12/04/2025
Today, the Oregon Department of Forestry announced that Austin Weber and his company Weber Logging and Construction of Roseburg were chosen as Operator of the Year for the Southwest Oregon Region.
Weber was one of only three forest operators named by ODF as the State’s Top Forest Operators for 2025.
The ODF press release states:
“Austin Weber and his company Weber Logging and Construction were chosen as Operator of the Year for the Southwest Oregon Region for successfully working under new Forest Practices Act rules requiring him to protect a half dozen stands of trees in especially steep areas at risk of landslides. Leaving trees in those stands served various purposes, including protecting soils from erosion and downstream water from sediments. Trees left standing would also be available when they eventually fell over to deliver woody debris for future fish habitat. To do so, Weber had to set up multiple yarding sites and haul logs up to landings on the side of the road above the harvest unit.
Michael Williams of Roseburg Forest Products, who nominated Weber, said he also protected a fish-bearing stream in the unit, avoiding damage to trees in the stream buffer. Williams noted that Weber has for almost 20 years consistently excelled at protecting natural resources while harvesting in some of the most challenging situations in the region.”
Videos about each of the three Operators of the Year and five Merit Award winners can be seen on ODF’s website: https://www.oregon.gov/odf/Working/Pages/default.aspx
Congrats to Austin Weber and Weber Logging and Construction!
The state and private landowners manage about 11 million of Oregon's 30 million forested acres. These forests are often called "working forests" because they produce the renewable tree supply for the wood, paper, and pulp-based products we use daily.
