In Rock Creek, a tributary of the Nehalem River in Clatsop County, water is meandering around 40-foot logs under wispy white alder branches.

There’s no sign that Mark Gustafson and his logging crew were ever there, pulling logs down from the slope above and placing them precisely into the stream so they would enrich the riparian habitat without washing away.

Gustafson Logging Co.’s “outstanding work” promoting stream health earned owner Mark Gustafson the 2009 Operator of the Year award from the Oregon Board of Forestry Wednesday.

Three Oregon companies known for their professionalism, skill and commitment to protecting natural resources were named the state’s Forest Practices Operators of the Year during a board meeting Wednesday.

In April, the Gustafson crew adapted a skyline carriage system to “dead lift” 55 large trees from the slope above Rock Creek and move them through a stand of alder and into the streambed. “It was something we’d never done before, to try to place large woody debris in specific designated areas at specific angles to the flow of the stream,”?Gustafson said.

“We’ve never done anything like lowering a tree through standing timber and getting it to lay at the angle that fisheries and wildlife recommended. But the crew got the hang of it quite quickly and by the end of things, it went real smooth.”

The work was part of a voluntary stream improvement project on a Stimson Lumber Co. tree farm in?Clatsop County. Stimson donated the logs, and Gustafson Logging did the heavy lifting. Each of the trees were 40 feet long and weighed several thousand pounds, and they had to be moved carefully downhill and through a stream buffer area, where logging isn’t allowed.

“In the usual operation, they’d take everything uphill,” said Neil Laugle, protection unit forester for Oregon Department of Forestry. “In this situation they had to take them downhill and lower them through the existing trees along the creek and place them at a precise angle so the creek would meander around them and they would remain in place.”

Once the operators established a rhythm for the process, logs could be lifted and placed in about five minutes, leaving the nearby stand of alders untouched. Gustafson said they moved six or seven trees a day and finished the job in about two weeks.

“What made this project stand out so much is you couldn’t even tell they’d been there,” said Laugle. “They did it without impacting the riparian management area.”

Gustafson played a leading role in organizing the Camp 18 Loggers Memorial in Olney last year. He and his brothers Clay and Wade Gustafson represent the second generation of family ownership for the Astoria logging company, founded by their father Duane Gustafson in 1974. Mark Gustafson and members of his crew also starred in the first season of the History Channel TV series “Ax Men.” Receiving Operator of the Year awards for the Eastern and Southern regions of the state for 2009 were:

? O’Rorke Logging of John Day owner Charlie O’Rorke, for a fuels management timber harvest on 200 acres near the Grant County community of Mt. Vernon.

The landowner selected O’Rorke based on the logger’s consistent good performance record and willingness to partner with the landowner on planning how trees would be harvested or protected. Careful attention was paid to protection of natural resources, including protecting soil and water on the 200 acre harvest. Trees harvested were sorted into different landing zones based on the end use, whether saw-log, biomass fuel or specialty wood uses. The resulting forest is now well-spaced for resistance to fire, disease, and insect attacks. O’Rorke was also recognized in 1998 as Eastern Oregon’s Forest Practices Operator of the Year.

? David Brink Logging of Roseburg, for the planning and community involvement work that went in to a timber harvest within the city limits of Sutherlin in 2009. Brink held several community meetings with residents of a nearby manufactured home community to discuss the harvest operation with residents and listen to concerns raised by community members. Brink designed a harvest plan which lessened the impacts to residents’ daily lives, including starting two hours later during the morning, extensive use of water trucks for dust abatement, road repairs which were not directed by the landowner, and starting harvest at the far end of the unit to help familiarize residents to sounds of cutting as the harvest moved closer to their homes. Community residents reported a high degree of satisfaction with how the harvest resulted.

Brink has been involved with forestry in Douglas County for more than three decades, including promoting development of biomass energy systems, serving as an active member of the Douglas County Small Woodlands Association and Associated Oregon Loggers.

Four companies were also recognized by the Board for excellence as Merit Award winners for 2009:

? Butch Jurhs Logging in McMinnville

? Hampton Affiliates in Salem

? Precision Timber of Tillamook

? Roseburg Resources based in Roseburg

Award recipients were reviewed or selected by Oregon’s Regional Forest Practices Advisory Committees, who evaluate nominees based on an operator’s consistency of positive performance, innovation in project design, relative difficulty of a harvest operation and a commitment to protecting Oregon’s natural resources as a basis for selecting a winner from three regions of the state.