GreenTree Forest Products is a family owned sawmill in Wallingford, Kentucky, which is really more of a fork in the road than a town. It employs 90 workers who come from surrounding areas, including Canon Vice.

Vice is in charge of buying logs from dozens of rural logging outfits that come from as far as 100 miles away, across eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Loggers unload their haul into long rows for Vice to measure, inspect and affix a barcode to.

“We buy all grades and most species,” Vice said. “The main ones being white oak, chestnut oak, red oak, poplar, hickory, soft maple, hard maple, and then everything else, just kind of, you know, gap fillers.”

A small pocket computer totals everything up. Vice then prints off a check and the loggers get paid. Vice’s work is quick, but pr

See Full Page