Despite workplace hazards and industry’s decline, logging still beckons in parts of Oregon

According to recent federal data, workers in the logging industry are roughly 33 times more likely to die from a workplace injury compared to those in other civilian occupations. In Oregon, the industry has been in decline since the ‘90s due to a mix of environmental restrictions around timber harvests, wildlife protections for endangered animals and competition from lumber imports. But the lure of high wages can outweigh the physical risks loggers face, especially in rural parts of the state, as The New York Times economics correspondent Kurtis Lee recently found during a reporting trip to southwestern Oregon. He joins us to share what he learned.

Correction: In the initial broadcast of this interview, Dave Miller incorrectly characterized the nature of Oregon OSHA workplace inspections. The agency does not give advance notice of its inspections. The audio of the interview has been updated to remove this mischaracterization. OPB regrets the error.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. According to recent federal data, loggers are roughly 33 times more likely to die from workplace injuries than people in other jobs. But as The New York Times economics correspondent, Kurtis Lee recently found during a reporting trip to southwestern Oregon, the lure of high wages can outweigh the physical risks that loggers face. Kurtis Lee joins us now. It’s good to have you on the show.

Kurtis Lee: Hey, thanks for having me.

Miller: What makes logging the most dangerous profession in the U.S.?

Lee: That’s a good question. I think a number of things are at play. You’re dealing with a very rural, remote job, you’re dealing with heavy equipment and just frankly cutting down logs is dangerous. I mean, these are massive trees and a lot of densely populated forests. So I think a mixture of it being very rural [and] if an injury takes place, it’s hard to get to a hospital. That obviously increases the fatality rate. Also, it’s very heavy machinery. There’s a lot of moving objects at these job sites. And there’s a lot of factors at play in terms of safety, just making sure that people are following certain rules and precautions as they work at these job sites in rural parts of the state of Oregon and other parts of the Pacific Northwest, as well.

Miller: And just to be clear, despite what we hear on things like TV shows about, say, professions like commercial fishing, logging is more dangerous according to federal data?

Lee: Yeah, it’s about 100 for every 100,000 logging workers who die in a workplace injury. And that’s compared to 4 per 100,000 for all workers of different professions. So, I mean, logging is very dangerous. It’s much more dangerous than being a roofer. It’s much more dangerous than being a hunter, commercial fishing or even a construction worker. The death rate for loggers is the highest in the country. And that’s why we really wanted to focus on this story.

The headline is “Inside the deadliest job in America” and we wanted to spend time in the Pacific Northwest. Obviously, there’s a large number of logging jobs up there. There’s also a large number of logging jobs in the deep South and we wanted to really go beyond the numbers. We wanted to actually tell stories of people on the ground, what logging work means to communities, and really understand people’s lives and offer some humanity to the work that’s being done.

Miller: How big is the logging industry in Oregon now, compared to what it used to be?

Lee: Federal data shows that in the early 1990s there were about 11,000 people working in the logging industry. And that’s people who are cutting the trees down and shipping the trees around the country or overseas. Now, that number is down to 4,400. So there’s definitely been a decline in the logging industry in Oregon. And again, but it’s also one of the best paying jobs in a lot of rural stretches of the state. There’s state data that shows that logging work [is] 17% higher than other wages in these rural areas. So it’s obviously very lucrative work and very dangerous work, as well.

Miller: One of the people you focused on is a logger named Eduardo Mendoza Arias from Coos Bay. Can you tell us his story?

Lee: Yeah, Eduardo was born and raised in Mexico but went to California’s Central Valley [where] he worked in the fields before making his way up to southwestern Oregon in the early 2000s. He began working in the logging industry and did a number of jobs on these sites. He worked on a big machine called a yarder, and that basically moves logs from one area of the job site to the next and kind of controls a lot of movement on these sites. He also would cut down the trees and help transport trees.

He worked at this company in southwestern Oregon since 2006, Riverside Logging. He had been there for years and was killed on January 6, 2021 in an accident while on a yarding machine there in a rural stretch outside of Coos Bay. I had a chance to spend time with his wife, Jennifer, and really just kind of understand his life a little more and the work he did. [It’s] one thing to read an Oregon OSHA report, but it’s another thing to actually sit down and understand Eduardo. He was a father of three girls. He had a good life there. He played in a local soccer league for immigrants from Latin America. And he had really built a life there with his family and also the work that he would do in Coos Bay working as a logger.

Miller: What did come from official inquiries into his death?

Lee: An Oregon OSHA report basically laid out that it was raining on January 6, 2021. They were in a rural site outside of Coos Bay. Eduardo was working on that yarder machine that I just described that basically moves logs from one part of the job site to the next and kind of manages the flow of the logs on the site. And there seemed to be an issue with how the yarder was working. It was kind of stripping the wood off the logs in an odd way. And this is according to an OSHA report – he basically got out of the cab of the yarder, and he slipped and fell down into the shaft of this big massive machine that weighs several tons, and he was crushed to death.

OSHA went out, did an investigation and found that there should have been a cover over that shaft so a person couldn’t fall down in there. And the company was fined $1,500. It was a tragedy. It broke Jennifer, I mean she’s dealing with the loss of a spouse. Two of their daughters are older, but there’s still one little girl who’s at home and it’s been difficult since 2021. But she said Eduardo enjoyed his work. There were a lot of stresses being a logger, obviously because there’s a lot of safety concerns. But ultimately, he loved to be outside and working in the forest.

Miller: What did she tell you about the way her late husband thought about the risks of the job?

Lee: There was a lot of stress going out there knowing that a lot of the landscape down in southwestern Oregon – as I’m sure your listeners know – there’s a lot of hills, a lot of steep slopes. Where the logging takes place, you’re in very rural, remote areas. If you’re on a machine like a yarder machine and slanted on a hillside, there are concerns that the machine could roll down the hill, could flip over on you. There’s just a lot of stresses in doing the job, but again, it was a well-paying job. It helped him raise his family. They were homeowners there in Coos Bay. There were risks, but also there were economic benefits to doing the work.

Miller: My understanding is that the company did not speak to you but Oregon OSHA did. What did you hear from this state agency focused on workplace safety about what they’re doing to keep loggers safe and to prevent workplace injuries?

Lee: Oregon OSHA basically laid out the fact that they’re being preventative in a lot of this. I mean, they’re not just showing up on sites after accidents have happened and filing reports. They’re doing inspections, they’re identifying issues that companies are having and they’re penalizing them. They said that since 2019, they’ve done 156 inspections of logging companies. It’s resulted in more than 290 violations and penalties of upwards of $230,000. Their argument really is that they’re working to be preventative and to make sure that companies are in compliance, that there’s safety parameters in place and that these accidents don’t take place. But inevitably, these accidents will take place and do take place.

Miller: I wonder if you could tell us about one more person you talked to: a logger named Dennis Root, who has been in the industry off and on, largely on, since he was 17 years old. He’s been there for decades. Can you tell us about the serious injuries that he has suffered?

Lee: Yeah, Dennis Root lives in Sheridan, which is about an hour south of Portland. He has been a logger for the past 30 years. Dennis has seen a lot on different job sites around rural parts of Oregon. In 2003, he was struck by a large log as they were trying to move it at a job site, and he was hit in the head and had a severe concussion. He also had to have facial reconstruction surgery after those injuries. He also, several years ago, was on a site where a log struck a young man in the chest and killed him instantly.

He’s seen a lot of the tragedy, the issues with logging, but he has also said that safety has gotten better. But yeah, he’s quit three times in the last 30 years. He sold all of his gear – his helmet, his boots, his hickory shirts – and he did something different. He went and built houses, he did welding work. But ultimately, the force kept calling him back. He enjoyed being outside. Logging is in his blood. It runs in his family. His 18-year-old son is a logger now. He’s getting into logging work. So it’s really a part of life for them. And even though there are risks, it’s in his blood really.

Miller: This seemed like a really important point that it’s not as simple as saying this is a really well paying job and that is that alone is the lure. From what you heard, there is also a deep cultural connection, right?

Lee: Oh, absolutely. It’s as if you’re a worker that lives in Michigan and the auto industry could be in your blood. You live in rural West Virginia, the coal industry is in your blood. When you’re in rural parts of the Pacific Northwest, logging is a part of life. And there’s something about being in the forest for a lot of these individuals I spoke to that they really enjoy – getting up before sunrise, heading out and putting in a day’s work of hard labor. It’s in their blood. I heard over and over [about] the passion for the work that’s being done in rural parts of the state.

Miller: And just briefly, you said that Dennis Root has been there something like 35 years as a logger. I’m curious what he said to you in terms of the changes he’s seen in that time, in terms of a safety culture?

Lee: In that time, he mentioned that obviously there’s been more automation that’s come into the logging industry. And other loggers as well have said that a lot of automation has come in and that’s made things more safe on job sites than before. Although that is cutting into jobs in different ways. More protocols are in place. A lot of companies – there’s a benefit to being safe. When you have a violation, that’s an economic hit, and you’re going to have to shut down and address that issue. These companies are on tight schedules to meet deadlines to get work done. Having safety violations could slow that down and hurt the bottom line for the company.

He said that automation has come in and that’s added some safety to it. But really, it’s just an awareness, being cognizant of what’s going on out there, having experienced loggers and looking out for one another has been beneficial.

Miller: Kurtis, thanks very much.

Lee: Thanks so much for having me.

Miller: That’s Kurtis Lee. He covers economics and labor for The New York Times.

Contact “Think Out Loud®”

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.