2017 International Forest Industries Magazines May 2017 SHOW Special | Page 80

Three generation of Hankinsons. (Left to right) Scott, Sandy, Roger, Leo and Curtis.
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Story by Kevin Orfield
Photography by Michael Newell
ova Scotia is known for
having the world’s highest
tides and best scallops. It
also boasts beautiful coastline –
and some pretty daunting terrain.
Nova Scotians call Newfoundland,
its neighbor to the northeast, “The
Rock,” but the nickname would
be equally fitting for their own
province.
“It’s some of the worst terrain
you can find,” says Leo Hankinson,
co-owner of Hankinsons’ Logging.
“I don’t know how trees can even
grow in some of these conditions.
People look at a typical site we’d
work in and say, ‘Let’s get the
Hankinsons to cut it.’ We can go
where no one else can.”
Hankinsons’ Logging operates
a cut-to-length operation with
six John Deere harvesters and
four John Deere forwarders. “Our
father, Roger, taught us that to stay
in business, we need to go easy
on the equipment,” says Sandy
Hankinson, Leo’s brother and co-
owner. “He also showed us how
to do mechanical work – he was a
mechanic himself. Most important,
he taught us to do the best job we
can possibly do.”
Like his father and grandfather,
Leo’s son Curtis is a mechanic,
having recently completed training
74 International Forest Industries | APRIL / MAY 2017
at a community college in Kentville.
“My father got me interested
in becoming a mechanic – it’s
something I’d love to make a living
out of.
Sandy’s son, 17-year-old Scott,
loves to run the harvester, like his
dad – although these days Sandy
drives truck, just like his father,
Roger. “Scott can’t wait to finish
high school so he can work in the
woods full time,” says Sandy.
New set of wheels
Hankinsons’ Logging began
operating in 1989. At the time,
Roger owned a trucking business
and was hauling wood for Bowater
Mersey Paper Company’s logging
contractors. He and his sons
bought one of the contractors out,
and a new business was born.
Leo ran a Hahn harvester, while
Sandy, who had just graduated
from Maritime Forest Ranger
School, skidded wood using a
Timberjack cable skidder. Roger,
naturally, drove the truck. “We
cut and hauled two loads a day,”
recalls Roger. “We just kept
going. And we eventually started
growing.”
In 1994 the company began
contracting for J.D. Irving, Limited
and switched from skidders to
forwarders. It also swapped its
Hahn harvester for a Timberjack
1270 Harvester. “It was the first
1270 Harvester in the Maritimes,”
an area which includes Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince
Edward Island, recalls Sandy.
“Quite a lot of people came to see
the machine and started using the
same system, which is better for
the environment.”
“I remember that day well,”
says Leo. “There were about
20 people standing around the
machine and the trainer says, ‘It’s
time for someone to try it.’ My
brother said, ‘You take her, Leo,’
and he jumped right out of the
harvester”, Leo laughs. “But we
picked it up pretty quick.”
Today the company employs
12 crewmembers and harvests
over 60 loads of softwood a week
for a German conglomerate,
mostly spruce used for studs. The
company runs four 1270D and two
1270E harvesters, plus two 1410D
forwarders, a 1710D, and a 1910E
forwarder.
“I love the wheeled harvesters,”
says Leo. “They haven’t given
us hardly any trouble. They start
when it’s cold and they just keep
running. Just check the fluids,
change the oil, and put fuel in them