Loggers hired to begin clearing county land
After several months of deliberation, the county’s Land Committee, which is made up of Carl Bouldin, George Smartt and David Vandagriff, has chosen a logging company to cut timber from several tracts of county-owned land.
According to committee members, Rhea & Son Logging, owned by father son team Tony and Marty Rhea, will be handling the project and began cutting timber Friday.
Committee member George Smartt reiterated the county’s reasons for pursuing the project, which was first reported in the Standard this April. But according to chairman Carl Bouldin, Land Committee members have actually been discussing the possibility of cutting the timber for around three years.
“We’ve got some county property here that has some marketable timber,” Smartt said. “It’s in a lowland. It’s not development ground, and it needs to be utilized to get whatever money we can out of it, with the possibility of filling it in sometime in the future. If somebody wanted to build something here, then the first step would be to clean it off.”
According to Smartt, one of the reasons the county has chosen Rhea & Son is the more lucrative deal they have agreed to give the county.
“We have contracted with these gentlemen to cut it for the county on the shares,” Smartt said. “They’re giving the county 60 percent and they’re taking 40. The usual basis is 50-50. I think they’re being generous with the county also, and we appreciate that.”
The proposed tracts of timber are located off Belmont Drive across from the old DeZurik plant right next to Pack Manufacturing, with another tract along the bypass behind the sanitation department. Still another tract, with perhaps the best timber on it, is behind the old cheese plant, and finally a fourth tract is in the intersection of the bypass and the railroad track, near the old cemetery and backing to Magness Drive.
The Rheas bring many years of logging experience.
“I’ve been in it for about 40 years,” Tony said.
“I’ve been in it with him for the last 10 years,” Marty added.
They will be required to utilize Tennessee logging best management practices, according to Smartt.
“Which means they won’t do anything like run across flowing streams or dump oil in streams or anything like that,” Smartt said. “These guys have been in business for a long time and they know all the requirements.”
“We’re members of the Tennessee Forestry Association,” Tony said.
Bouldin said the land has marginal development value at present.
“This timber’s just sitting here not doing anybody any good,” Bouldin said. “I think it’s a real good idea for the county to sell the timber we’ve got on this property, and get the property cleaned up some where the younger timber can have the chance to grow, and maybe in the future we’ll have some more timber to sell.”
Smartt said it would be hard to estimate how much money the timber would generate until the project was actually completed.