For some time now, the timber industry has been debating and experimenting with various approaches to creating and maintaining a sustainable yield as well as a stable market environment. The big challenge, of course, is that not all the factors that contribute to instability in the industry can be easily controlled.
Since there is no guaranteed blueprint for success in this business, each logging company has to look at their own needs and plans in their search to come up with a solution that fits. For Lee Miller of Miller Timber Services out of Philomath, Ore., that has meant focusing on how to create a sustainable business management model for a modern-day logging company as well as how to provide his employees with the kind of stable work environment where they can excel at their jobs without getting burned out.