A Logging Podcast
Wood & Iron
For Loggers. By Loggers.
Wood & Iron is a podcast that explores the needs and challenges of today’s logger. Join our hosts as they explores business operation, policy navigation, and the future of logging with loggers from the Midwest to the West. The goal of Wood & Iron is to promote a successful and sustainable logging workforce in our forested states by offering relevant and timely information that you can listen to during your time in the cab.
Produced by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Wisconsin Forestry Center and is hosted by WFC’s High School Program Manager Jared Schroeder and Manley Jobs host and WFCA executive director Blake Manley. Wood & Iron is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, and many other platforms.
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THIS MONTH’S GUEST
Jeff Plikat
May 2026
Jeff Plikat calls himself a small-town, family man, born and raised on timber dollars. As a kid, he always knew he would be a logger when he grew up. Jeff started working weekends cleaning ditches and mud out of the tracks of the equipment. He’s been working for the company since 1998. Jeff has been married to his beautiful and loving wife for 12 years. They have 3 girls and 1 boy. Together, with Jeff’s dad, who started the company in 1979 and his sister, they employ 65-70 people at Plikat Logging in Roseburg, Oregon. They log, have 16 log trucks, and 4 lowboy trucks. The family works year round and enjoys summer weekends at their family cabins at Diamond Lake in the Cascades.
MEET YOUR HOSTS
Blake Manley
Executive Director of the Western Forestry and Conservation Association and Host of Manley Jobs
Blake brings over 25 years of forest sector experience in logging, procurement, timber sale administration, education, training, and lumber manufacturing. A University of Idaho graduate with an emphasis in Timber Harvesting, his passion for forestry education has impacted Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and California through diverse initiatives promoting industry awareness.
Jared Schroeder
High School Program Manager, Wisconsin Forestry Center, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Jared is a 14-year veteran of the public school system where he taught high school biology in a small rural Central Wisconsin school. Jared has always had a sense of awe when it came to the forest. Growing up on a farm in Wisconsin he saw and experienced the necessity for sustainable forest practices. As an educator he saw the power that curriculum can have on shaping the minds of students. He now works for the Wisconsin Forestry Center at UWSP where he is developing an immersive applied curriculum for secondary school settings that aims to aid in workforce development in forestry industries.
MEET THE EDITOR
Joe Rogers
Wood & Iron Audio Editor
Behind the scenes at Wood and Iron, Joe Rogers serves as the audio editor. Rogers graduated from UW-Stevens Point in 2006 with a degree in business administration and joined Sentry Insurance that same year. He was infected with the podcasting bug in 2009 and has been editing and producing podcasts and videos ever since. After 15 years with Sentry, he left in 2021 to pursue freelance projects. When he’s not spending time with his patient wife, Kelly, or curious 7-year-old, Dane, you can find him playing tabletop miniature games, cooking ethnic cuisines, administering Salesforce orgs, hiking (quite moderate) inclines, designing games, or reading just about anything.
Wood & Iron Resources
Send us your questions
Have a question or comment for our hosts? How about an idea for a future episode? Let us know; we’d love to hear from you! Contact us with your questions, comments, or ideas.
Sponsor Wood & Iron
Want to advertise your product, company, or organization on Wood & Iron? Sponsor a season or an episode!
Learn more by reaching out to Susan Barrett.
THIS MONTH’S EPISODE SPONSORED BY
