PORT ANGELES — “Gee! Haw!” Greg Lane shouted as he directed his two large draft horses through the woods up Deer Park Road.
The American Belgians, Jim and Otto, snorted as they pulled a 30-foot-long log through the brush Friday, their massive hooves resonating like thunder.
Yet despite their large size — they weigh about 1,500 pounds each — the horses left little evidence of their presence on the forest floor. And that’s exactly the idea.
Through his Draft Works Horse Logging, Lane, a retired health care administrator, practices a form of low-impact logging that resembles early forestry operations on the North Olympic Peninsula, though on a small scale.
Less harm
“This is not fast-food logging,” said Lane, who compares his operation to the organic food movement.
For spouses David Mattern and Pam Wilder, it couldn’t be done in a better way.
The Seattle couple own the 23-acre forested property, where they plan to build a yurt-like house and one day retire.
The roughly two dozen logs that Lane and his horses will pull from the woods, each one previously knocked down by wind, will be used to build the ceiling and decking.
The couple said they wanted to use wood to do the least harm to the forest on their property and hire as locally as possible.
“It really is the perfect fit,” David Mattern said.
Lane started his business about four years ago. He said he had always been fascinated by draft horses and enjoyed being outdoors.
Horse logging seemed to be a perfect fit.
“It all just came together,” Lane said.
And it has grown since.
Growing business
Two years ago, he started his own lumber manufacturing business, Heritage Millworks, which he will use to turn the Matterns’ wood into ceiling and deck panels.
Then last year, he teamed up with Sitkum Tree Service and Scott Whitmore of S&L Portable Sawmill to form the Olympic Forest Guild.
Together, they provide a one-stop shop for local and low-impact logging and lumber.
But it’s not just about sustainability.
“We can produce really high-quality stuff,” Whitmore said.
“We have the ability to customize, to cut boards to any size a customer is looking for.”
Lane acknowledged that convincing landowners to hire someone who uses a logging method seen as a bit outdated can be a hard sell.
“It’s not what we do; it’s what we don’t do,” Lane said he tells potential customers.
“It [the land] would not look the same.”
Still, working with large animals with a mind of their own does present its own challenges, he said.
“They are different every day you work with them,” Lane said, adding that his own behavior will rub off on them.
“You can’t rush it with horses . . . as soon as you show anxiety about your work, it’s not going to be as smooth.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
