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family is
responsible for more than 40 employees, making it one of the largest
logging operations in Alabama. The average logging business has five or
six people.
The
Parnells pay good wages and provide benefits that include medical
protection and even a profit sharing plan.
That’s
a long way from the early 1960s when the family launched the
"modern" phase of its logging business with a small truck, a
team of mules and other basics to get started.
The
family’s timber connection actually dates back to the late 1800s, but
its modern success story is nearly 50 years old.
Parnell
Inc., based in the tiny Chilton County town of Stanton, now has
computerized equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and
machinery unheard of when the business began.
"You
can look at $2.5 million worth of equipment around us right now,"
said Jimmy Parnell, as he pointed to a Feller Buncher, delimber, hoist
machine and other equipment that make the woods more profitable and
safer than ever.
No
one yells "TIMBER!!!" in the Parnell family these days. That’s
probably because there is no need for anybody with a chainsaw to topple
a tree. Expensive motorized equipment can slice through the trunk of a
pine or oak in a nanosecond—like a hot knife through a block of
butter.
Not
long after the trees are downed, a delimber picks them up and prepares
them for transportation to International Paper Co.’s sawmill in
Maplesville.
A
load of logs on one of the Parnell trucks can be worth $1,200—reason
enough to get them to the IP plant as quickly as possible. Delays mean
money and the Parnells see to it that everything runs as smoothly as
possible.
During
his escorted tour through the woods a few weeks ago, Jimmy Parnell
watched as his workers hammered at a hydraulic cylinder that had
developed a leak—slowing progress on a piece of equipment for much of
the day.
"We
ought to have a load leaving every 20 to 30 minutes and we haven’t
been able to take one out yet," said Parnell, as he watched his men
work on the cylinder and mentally calculated how much it was costing his
company at the same time. "I’m not worried, though. It’s
happened before and we’ve always fixed our problems."
Parnell
Inc. takes advantage of every new wrinkle available in logging. Instead
of calling it quits at night, crews stay at it, thanks to Northern
Lighting equipment attached to the logging equipment.
"We
work 20 hours a day," said Jimmy Parnell. "In Canada they work
24 hours a day. Working at night is unique to the South, but not up
there."
No
trees are cut at night, but Parnell crews find enough to do to keep them
busy into the wee hours of the morning.
In
addition to providing for their families and their employees, the
Parnells are also responsible stewards of the land from which they draw
their main cash crop.
Instead
of having to wait 40 years for a stand of trees to mature for cutting,
the time lapse has been cut in half and that means millions of dollars
for the companies that cut them.
The
Parnells buy their seedlings from International Paper Co. and plant them
in areas where the cuttings have been made. The seedlings, about a foot
tall, are planted by hand.
"We
can plant about 500 seedlings to the acre," Parnell said, adding
his company wouldn’t be in business very long if they cut down all the
trees and didn’t replant. "The trees will come back. We’re
seeing to it."
Helping
them do just that is the Central Alabama Farmers Cooperative in Selma,
of which Jimmy Parnell is a member of the board of directors.
"The
Co-op is very important to us," he said. "We buy fuel tanks
and other supplies for our timber and cattle operations. They have a
very good operation there in Selma."
Alvin
Benn is a freelance writer from Selma. |
