The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 9

Missoulian, Saturday, April 27, 2013 A9 FROM PAGE A1 Forestry warm up his chainsaw before placing it on the ground and his hands on the log. At the bang of a starter's gun, they snatched their saws and started cutting. Stephenson's down-stroke finished first. Lindstrom was a little more precise, though. He finished his up-stroke faster, while Stephenson made his second cookie cut too wide.

He was disqualified for taking more than 4 inches off the log. Even so, each took less than .20 seconds to make both cuts. "Everybody here has a normal job," Braxton said as he waited for his next event the "hot -saw" modified chainsaw cut. "But the total prize money today is $10,000, maybe more. If you score last in every event, you still make $600.

There were 200 applicants wanting to compete today. This is the best of the best in timber sports." KURT WILSON: Missoulian Baucus Continued eliminate a lot of deductions and credits and exclusions, to free people up, so they use less time with lawyers and accountants to figure out what's in the (code) and spend more time running their businesses." Baucus chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the tax code. The panel already has been working toward a possible overhaul of the tax code, and Baucus has appointed an advisory council of Montanans as a sounding board for tax-reform ideas. He said he hopes Congress can reach an agreement by the end of the year on a tax-reform package that simplifies the code and uses any additional revenue to lower rates for families and businesses and help reduce the federal deficit. Baucus shocked the political world and Montana on Tuesday when he announced his pending retirement, although he said Friday that he'd been thinking and talking about it with his family and close advisers for several months.

He already had raised nearly $5 million for his reelection campaign and, so far, had faced no prominent challenger. His departure makes Montana's 2014 U.S. Senate race a wide-open contest and a likely national battleground in Democrats' fight to retain majority control. Democrats eyeing the race include former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, state Auditor Monica Lindeen, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau and Stephanie Schriock, a former campaign manager for U.S.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. If Schweitzer gets into the race, however, he'd be a clear, early front-runner for the Democratic nomination. When asked Friday about a successor or Schweitzer's possible candidacy, Baucus said it's not up to him to say who should next hold the seat. "It's up to the people, and I have high regard for, and trust in the people, they'll look (the candidates) over carefully," he said.

"And, it's awfully early." Two Republicans already are running for the seat: former state Sen. Corey Stapleton of Billings and state Rep. Champ Edmunds of Missoula. However, two prominent Republicans have said they're thinking about entering the race: U.S. Rep.

Steve Daines, who won election to his seat for the first time in November, and former U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, who lost the 2012 Senate race to Tester. Baucus said Friday that he and his wife, Melodee Hanes, will be living in Bozeman once he leaves the Senate at the end of 2014. Baucus was flanked by his wife and her son, Joey Kirk, and his own son, Zeno Baucus, and his wife, Stephanie.

Baucus spoke to reporters in front of the home of his late mother, Jean Baucus, who died in 2011. Zeno Baucus and his wife recently moved into the home on Helena's upper west side. Baucus said he began thinking about retiring from the Senate as he traveled the state the past few months, seeing many places he wanted to spend more time enjoying. He also said he owed a great debt of gratitude to the Montanans who'd supported and voted for him over the years: "To the people of Montana, my friends, thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart." Continued Anyone who's driven around Lake Placid north of Missoula has seen tall stumps with wedge holes cut in them: Locals often add paint jobs to make them look like the mouths of scary faces. Those are trees cut a century ago by loggers standing on springboards to get above the brush and the gnarly roots.

On Friday, a team of UM forestry school volunteers affectionately known as "wood monkeys" by the TV production staff helped hoist 12-foot-tall logs onto the stage, where the wood was bolted to black steel braces. Hoberg and colleagues then pinned another 4 -foot peeled log on top. The contest requires a logger to cut a wedge about 4 feet up the base log, jam in a springboard, stand on it while cutting another wedge another 4 feet up, jam in a second springboard, stand on that, and cut the top log in two. T.J. Bexten of Central Park, faced David Green of Sisters, Ore.

Their springboards were the size of ironing boards with metal straps on the pointed ends. Bexten needed just three chops to form a wedge hole deep enough to hold his board, which he leapt onto and balanced atop while whacking out his second position. But Green misjudged his wedge shape, and his springboard wouldn't stick in the log. He tried a second time, and then a third before his first platform was stable enough for him to start shaping the second. Meanwhile Bexten was raining chips out of his top log, balancing on his second springboard like a diver in a windstorm.

This being a national competition with real David Green of Sisters, reacts after running out of time before he was able to get the top log chopped off in the springboard competition. FORESTRY AT THE FORT Catch the UM College of Forestry and Conservation "Forestry Days at Fort Missoula" on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., featuring logging competitions, antique sawmill and horse-logging demonstrations, and displays. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and for students. Visit bit.ly1 4X1 fVQ for more information.

RESULTS Stihl Timbersports Western pro qualifier: 1. Walt Page, Tollhouse, Calif. 2. (tie) Mike Forrester, Idleyld Park, David Moses, Snoqualmie, Wash. 4.

Branden Sirguy, Port Angeles, Wash. 5. Jeff Skirvin, Clatskanie, Ore. 6. Rob Waibel, Sweet Home, Ore.

7. (tie) David Green, Sisters. TJ Bexten, Hoquiam, Wash. money on the line, the cutting logs come shrink-wrapped for quality control. Hoberg explained that kept the wood uniformly moist and green, so each contestant has an equal target for cutting.

The college students got to take the stage for the second event stock saw cookie-cutting. Using standard chain saws, each logger had to cut one round (or off the log on a down- stroke, followed by a second with an upstroke. But they couldn't take more than 4 inches off the whole log. UM contestant Clay Stephenson was pacing off-stage, practicing grabbing rris saw while waiting his turn. "You've got to use your whole body, not just your arms," he said.

"This sport is an entire-body Stephenson faced Colorado State University student Jamie Lindstrom. Each man got 15 seconds to i i ft Free recliner accessory with purchase of any Stressless recliner and ottoman. 14 Y. 1 1 in iniJi i ill 1PP Coming June 2 Road Trip -Your Guide To Summer Fun is a fun and funky guide to events in and around our area. It will include stories, photos and maps of places where you can go and explore something new.

Also included will be guides to summer festivals and concerts, summer fashions, must -eats across Montana -and much, much more Make sure to pick up your copy in the June 2nd Missoulian! mm BaKerTigarTes) 991 vs. 1 i A i. CARA8NUR8ERY.COM -i.