GORHAM, N.H. — Magoon Logging LLC, based in Loudon, N.H., is the 2017 Outstanding Logger, as awarded by the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association (NHTOA). The award was presented to the company’s founder, Matt Magoon, and his wife Jamie at the NHTOA’s 106th Annual Meeting at the Town and Country Inn & Resort in Gorham on May 13, 2017.
“It’s an honor to be recognized for doing the right thing,” he says. “To be honest, there’s not a lot of glory in running a good business and working hard for your customers and your family.”
“It is inspiring to see what a solid business Matt and Jamie Magoon have built over the past 15 years,” says NHTOA program director Steve Patten. “Their integrity and commitment to sound harvesting practices has earned them an impeccable reputation and now some well-deserved recognition.”
“Matt is very clear that his employees and clients are business priorities. He believes strongly in providing the tools and training time to advance his team’s professionalism,” comments Jeremy Turner of Meadowsend Timberlands, a member of the NHTOA Awards Committee who reviewed Magoon Logging’s operations. “His vision is decades out, and, as a result, he makes all business decisions on strengthening the company from the inside and out, where focus is on professionalism, reputation and adaptability. Clearly Matt is a real leader in managing the ‘here and now’ while investing in the future.”
A Loudon native, Matt knew a life in the woods was for him when he was still in high school. After graduating, he worked for a local logger for a year and a half before founding his own company, Magoon Logging LLC, in 2002 — “On May 3,” he remembers distinctly. He was also in the NHTOA’s and Timber Harvesting Council’s first Professional Loggers Program graduating class, in October of 1999.
Over the years, Matt says he picked up ideas here and there “to develop our own style,” which he describes as a conservative but quality-driven approach. Attention to detail is a hallmark — “meticulous” is not too strong of a word to apply to a Magoon job site. He also takes great pride in developing long-standing personal relationships with timberland owners as well as sawmills. This kind of logging has earned Magoon an enviable, even remarkable reputation: the company has not ever, in its 15-year history, done a logging job more than 15 miles from Loudon. The quality of the work speaks for itself, and Matt’s customers spread the word. “We’ve been fortunate enough to stay in such a tight circle,” says Matt, “although we have the equipment and willingness to work anywhere landowners would like us to come.”
Turner points out that all of Magoon Logging’s employees are cross-trained. “Here the workforce rotates job duties as a normal daily motion, thus making a workplace of skilled equality and a business that is resilient to the pitfalls of narrow employee skill sets,” he notes.
Matt, 35, met his wife Jamie, who is an important part of Magoon Logging, when they were in first grade together. They’ve known each other nearly their entire lives, going to grade school and high school together in Loudon; now they have three children of their own.