Dear ATPA Members and Affiliates:
I would like to start off in this monthly Member Update with an appreciation to our members and affiliates, who heard the news, for your understanding as my family and I work through the challenge of our recent house fire. As always, our forestry and logging community never ceases to amaze me regarding the never-ending support shown to one another - in good times, and challenges. My family will continue to forge ahead to make decisions and changes we didn't anticipate. And your demonstrated patience has been appreciated.
At the same time, work on our many exciting initiatives has proven to be a welcomed diversion. As you know, we came out of our Legislative Session with a major win for timber harvesters. After passing in the House with a 94-0 vote, Arkansas SB 494, sponsored by Senator Matt Stone, was signed into law by Governor Huckabee Sanders on April 22, 2023 (now Act 711).
As many of you know, this new law compels the Director of State Highways and Transportation to request that the Congress of the United States amend 23 U.S.C. § 127 concerning the vehicle weight limitations on the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways to allow logging/fiber trucks with permit to haul 85,000 pounds on a segment of the interstate highways no more than 20 miles.
Haulers are not permitted to travel on the federal interstate system in Arkansas with the 85,000 ton legal weight limit (state), because it exceeds the federally-established weight limits on those roadways. This means that log trucks traveling to mills are often traveling through communities, passing businesses and pedestrians, including grade schools, high schools, and colleges. These trucks also have to negotiate roundabouts and difficult turns.
In other words, rerouting trucks to the interstate system has been proposed as a solution to addressing issues of and concerns for safety first and foremost.
We appreciate all of you who took the time to call or email elected officials to galvanize around this critical legislation.
We would also like to thank the sponsors of this legislation (if you see them, thank them as well!), including: Stone, Crowell, Davis, Dismang, Flippo, Gilmore, Hester, Hill, Irvin, Johnson, McKee, Stubblefield, and Wallace, and Representatives McAlindon, Wardlaw, Andrews, and Beaty, Jr.
Our COLLECTIVE VOICE can make a difference in fostering a supportive climate for timber harvesting, forestry & transport.
Southwest Forest Products Expo
We are also excited for our upcoming Southwest Forest Products Expo, scheduled for August 11-12, 2023 at the Hot Springs Convention Center (see ad, below). Per usual, major equipment dealers, tech, supplies, and services exhitbors are showing their support of our industry, filling up the showroom floor to near capacity. We started advertising in timber magazines and publications earlier this spring, and we are commencing our regular 2-month-out push with an array of display ads, press releases, FB ads, and even press appearances (we will let you know when I am on TV!).
We are thrilled to report that the DL Weatherhead Timberworks Lumberjack Show will host a series of events throughout the Expo, and Artistry in Wood will be on hand again, demonstrating chainsaw sculpting and selling carved wares out of an array of beautiful wood species. We will also have on hand a video-gaming mobile exhibit for kids, making our SW Forest Products Expo a draw for families across the region.
Note: Our pre-sale onlilne ticket hub will go live in mid-June.
There is other important information contained in this Update. We hope you will have an opportunity to read it at your convenience. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know.
In service,
Larry Boccarossa
Executive Director
