When watching Timber Titans, one thing is evident. Logging isn’t for the faint of heart. The Weather Channel series follows companies based in British Columbia, Canada as they battle the elements and merciless terrain in their efforts to harvest this most vital of resources. They may all share a deep rooted passion for one the region’s oldest professions, but each brings a different approach and backstories to the job.
Sig Kemmler, co-owner and project manager of Integrated Operations Group, has been in the game for almost half a century. His company stands out in the industry with a proven track record built on sustainable logging and forest maintenance. This unique heli-logging operation works the western coast of Vancouver Island salvaging dead and downed timbers in the most remote locations. Crews risk life and limb scaling 150-foot trees so they can be harvested by a heavy lift helicopter.
Here Kemmler checked in from a boat anchored off Catalina Island to reflect on Season 2 and the popular series’ future.
The show has been a hit for The Weather Channel. How is it for you to see it resonate?
Sig Kemmler: I think everybody has a different perspective of the show and what’s great about it. People around me, my friends and family, just love it. It’s entertaining. For me, one of the most important things is that I’m completing my career and retiring soon. So, it’s really important to have Timber Titans, which really depicts how it really is out here for loggers. It’s not all dramatized or scripted like some of the other shows where it’s like, “this log is going to save the company” and silly things like that. I think it degrades loggers when we do that. Our industry as you’ll see from our guys, we’re really proud of what we do. It’s really nice to get a positive message out and the fact it got some resonance is really fulfilling to me.
Sig Kemmler/The Weather Channel
How would you say it has drawn visibility toward your company?
I think a lot of guys are finding it kind of funny where they’d walk into a coffee shop and hear, “I know you.” It’s so funny as I had an old-timer do that about a year ago. I was able to get him a Timber Titans sticker, and he was so pleased by that. You see all ages of folks. My young nephews and my grandchildren enjoy it. But even the old loggers who have retired just love seeing something that really depicts British Columbia and the logging scenery being really positive.
Your unique approach to it as well stands out. It’s fun to see the helicopters at work. There is so much precision involved. There is also that suspense of going around electrical power lines and things like that. I wouldn’t think of all this when you think of logging. How is it showing the different sides of your line of work?
Where I like to start is a simple phrase that wood is good. We actually took an examination of what we needed to do to protect our environment. I think you’ll find wood is such a fantastic solution to so much of what we do. I think the unique approach we have is we just don’t produce products to make paper or build houses. It’s also like you said what we do with the utility industry. We’re providing a product for transmission poles that carry massive powerlines over great distances. As we are upgrading our power system throughout North America, it has become such an important part of our business and the power grid. It’s an important part.
What did you think of Season 2?
Everybody I’ve talked to liked the first season, but thought Season 2 was even better. You’ve got some of our climbers that were shown through video and drone shots in the trees with the powerlines where we provided vegetation management around the powerlines. That has been fantastic. They also got to see our salvage operation where we are logging with the big machine. They got to see it’s not that simple. People may say at sea, it’s really hard to show how big the waves are. You can take 400 pictures and never see that 20-feet breaking through and scaring the heck out of you. In the forest, it’s very similar. It’s difficult to see you’re actually crawling on your hands and knees through 10-foot deep brush just to get to where you want to work. It has been pretty cool to see that being shown as well like it had in Season 2.
How was it watching back how things play out? What did you walk away with from the experience?
I really enjoyed working with the log barges, when you see them loading up. There are a couple of shows where they are loading the log barges with the big cranes. I knew a fair bit about it because I’ve been doing this for 47 years, but to see and be actually there. The thing that was the most eye-opening if you go to work day-to-day and work for someone, but when you’re watching your own logs get loaded, your logs get flown, you’re paying the payroll for everyone, it’s pretty eye-opening. You start to have more appreciation that every second counts.
What do you think of how the show spotlights not only how you tackle jobs but your colleagues?
Our business is very diversified. We do some work not shown on the show. It’s good to see how the show does such a good spectrum of harvesting logging. That’s what makes it interesting. Peters Contract Logging, from people I’ve talked to, has really resonated because he is a young fellow that is really working hard to make his business work in the industry. It has been really challenging. It’s not a simple business financially or physically.
You also see how the weather plays into what you do and the challenges you face.
The weather is hugely controlling for our business because we are predominantly flying helicopters. If we’re not moving product off the mountainside, we’re flying people into the mountainous terrain on helicopters. This makes us super susceptible to fog, wind, heavy rains even. Then at the other end of it, part of the logger’s dilemma. I remember having a young family and working hard. September, October, November and December start freezing up where you start to get heavy rain and sometimes snow and have to sit at home for a while and you’ve got payments, young kids, and always anxious to get back to work. You work really hard and then fire season comes. Then during the fire season you can’t go into the bush again. You’re always battling the weather it seems. It’s the one uncontrollable. It has an enormous impact on our business.
Sig Kemmler/The Weather Channel
When it comes to retirement, are you trying to make it to 50 before stepping away? What’s the plan for the company’s future?
Our company stands in a really strong position, largely because of our diversification, being in the utilities business and not just logging. I have a real desired commitment to see the company do really well as I extract myself. I’ll be retiring soon, but be coming back to consult and help out wherever I can. You’re business is probably know different. People that have your experience are not everywhere. It’s very specialized work here. It takes years to build that experience. I think part of what forestry has gone through in North America is a lot of people have left the business and don’t want to come back. When you develop the kind of years of experience you and I have, it’s not easily duplicatable.
Sig Kemmler/The Weather Channel
Do you see the show helping or hurting in terms of motivating someone to join the industry?
When you’re a bit older, they aren’t going to want to do it. I think for the younger guys, they’ll want to do it because it’s exciting. It’s a younger man’s game. I used to climb trees, but I would never do that now. It’s a younger man’s game. I think the show has really created excitement among young guys and everyone in the business. How many places do you know where people go to work and look forward to the day and some of the shots they have. Like one of the climbers at the top of a tree holds his arms out and hears me screaming on the radio and a big log comes off the ground without a problem and you’re like, “Woo!”
It’s like scoring a touchdown.
Exactly!
What can you say about the future of the show?
We haven’t been told there is a Season 3. I will say one thing that has changed for me is I have something else to look forward to now. I hope there is a Season 3. One thing that delightfully blew me away was I’m sitting at home and getting this message from Germany where some of my relatives live. They are watching the Timber Titans in Germany in English. I’m still laughing. It’s so cool. We’re looking forward to Season 3. I think we’ve shown a lot of what we do, but it’s kind of like this. Every person is completely different. Every day you go in the bush and experience the forest, you experience something different. I don’t know if you can truly capture everything in 10 seasons. Everything is different. Last year we didn’t get it on the show. I don’t think they were filming, but we had a lightning strike right outside the tug. What’s the luck of that? Every day is different. We encourage different things on every tree for God’s sake.
Timber Titans airs on The Weather Channel (Check Listings) and The Weather Channel app.