Posted: Sep 23, 2008  21:27

Tim Dougherty, veteran forester for Riley Creek, tells a story about his brother coming to visit him in Idaho. They were standing on top of Italian Peak, and his brother said, "I want to go to your office,"

"This is my office," said Dougherty.

Forester Tim Dougherty is optimistic about the timber industry in Boundary County.

Hailing from Chicago, Dougherty has been lucky enough to merge his love of the outdoors with his profession for more than 25 years.

He first became interested in forestry by taking ecology courses in high school, where he also played football and wanted to play on the college level. He ended up at the University of Montana, competed athletically, and earned a B.S. in forestry recreation management with a minor in timber.

He was awarded an internship with Louisiana-Pacific at Moyie Springs in 1982 and fell in love with Northern Idaho. Working on a logging crew as a young man, Dougherty felt that he was finally able to apply his book learning to real-life situations in the forest. In the summer of 1983 he worked for the forest service as a ranger, timber crewman and fire crewman. The experiences taught him about both the agency as well as the private side of forestry work.

In 1984 he was offered a job with L-P, moved to Bonners Ferry and has lived in Boundary County ever since.

Currently, Dougherty is dealing mostly with agency work for Riley Creek. His job is to appraise timber sales, and, if Riley Creek is the successful bidder, distribute the contracts to loggers. He then ensures that the logs are up to contract specifications and that they are also manufactured to those specifications.

Additionally, he arranges for road building, clean-up work and the other features of logging necessary to harvesting timber.

Dougherty maintains that his job requires him to be out in the woods quite a bit. He said he looks at the timber, inspects for grade and size, and then checks the logging systems to see that they are adequate for resource protection.

"The profession of logging has changed drastically," said Dougherty. "When I first moved here, trees were cut with chain saws, chokers were done by hand, and timber was taken to the landing and bucked by hand. Now, trees are felled, accumulated, and put near a skid trail by machinery. A grapple then grabs the trees and takes them to the landing. At the landing, a worker uses a log processor to convert the raw trees into logs. Human hands virtually never touch the timber anymore."

Dougherty said he has the utmost respect for loggers.

"They work long, hard hours, travel away from their families, and do difficult, dangerous work," he added

Dougherty feels that his main contribution to Boundary County as a forester is to see that the wood is managed in a sustainable, environmentally-compatible method. He also provides land owners with strategies for achieving their personal goal for their timber, whether it is for financial gain, attracting wildlife, or reclaiming the health of their forested area.

"I think the neatest thing that I have enjoyed about my job over the years is to return to areas that I was responsible for logging 25 years ago," he said. "I get to see the deer, the elk and the new trees that hadn't been there before. I am really proud that I have had a hand in making those areas usable for future generations."

Dougherty is an active member of several collaborative groups who work together to make decisions on forestry issues. These groups consist of environmentalists as well as timber industry professionals.

"We don't always agree, but what we try to do is disagree respectfully and come to consensus on forestry management issues," he said. "There can't be an 'us' and 'them' mentality anymore, or nothing will happen."

Dougherty acknowledged that, a great deal of forested land in Boundary County is in federal ownership.

"A lot of the future of the local logging industry will depend on forest service management of their lands," he said. "That is where the collaborative effort will make a big difference. I think the future looks good for the timber industry in Boundary County, but the timber industry will have to be very competitive and very efficient to operate."

As large timber holders subdivide their land, Dougherty pointed out that the goal for the 10- to 20-acre landowners will be different than it would have been for the original parcel.

"However," he cautioned, "there is no right or wrong answer. Everyone wants what they want out of their 20 acres."

Dougherty said he would recommend the forestry profession to anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

"You need to be very flexible and competitive," he emphasized, "because as markets go up and down, you need to be able to change and be efficient, because that's how you will survive as a forester."

Recently, Dougherty and a fellow forester were inspecting some timber on the backside of Grouse Mountain overlooking Lake Pend Oreille. He said they looked at each other and said, "How lucky are we to get to do this for a living?"