Southern Loggin’ Times magazine Managing Editor David Abbott has the opportunity to visit Robert L. Rich Timber Harvesting in Garland, North Carolina. On a typical day, Robert Rich, 88, can be found sitting in a pickup truck surveying production, soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of the job he and his wife Frances have spent their lives together building. Rich is the president and sole owner of Robert L. Rich Timber Harvesting, the single-crew family company he started 61 years ago. The family patriarch hadn’t grown up in a logging family, but he still developed a deep and abiding love for the woods. Rich was 27 when he started his company in 1953. “I just loved the woods,” he recalls. “I still like the woods, I guess. It’s changed a lot.” The company started out hand loading short wood onto bobtail trucks, but the biggest challenge he ever faced, he says, was mechanizing the operation about 30 years ago. The biggest challenge today, he believes, is the labor situation, but the seasoned pro still keeps his sense of humor fresh and sharp.

Featured Story: “Rich Heritage”

Written By: David Abbott
Company: Robert L. Rich Timber Harvesting
Location: Garland, North Carolina
SLT Issue: July 2014

Check out other featured articles in the July 2014 issue of Southern Loggin’ Times magazine.
Southern Loggin’ Times magazine’s July 2014 issue features Garland, North Carolina’s Smith Timber Co. and Robert L. Rich Timber Harvesting, and Livingston, Tennessee’s C&L Logging. Also highlighted is recent Southeastern Wood Producers Association’s annual meeting and first-ever logging expo, held last month in Georgia. Other articles discuss forestry tire tread designs, Georgia’s Yancey Bros. 100^th anniversary, and the grand opening of Forest Pro, Inc.’ new Virginia location.