His four kids are grown now. But when they were in grade school, John Rolle would take their science classes out to the woods where his crew was felling trees, cleaning off limbs and getting the timber ready to haul to mills in International Falls, Bemidji and Cloquet.
"We'd cook hot dogs and show 'em stuff."
Contrast that with the image some people have of loggers, wreaking havoc on Minnesota's beloved forests.
"We're kind of stereotyped as these big monsters, and we're not," he said. "I don't know why we're so misunderstood down there in the Twin Cities area because I believe we're the true stewards of the land."
They harvest aging timber, clean out acres of storm blowdown "so the woods are pristine again" and plant more than they cut.
He says trees are like people.
"When you get to 80, you become more susceptible to diseases, you're on the downward slide and you die. Same thing with wood."
Last fall, Rolle was invited to a meeting at a logging industry seminar in Tower. Unlike previous years, the Forest Resources Association didn't tip off the winner of its Outstanding Logger from the region. When they announced his name, he turned to Mike Anderson, who's been his so-called delimber for 25 years.
