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FORKS — With dual rotors plying the air, the white helicopter picks up its load of logs, lifts and speeds across the sky.
Its cargo appears as a reverse pendulum base, but the veteran pilot’s steady hand keeps the four freshly cut trees in control on final approach for landing.
Over the next few months, this scene will repeat itself just off West Snider Road, 15 miles north of Forks along U.S. Highway 101.
Columbia Helicopters of Portland, Ore., is managing the aerial logging show for Chinook Resources. The Forks company purchased the two blocks of state trust timber for slightly more than $1 million in January.
It’s one of the few times in at least the past five years that a helicopter sale has been bid on state land on the North Olympic Peninsula.
This full report appears in today’s editions of the Peninsula Daily News, on sale through Clallam and Jefferson counties. Or click onto “Subscribe” to order your copy via U.S. mail.
