In Oregon, there are several high school forestry programs educating students about industry from a both a technical and hands-on perspective. The forestry programs educate the students in the classroom about the technical side of forestry and how to use the equipment such as radio telemetry and clinometers. High school students are also given the opportunity to go out into the field to see how the industry runs first hand. Examples of on the ground training include students helping to thin a small plot and then cut the trees into firewood.

Each of the high schools also host a competition where students have a chance to show off the skills that they have been learning throughout the year. The local high schools partner with industry members to judge and provide equipment for the competitions. There is a variety of events including cable splicing, pole climbing, choker setting, timber cruising, and job interview. Students also have the chance to compete at state level in an annual competition.

Over the past few years Philomath and Sweet Home have been given the chance to do demonstrations of some of the events at the Oregon Logging Conference. This participation offers opportunities for the students to practice their skills, and for public education.

After attending Central Oregon Community College for a year, Kriege decided he would rather be logging. He went to work for his dad building logging roads in the late 1970s. He operated a skidder, as well as set his own chokers. A few years later another opportunity presented itself and in 1981 he went to Nevada where he drilled core samples looking for gold. That good job lasted for a few years, and then he returned to central Oregon where he found work on his grandparent’s ranch in Sumpter, Oregon. It was then that he met his wife Donna, who had grown up in eastern Oregon. They married in 1983, tried the ranching life for a short time, and then Kriege went to work running a skidder on a salvage logging job for Sumpter logger Larry Baulk. 

Kriege worked for John & Debbie Sanowski’s J & D Logging in Prairie City as a skidder operator and enjoyed his time there. It was 1987 when he decided to bid on his own timber sales, with the blessing from J & D Logging. Later that year he went to work for Sisters Tree Trimming and Logging, and then in 1991, he  bought into the partnership. This was a prosperous partnership and when his partner wanted out of the business, “we bought him out,” Kriege said. At that point Kriege Logging LLC was established.

Kriege started out doing conventional logging and during the past 26 years in business, has moved more toward mechanized logging, specifically with a Tigercat LX 830D feller buncher, as well as capable Link-Belt, CAT, and John Deere machines. Kriege Logging is based in Prineville, OR.

Kriege and his crew log both private and U.S. Forest Service jobs. In the Spring of 2016 Kriege Logging LLC started a thinning job on a little over 200 acres of pine forest, and since then 12 million board feet of logs has been harvested. This U.S. Forest Service stewardship project involves Kriege Logging, Scott Logging, and Interfor, and is located along the Cascade lakes Highway on the route to Mount Bachelor Ski Area.

Kriege Logging LLC has 14 employees, including Rick and wife Donna’s son RJ, who works as a side rod, and represents the fourth generation of family to be involved in logging. Kriege said, “It’s all about the crew…if they don’t perform, you’re out of business.” The Kriege’s daughter Hannah was involved in the family business during her high school years when she worked with her father on weekends operating the skidder. She now lives in Baker City, OR with her husband and children.

Kriege Logging LLC has been attending the Oregon Logging Conference since 1988, and Kriege feels the OLC is a very valuable “tool” for loggers to keep up with what’s going on in the industry. “The panels and seminars are top quality,” he said, “and you can see the latest in technology, all in one location. It’s like one stop shopping,” he added, “and you can earn credits towards your pro logger certification.”