Just behind a car dealership in Sandy, Oregon, the roar of chainsaws became almost deafening, as the smell of sawdust hung in the air.

Seventeen artists gathered last weekend for the fourth annual Sandy Invitational Chainsaw Competition, carving a variety of complex designs — Sasquatches, roses, frogs and more — using powerful and dangerous tools.

It’s all part of a local effort to spur interest in the timber industry. Industry leaders at the event say they struggle to hire enough workers, and they hope this art will be a gateway for a person’s career around trees.

Competition founder Austin Ernesti is the executive director of Trajectory, a Sandy-based organization that promotes timber careers and sustainable forest practices. His nonprofit organizes field trips for students to attend

He conceived of the chainsaw competition to put a spotlight on Sandy, a city founded in large part by the timber industry.

“They’re just the lure,” Ernesti said of the carvings. “We want kids to feel they can see these jobs and have them.”

The long-term decline of the timber industry, once a dominant industry in Oregon, is no secret. And while there are far fewer mills compared to previous decades, firms are struggling to fill the jobs that still exist.

A 2021 study by the U.S. Forest Service found that the struggle to hire new workers was due, in part, to “the relatively low appeal of logging employment.”

“The timber industry is having a hard time finding people to come to work and do the job,” said J.R. Hendershott, manager of forest products at Peterson Caterpillar. “We are even having a hard time finding employees that want to turn wrenches and work on diesel engines.”

Hendershott said he feels timber companies are waging a public relations battle, trying to fight the perception that it’s purely a resource-extracting industry.

“I don’t believe the public really understands what goes on in the timber industry and the stewardship involved,” he said. “They’re out there working a job that creates a renewable product, and putting people to work. I think we are still fighting that negative publicity nowadays.”

This art competition is part of that effort.

Much like a painter with a full set of brushes, each artist has an arsenal of chainsaws, ranging from huge machines for cutting large slabs to small ones for adding tiny details to their pieces. It can take three days for these artists to morph a 6-foot-tall log into a striking piece of art.

The competition featured artists from across the Pacific Northwest. Brittny Hughes traveled from Creswell, Oregon, for the competition. She carved a large rose, inspired by Beauty and the Beast. A truck driver, she started carving during the COVID-19 pandemic and now competes across the state.

“The element of danger is actually pretty fun,” Hughes said. “You’ve got to be strong and you’ve got to be careful. It’s just a beautiful thing to take a tree and turn it into something that you can love for a long time.”

Another artist, Johnny Kimball of Mount Hood, attempted one of the most ambitious pieces of the day: an enormous gnome carrying multiple tree saplings.

Kimball’s hands show the danger of his work. He has a large scar on his left hand where a small saw sliced it open while he was working with a piece of wood. He also lost most of his index finger after it was infected by a piece of hemlock.

Despite this, he still loves the work. A former contractor, he now works on commissioned pieces full time. He also does demonstrations at schools, showing off his skill to students.

“I don’t like being at a desk, and so exposing people to things like this is probably the best way to give them choices in life,” Kimball said.

Eric Gregory was a teacher at Heron Creek, a school program in Clackamas County that serves students with challenging behaviors, and said many of his students were the same way.

For the past five years, the Sandy nonprofit Trajectory has organized field trips to different sectors of the timber industry. This has given students, including some of Gregory’s, a chance to try these jobs for themselves.

“People don’t come to them and they don’t get field trips as much as other students,” Gregory said. “That’s worth so much.”

He said he’s already had former students who have started working in timber. Even for those who don’t pursue that career, he notices that the work ignites a spark in them.

“They don’t know it’s there, and it’s all around us in Oregon,” he said. “Even the ones that act like they’re not interested, to see them with axes, to see them with chainsaws — they light up.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/13/oregon-chainsaw-competition-sandy-timber-industry/