SAPELLO, New Mexico – The success of the Lovato Group, which is comprised of a logging company and two other family-owned and operated businesses, is based on a simple premise: Don’t just work hard. Work smart and work efficiently.

Lovato Group’s newest business unit, AGL Wood Products, was launched in 2024. Services include logging, chipping, grinding, masticating, and wildland firefighting. The company also sells firewood. The other entities are Jake Lovato Trucking and JJ Excavation. The trucking company is the flagship business, founded by Jake Lovato in 1991.

“We do it all,” said Lovato, who started the company with his wife, Anita. They began with one truck and later added a backhoe. In the beginning Lovato worked on a variety of jobs, including a nine-mile-long power line project. On that job he did everything from cutting down trees to road building, site prep work for replacing poles, and reseeding. The experience taught him the benefits of being versatile and capable of performing a wide range of services.

The Lovato Group is based in Sapello, a small community in northeast New Mexico, nearly 140 miles northeast of Albuquerque. Lovato added the excavation business in 1995. It is overseen by sons Jacob and Josiah – hence the JJ in the business name. AGL Wood Products was named for Lovato’s daughter, Altagracia Gloria Lovato, who passed away at the age of five in 2011. The three business units altogether have been instrumental in providing employment opportunities within the local community but are primarily staffed by family members year-round. The company employs about 14 people, some of whom are seasonal.

Terex track self-loading whole tree chipper can chip trees up to 30 inches in diameter. Company also has a Vermeer horizontal grinder.

Diversification is important, said Lovato. “Having several irons in the fire not only ensures we have the income to keep our doors open but secures work year-round for our employees. This is something that my mentors taught me, and it has stayed with me and with my children now.”

All three businesses rely almost exclusively on Caterpillar equipment. “I like Cat equipment,” said Lovato. “We get good service, and there are not a lot of repairs (needed),” he added.

He buys almost all of his Cat equipment from Peterson Tractor in Eugene, Oregon. “They offer very good support to us when we need parts, maintenance or repairs,” Lovato said. He also relies on Wagner Cat in Albuquerque for some service and repairs.

The trucking company operates a fleet of Kenworth semi-tractors, both W900B long nose, conventional cab, heavy-duty trucks and W900L, a limited-edition truck produced by Kenworth on its 100th anniversary.

Although Lovato did not start the logging company until last year, he is a fourth-generation logger; his children represent the fifth generation. Lovato’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and an uncle all operated sawmills. His father was a logger, and he worked for him when he was younger.

Lovato started logging in 2000 when a forest fire created a business opportunity. He decided to set up a separate logging business after getting some advice from other loggers and insurance professionals while attending the Oregon Logging Conference.

“I guess I love the smell of sawdust,” he said. “I have always wanted to get into logging, and we were able to, and now have everything we need.”

Cat 574 forwarder offloads logs onto waiting truck. Logging crew also has two Cat skidders to get the wood to the landing.

Lovato buys standing timber and merchandises the logs to sawmills. His purchase prices are based on board feet, and the logs are scaled as they are loaded. The company mainly works in Doug fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and some spruce.

Lovato has partnered with local and federal government agencies and built a reputation for doing quality work and having a high work ethic. There are two national forests east and northeast of Sapello, the Carson and the Santa Fe, and also two national monuments in the region. The company has done work for the U.S. Forest Service, CalFire, the Bureau of Land Management, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Forestry Division, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Western States Reclamation Inc., as well as private landowners.

The company has been doing more work related to wildland firefighting in the last five years. “In the future we see a lot of work not only from post-fire (projects) but hopefully fire prevention,” said Lovato.

“I am hopeful the government will open up these forests and start treating them as a big garden that needs to be taken care of,” he added.

Logging and forestry operations are normally conducted by a crew of four, and three drivers from the trucking unit haul the wood. “These guys work hard,” said Lovato. “What sets us apart is we are not afraid to work long hours, and we have crews that are dedicated to that.” The logging and excavation crews both have a reputation for safely finishing jobs ahead of schedule, he said.

The newest piece of heavy equipment for the logging crew is a Cat 538 forest machine. The Cat 538 forest machine can be configured for general forestry operations, including processing logs, log handling and loading tasks, and building roads. It is powered by a Cat C7.1 engine with 174 hp that is fuel efficient and can run on biodiesel and other renewable fuels. Features include high-visibility forestry cab, smart mode to automatically match engine and hydraulic power to working conditions, heavy lift mode for more swing torque, and more.

“The Cat 538 forest machine is designed to be more productive, more comfortable, and cost less to maintain,” said Mike Dickenson, Caterpillar senior sales support consultant. “The electrohydraulic control system, increased travel speed, and high, wide undercarriage offer more power and precision. The efficient Cat 7.1 engine reduces fuel consumption while the Certified Forestry cab design improves operator comfort and safety. The machine also features advanced technology for fleet management and maintenance, making it a top choice for working with timber.”

(For more information, visit www.cat.com.)

Felling is done with a Cat 522B track feller buncher with a hot saw. Two Cat skidders (525 and 535 models) equipped with both grapples and winches and a Cat 574 forwarder transport timber to designated landing pads. The company also has a Cat 299 track skid steer with a Fecon mulching head to masticate brush and a larger, rubber-tire Cat 563D masticator for big trees.

Cat 522B track feller buncher with a hot saw working on steep ground.

In addition, AGL Wood Products is equipped with a Terex track self-loading whole tree chipper and a Vermeer HG 6800TX horizontal grinder. Powered by a Cat 700 hp engine, the Terex can chip trees up to 30 inches in diameter.

The grinder is used mainly on-site at land-clearing projects. Chips and grindings are hauled back to the company’s yard; some are sold to mulch and ground covering. The rest is stockpiled and turned periodically to decompose into something that resembles peat moss, then mixed with soil and supplied to landscapers and nursery businesses. “‘We don’t waste anything,” said Lovato. “We utilize everything.”

The region immediately to the west of Sapello is rugged mountains. In some instances, the company has harvested timber on 50 percent slopes. The Cat feller buncher has worked well on the steep terrain, said Lovato.

Logging tracts at high altitude burned by forest fire usually produces good spruce saw logs. The company tends to do more chipping and mastication at lower elevations, where pine is more prevalent. Even the burned pine forests still produce some good salvage saw logs.

The Cat 538 swing machine can be paired with a Southstar attachment for processing wood or with a grapple for handling wood. When Lovato talked with TimberWest, it was being used on a clear-cut project, processing trees or decking logs and feeding material to the chipper. The clear-cut was being performed on a tract that had been burned by wildfire. Some salvaged saw logs were being delivered to a local sawmill, but most were being hauled to a mill in Colorado, a half-day’s drive. “They really like the burnt wood up there because it has character,” said Lovato.

Low-grade logs go to the company’s wood yard to be processed into firewood with a Cord King 2760 firewood processor. Logs that are too small or not suitable for firewood are chipped and scattered on-site.

The company also does reforestation jobs. “On some projects,” said Lovato, “we throw out the (grass) seed first, then skid and log to work the seed in, and then chip lightly. It comes back really good.”

Depending on the fire, they may be contracted to provide water or to use bulldozers to build roads for fire trucks and other equipment. The company has two 18-wheel water tenders designed by Lovato and his sons. The tenders have 5,000-gallon aluminum tanks. They also have smaller 2,800- and 1750-gallon water tenders.

AGL Wood Products is in the process of developing a sawmill at its wood yard to produce beams and rough lumber. Lovato has contracted with Illinois-based Sawmill Hydraulics Inc., makers of HELLE sawmill equipment, to design and build a custom scragg mill. He is hoping the sawmill will be operating by year’s end.

The excavation business does road building, site clearing and preparation for residential and commercial building projects, ranch development, including creating ponds, and seasonal snow removal. It is equipped with three Cat excavators, three Cat bulldozers, a Cat motor grader, and an assortment of Cat loaders, backhoes, and skid steers, many of them paired with bucket plow attachments. Some of the machines are used in firefighting; the bulldozers, for example, have been used to create fire lines.

As noted earlier, Lovato Group is a family business. The forestry operations are supervised by son Seth, 24. Another son, Noe, 20, operates the feller buncher, and a daughter, Sarah, 21, operates a skidder. All Lovato children who work in the business have – or will have – a Class A license so they can drive a truck if needed.

Employees get paid time off, paid vacations, and sick leave. The company also pays a bonus every quarter that is based on safety. “People realize that everyone relies on each other,” Lovato said. “It’s a team, and every team member gets to play.”

Lovato said the equipment that is purchased is selected with a comfort factor for the crew in mind, including enclosed cabs with heat and air conditioning, and satellite radios and CB radios.

The company’s reputation and success have been a blessing, said Lovato. “It was my goal and my dream, and we had our children, and I prayed that God would give me the fortitude and the strength and the wisdom to build these businesses and hand them off to them. This is a dream come true.”