to Lars ‘and be lectured on “tartaing? the: land inatead of destroying it, ao
. .. Not everyone agreed with Lars, of course. Many industry proponents defended past practiées and.
had official statistics backing their view. Lars afforded these types little time. “Blind,” he would tell them.’ fo
“You tell me there’s a forest but you can’t show me a single good tree.” ia
_ - When these people left in frustration, Lars would laugh. There. was little he could do about the
forests of the world anyway. And the men who had just left, the men who so strongly argued against’. - oe
Lars’ point of view, secretly admired what they saw: a small forest, a small mill and a large family... Prey
All somewhat unaffected by what was happening on the bigger scale. .
And this was the true basis of Lars’ pride. His forest he loved, but his family came first. Two
’ events had scarred his memories of the past, though: William died in a logging accident on July
19, 1951. Twenty-one years old, crushed between two logs at a landing site. Lars was devastat-
ed, Gretchen never recovered. She died on September 16i in the following year, ofa bro-
ken heart, according to Lars. |
| But James, in spite of his rebellious nature as a young man, had sur-
vived and become a part of the woodlot operation. And he had piven.Lars four
grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren as well.
Today, at the-age of 84, Lars still oversees his woodlot... Still manages to.
' get out and survey recent cuts, decide where and how the next cut will be done.
“It’s a necessity,” says Lars. His own son, James, is busy with his own
logging company. So are three of his four grandchildren. For this reason,
against his better judgement, Lars employs his son-in-law, “Plug” Nicholl,
from time-to-time.
To keep Plug in line, though, Lars reminds him at least twice a month
how he came to be known as Plug Nicholl. It was.a nickname coined by his friend
Herby Squish just before he fired him from Jovial logging. .
Still, Lars doesn’t mind the challenge offered in keeping Plug it in line. He
remarried in 1984, but still needs his forest to busy his mind. Some say, in fact,
if Lars had an “intelligent” man looking after the woodlot, he would have noth-
ing to do and would probably die. As it is, he is just too stubborn to die and
leave Plug Nicholl in peace.
But Lars keeps busy at other things too... Much to the frustration of
the family. Within the extended Widget family there are four separate .
forestry companies, They include everything from value added to consulting. _
And Lars keeps his fingers on 1 each: and every one.