POLLOCK PINES, CALIFORNIA – Dan Arens and Son Inc., a logging contractor in northern California, is a key business partner to Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI). In recent years the loggers have been helping SPI salvage timber on forestland ravaged by fire.

The Arens family has been in the logging business for more than 75 years, after Ken Arens bought a logging truck and began hauling logs in the Redding area in the early 1950s.

His sons, Dan and Larry, worked for their father until the mid-1980s. After 10 years of learning the ropes, they struck out on their own. They bought some used equipment from their father. Fast forward to 2004, when Dan Arens and Son Inc. was established

When a destructive wildland fire burns through a forest, loggers like Dan Arens and Son get to work. It’s a race against the clock to harvest trees that can be salvaged in order to get as much value as possible from the burned timber.

Dan Arens and Son specializes in mechanical timber harvesting. Over the last several years most of its logging operations have revolved around fire salvage timber, said Arens, company president. He estimates that the company has logged more than 200 million board feet of salvage timber in the last eight to 10 years, the majority of it from the privately owned forestlands of SPI, the largest landowner in the U.S.

“As soon as these fires go out, we are under the gun to get the merchantable timber harvested and sent to the mill,” said Arens. “Much of the timber starts losing value quickly, so time is of the essence. Our goal is: get as much of the salvage timber delivered to the sawmill before it goes bad.”

The company is based in Pollock Pines in northern California, a little over 50 miles east of Sacramento and on the western edge of the Eldorado National Forest. It operates two crews and produces about 40 loads of logs a day, approximately 30 million board feet per year. Species in the Sierra Nevada region include ponderosa pine, sugar pine, Douglas fir, white fir, and incense cedar. At the time Arens talked with TimberWest, the company was working on SPI forestland near Chico that was burned in the Park Fire in late summer of 2024.

The Park Fire broke out in July and was not fully contained until September. It burned more than 429,000 acres, California’s largest wildfire of the 2024 season and the largest fire ever caused by arson in California.

The business has three principals: Arens, his son, Levi, who serves as vice president, and brother Larry, who supervises logging operations. Along with the family management team, Arens credited the company’s success to dedicated, skilled employees and the right equipment. In addition to the principals, there are 10 employees, all equipment operators.

Up until 2020 the company had all Cat logging equipment. That year Arens began adding Tigercat machines. The company now has a mixed fleet of Tigercat and Cat equipment. The most recent addition was a Tigercat 620H skidder purchased in 2024; the company now has three of the Tigercat grapple skidders.

“Those skidders are a beast and can pull big skids into the landing,” said Arens. “They are fantastic and give us little trouble.”

Other Tigercat machines include an LS855 track harvester with a Waratah 623C Waratah processing head. “They’re tough and make a lot of logs,” Arens said of the Waratah attachment.

The company also has a Tigercat LX830D feller buncher with a 5702-26 hot saw. It is the first piece of Tigercat equipment Arens purchased. With over 6,000 hours on it, it is still going “hot and heavy,” said Arens.

Arens has steadily added Tigercat equipment because of its dependability. “It is built by loggers for loggers,” he said.

All Tigercat machines are equipped with Tigercat’s technology to allow contractors to remotely monitor fuel consumption, production time, and potential mechanical issues. “All this leads to more uptime and less downtime,” said Arens.

“Tigercat equipment is easy to maintain,” he added. For example, grease zerts are located in places that are both easy to see and reach, noted Arens.

He also had complimentary words for Bejac, the Tigercat equipment dealer that he does business with. “Both Bejac and Tigercat have been outstanding to work with,” said Arens. “If we have an immediate service need, they jump to service our need, and that is a big deal.”

One crew uses the Tigercat machines, and the other crew is equipped with Cat machines: a 548 harvester with a Waratah 623C processing head, two 548LL shovel loaders, a 525D skidder, and two 527 dozer-grapple skidders. The local Cat dealers Arens does business with are Holt of California near Sacramento and Peterson Cat in Chico.

The Waratah attachments are used in the woods to process at the stump. They form bundles of cut-to-length logs for the skidders to retrieve.

“The majority of timber we harvest is second growth,” said Arens. There are some larger trees, 30 inches DBH and larger, and those are felled manually by a pair of contract timber cutters.

Logging slash is spread over the job site, and the equipment traveling over it helps to break it up. It eventually decomposes, creating a mulch that returns nutrients to the soil that will foster the growth of seedlings planted by SPI.

SPI has a number of mills within reasonable hauling distance of the salvage timber projects, including sawmills in Lincoln, Quincy, Oroville, Anderson, and Central Valley. Arens relies on about 20 independent log trucks to haul wood. They generally make two trips per day.

His son and his brother have been key to the company’s success, said Arens. “I want to give kudos to my brother. He’s the reason we have a good reputation with Sierra Pacific and the area foresters he works with on a day-to-day basis. He gets along well with all of them, and he’s a heck of a good representative for me.”

His son began working in the woods when he was a teenager. He has been by Arens’ side since 2004 and has been an integral part and helped build the company into what it is today.

His employees are skilled and dedicated, said Arens. They work long days, are good at what they do, and productive. He ties those qualities to what he calls a “close to the stump” philosophy, something he and his brother have followed since they first began logging together in the mid-1980s. The brothers would take turns and meet with the crew every morning, making sure each person knew what their responsibilities were and how to do it right. And they would be – and still are – on the jobsite, close to the stump, during and after the logging operations.

Being well organized, having a good crew that is paid well, and good equipment are what guides the company. “Happy people make lots of logs,” said Arens.

Having logging jobs in the pipeline for SPI is also a plus. “This allows us to purchase our equipment, knowing we’re going to have work and that we’re going to make enough to pay for the equipment to get it done,” said Arens.

“SPI is a great company to work for,” he added. “They keep us busy and treat us fairly.”

There have been ups and downs over the years, he acknowledged. “Anyone that’s been a logger for very long knows how tough this business can be at times,” said Arens.

There are several keys to maintaining consistent production, said Arens. One is a fleet of late model, well-maintained equipment. Another is experienced and well-paid equipment operators. The third is keeping the customer – in this case, SPI – satisfied.

Another is abiding by state logging regulations. Finally, working and operating safely, which helps keep insurance costs down.

The Arenses have no immediate plans to retire. “As long as my brother wants to keep going, I’m willing to take care of the office part of it,” said Arens. “As long as our health allows us, we’ll keep going.” His son has a stake in the business, and presumably he will take over leadership of the company when his father and uncle retire.

The company is a member of the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference and Associated California Loggers.

“I’ve been a logger for 40 years,” said Arens. “The reason we log is not to get rich. It’s because we love to log. It’s in your blood.”