded by lawn and paved driveway landscaping and numerous smaller trees 50’ to 70’ or so. I told her that I will remove these trees and she would get paid for them but remember, I am a logger NOT a tree service. We will try our best not to damage the yard and driveway and there will be cleanup needed to be done by them. We won’t hand pick and rake up the small debris.
When it came time to remove all the hazard trees around the home I decided to utilize my rubber tired Fellerbuncher for the small diameter trees. This machine cuts the trees that are 15” or less and carries it standing up to a safe location. I decided to remove the very aggressive tire chains that were on this machine so not to do damage to the driveway and yard. To remove and put the chains back on and readjust them took two men 4-5 hours. I once again did not charge the land owner for this additional time.
Another obstacle that came up was numerous trees inside a chain link dog yard that the landowner didn’t mention prior to contracting. Once again she was not charged for this additional time. They were paid for almost all of the hazard trees (approximately 12 to 15 trees). The hazard trees had to have a ¾” cable attached high up in the tree for safety and to assure that the tree falls in the right direction.
All trees that were cut in the yard and across the driveway were cut into short logs and were lifted and carried out with a machine rather than dragging them out. After the trees were removed and all the bigger limbs that could be grappled out the landowner confronted one of my employees about her dissatisfaction that small sticks and pine needles were left. So once again we all hand-picked and raked their yard and no charge to the landowner.
PLEASE remember this is a full mechanical logging operation, that includes a Fullerbuncher, single grip harvester processor, grapple skidder etc. We are not a tree service.
As part of my operation I also removed a large amount of non-merchantable trees, as a stand health and hazard fuel reduction (for fire safety) this material was cut, skidded and put in grapple piles at no charge to the landowner…this work is normally split 50/50 in cost between DNR subsidies and the landowner. The landowner was fully aware that the 2-landing brush piles would only be piled and not burned before they signed the contract and it was also stated in the contract. I told them if they didn’t want to burn the piles I could put them in contact with someone who would burn them. I pre-marked this stand of timber prior to harvest-marking damaged trees – defective trees – distressed trees and spacing the remainder to achieve the best park like appearance possible!
When the harvest was complete the landowner thanked me for a job well done and didn’t indicated the desire to harvest more trees. As far as missing my guess on the money they would receive by “Several Thousand Dollars” maybe a couple of reasons. There is more than enough timber still standing to support that guess but the desired appearance was reached.
All was great until the landowner received their check from the mill when they in-turn called the mill, I don’t know why! The mill secretary spoke incorrectly telling the landowner that the logger usually burns the brush piles. The landowner then called me ranting that her check missed the questimation and they would never have logged. Then she said I was Deceitful and Dishonest, etc, etc
What the Idaho mill secretary did not realize is that this job was in Washington. Idaho loggers factor in the cost to burn piles on contract. Idaho mills withhold a portion of their money until the piles are burned. That is not the case in Washington. The cost of burning piles was not figured in on my bid. My contract says I pile the slash only.
After the phone call I got from her I assumed she no longer wanted my help with the forest plan. I had no desired to help with anymore of this project. There was never any discussion of fees to be charged for this or another contract. I did have full intention of following through with this. I am guilty of one thing and that is not returning the blank forest plan. For this I am sorry. I know this is no excuse but I was working on a burn salvage, working 16 – 20 hour days for a client who truly appreciated our extra effort and going above and beyond the call of duty.
Please Note: this landowner was charged the same amount to log and deliver their product as I charge a large landowner with no hazards where we move more wood in one day than was done in one week on this job.
Sincerely,Tom T[redacted]T[redacted] Logging & Timberland Management, Inc.cc:DuPont Fax 253-830-2928Spokane Fax 509-349-5076Email: [email protected]