Joe Hester Logging, LLC

Joe Hester Logging, LLC, doing business as Hester Racing, supplies heavy forestry equipment and related services to the U.S. Forest Service and other Department of Agriculture agencies as a prime contractor on firm fixed-price purchase orders and Indefinite Delivery Contracts set aside for total small business participation. The company operates from Post Falls, Idaho, as a for-profit limited liability company without federal vehicle holdings, sub-award relationships, or set-aside certification beyond small business status; it competes on full-and-open and small-business-reserved purchase orders, not on franchise vehicles or preferred programs.

Joe Hester Logging's customer concentration is heavily skewed to the U.S. Forest Service across multiple regions. The top five customer agencies account for 90% of awards. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Region 1 (Northern Region) anchors the portfolio with 44 awards worth $4.9 million combined potential value — roughly one-third of all awards and a third of total dollars. The National Interagency Fire Center (Fire and Aviation Management) follows with 12 Indefinite Delivery Contracts and related task orders worth $3.6 million combined potential value. The Forest Service Region 3 (Southwestern Region) contributed four large single orders worth $3 million, the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region issued six awards worth $1.3 million, and Region 6 (Pacific Northwest Region) placed 12 awards totaling $1.2 million. This geographic and functional concentration reflects Joe Hester Logging's position as a regional forestry equipment supplier across the Northern and Eastern Forest Service zones.

Capability work spans three core equipment classes: log loaders, forwarders, logging trucks, log processors, feller bunchers, and water handling equipment including water tenders and fire-suppression-capable machinery. Representative prime awards include a $1.23 million firm fixed-price purchase order from the USDA Forest Service Region 3 (Southwestern Region) in May 2022 for feller bunchers, skidders, and forwarders at the Calf Canyon site near Santa Fe; a $569 thousand purchase order from the same region in August 2022 for log truck services at the Calf Canyon timber sale; a $368 thousand purchase order from Region 1 (Northern Region) in July 2023 for log loaders and forwarders to support timber harvesting and fire suppression; and recent purchases in June 2025 from the Forest Service Idaho Region for log loaders, forwarders, and processors totaling over $1.1 million across five separate orders. Work is performed across CONUS locations including Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and Minnesota, with administrative oversight at Post Falls, Idaho.

Joe Hester Logging holds nine active Indefinite Delivery Contracts with the National Interagency Fire Center under the Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) program, awarded or renewed between May 2022 and February 2026. These are all set aside for total small business participation and carry individual ceilings of $250 thousand to $750 thousand, with a combined potential value of approximately $3.6 million. The contracts are structured as multiple-award blanket purchase agreements providing miscellaneous heavy equipment, water handling equipment, and heavy equipment with water capabilities to support fire suppression, all-hazard incident response, and prescribed burn operations across Forest Service East Zone Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9. The VIPR vehicles authorize optional use by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs. Two of these IDCs (12034320T7124 and 1202SB22T7097) have generated task orders totaling $104 thousand combined.

Activity was elevated in 2022 (16 awards), declined through 2023–2024 (10 and 6 awards respectively), and recovered to 12 and 8 awards in 2025 and 2026. Combined potential value across all 87 awards is $14.6 million, with $10.6 million obligated (73% of ceiling). The company operates exclusively as a prime — all 87 awards are prime contracts or IDVs with no sub-award footprint. Joe Hester Logging's work is concentrated in NAICS 561730 (Support Activities for Forestry) across 73 awards and NAICS 532420 (Construction, Mining, and Forestry Machinery and Equipment Rental and Leasing) across 14 awards. Procurement Service Code concentration runs to 34100 (Natural Resources/Conservation—Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression) on 60 awards, consistent with fire suppression and emergency response posture.