Forest Products 2020

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October 30, FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • OCTOBER 30,2020 2020

HOW DRONES ARE CHANGING FORESTRY

By Roberta Scruggs, Maine Forest Products Council communication director

Regional Ranger Jeff Currier gets ready to fly MFS drone

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF CURRIER

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAINE FOREST PRODUCTS COUNCIL

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hen Regional Forest Ranger Jeff Currier fi rst suggested that the Maine Forest Service explore using drones, he sold the idea with a scenario everyone who works in the woods fears and many have experienced. Driving past or walking through a forest and thinking, “I smell wood smoke.”

Tracking that smell is tough, especially when the sun is setting, the wind drops and it’s too late to call in a helicopter. The traditional response, Currier said, was to walk through the woods, sometimes for hours, trying to locate the smoke’s source. Now, there’s a more high-tech option.

“With a drone and georeferencing of the photos and the video,” Currier said, “I can take a GPS point and say, ‘OK, ranger, plug these coordinates in and walk directly to it.’”

Currier has a 17-second video illustrating that exact scenario. Lightning ignited a fire that rangers could smell, but not see. Currier sent up a drone, panned 360 degrees, spotted smoke, flew the drone to it and pointed the camera down at a small fire.

“Every fire starts small, so we want to kill them quick,” Currier said. “It’s just incredible how much time the drone saves. How much energy it saves. How much

smarter we can be. It’s a really great tool. And this is just the beginning.”

Looking Over Maine’s Forests In Maine, drones already are contributing to sustainable forest management plans, monitoring harvest operations, finding forest fires, tracking invasive insect infestations, search and rescue, and much more.

“Right now, we’re using UAVs to help identify wet areas that need to be checked ahead of spray operations and to monitor active harvest operations for BMPs and utilization,” said Chris Fife, Weyerhaeuser’s public affairs manager for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Drones are often referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which refers only to the aircraft, not the ground control and communications units, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). As with many technologies, the first uses were military, including development of the first machine that today’s users might recognize as a drone.

Invented in 1907 by brothers Jacques and Louis Bréguet of France, the first drone was unsteerable, required four men to steady it and lifted just 2 feet off the ground in its first flight.

Finding New Uses Everyday Think of Maine’s 17.6 million acres of forestland – as well as the rest of the world – as a giant laboratory where ingenious new uses for drones are discovered all the time.

Drones are being used to catch fish, wash windows and sell homes 68 percent faster than houses without aerial images, according to MLS statistics.

Jason Irish of Irish Family Logging in Peru has been exploring ways to use his UAV for the past three years.

“It’s paid for itself many times over,” Irish said. “It’s most valuable in counting bundles. It saves me a lot of time and a lot of walking. I can count bundles in about five minutes.

Sometimes I get a call from the feller buncher about how he should get around some ledges. I can put the drone up and say go to the left to get around the ledges.”

The cost of UAVs varies widely. MFS, for example, now has seven drones. The first (and best) MFS drone cost about $2,500, Currier said, mid-level drones about $800 each, and entry-level drones, $400 each.

Thanks to a grant, the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Department (ACF) will have even more UAS. Last fall, the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL), Maine Continued on page 4

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FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • OCTOBER 30,2020 2020 October 30,

Natural Areas Program and Maine Forest Service were awarded a $10,792 grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund to support deployment of drones for natural resource monitoring and enforcement. ACF planned to purchase up to 15 drones, FAA-sponsored training, and software to store and process drone images.

“Drones have great potential to increase our efficiency of monitoring forests, wetlands, and waters, and they can also be a really useful tool for highlighting Maine’s outstanding recreational resources,” said BPL Director Andy Cutko.

“We’re thrilled to have MOHF support to help us adapt to this emerging technology.”

The ‘Go-To Guys’ Walker Day, who grew up in Lovell, began flying drones as a forestry student at the University of Maine, where he graduated in 2017. Thanks to a partnership formed between Seven Islands Land Co. and the Barbara Wheatland Geospatial Analysis Laboratory, he was awarded the first applied forest technology internship.

The Wheatland Geospatial Lab not only has specialized equipment, including a $30,000 UAV, the staff also has a great deal of experience.

“They’re the go-to guys,” Day said. “They know everything about this stuff.”

Now Day is a forester for Seven Islands in Rangeley and also

chairs Maine Forest Products Council’s Drone Committee.

Day uses a DJI Phantom 4 pro, owned by the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, to monitor the trust’s forestland.

“You can tell hardwood, softwood easily,” Day said. “You can pick out your dead trees. We use it sometimes if we have areas with a lot of blowdowns. A few years ago we had a huge windstorm that came through and we thought we had a lot of blowdowns there. So it’s an easy way to find out that we need to go in and salvage those.”

At first, everybody worries that a UAV will be hard to pilot, Day said, but they’re easy to fly and hard to lose.

“There’s a button on the remote controller and before you take off it updates the home point,” Day said. “So if you lose connection with the remote controller, once it gets to 15 percent battery life, it will automatically fly itself back and land.”

The appeal of UAS in forestry is “pretty obvious,” said Tony Guay, remote sensing specialist at Wheatland Geospatial Lab. “It’s the ability to take a pretty high-tech piece of equipment, that’s very mobile and easy to carry, and deploy it on a job site for evaluating a stand for harvest, for example, or doing postharvest site inspection.”

David Sandilands, Wheatland Geospatial Lab’s aerial survey pilot and remote sensing technician, added, “It also adds a layer of safety where it can be deployed from the side of the road. The forester parks next to the stand and he or she can look over the

area, fly over the area and inspect it without having to walk out into the woods where it’s easy to fall or trip.”

More Accurate Measurements The Wheatland Geospatial Lab team also provides a service that’s valuable to mills. Historically, mill workers have “eyeballed” a chip pile, but estimating the size of the chip or log pile with a UAS is more accurate, safer, and can be completed in about 15 minutes. It doesn’t interrupt production because the pilot sets up on the edge of the mill property.

“These piles get wide and spread out and chips make strange shapes up top and you can’t account for that when you can’t see it,” Guay said. “So we started working with Verso and a couple of other mills where we would fly the UAVs over these piles. We give them cubic yards or cubic meters or cubic feet and they can see month to month the percentage of change. It’s very critical for them to have an accurate accounting of what’s out there.”

Overcoming Obstacles However, UAS do have limits. They’re only allowed to fly 400 feet above the ground and generally aren’t equipped to fly in below-freezing temperatures, Day said, but he’s found a model that can fly at about five degrees because it has an insulated compartment for lithium batteries.

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“The biggest hindrance and roadblock for us right now is the rule is that you can’t fly beyond visual line of sight,” Day said. “You have to be able to see the aircraft the whole time you’re flying it with your naked eye, unaided by binoculars or anything.”

FAA waivers to that rule are possible, he said, but rare.

Allison Kanoti, Maine state entomologist, also sees limitations related to battery life, flight distance, and processing power.

“I see them as most helpful at this stage in the game in more intensive survey activities, such as mapping small areas of browntail moth damage; following up on data collected from fixed-wing aircraft; getting a closer look at upper canopy areas,” Kanoti said. “They are also potentially helpful in tracking changes at particular areas, such as the hemlock impact plots we have in southern Maine, and in timing more resource-intense flights. For instance, we used a UAV to look at development of late-summer feeding damage ahead of scheduling flights with the more expensive fixedwing aircraft flights.”

Another limitation is that the drone’s view may be blocked by the tree canopy.

“In a forest environment these photo-based techniques see what the camera sees,” Sandilands said. “So when you’ve got a closed-canopy forest you’re not going to see the ground, unless it’s post-harvest.”

There is, however, another tool that can penetrate dense tree canopy – Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), which now is becoming a more useful tool in Maine, Guay said, since data is available for much of the state.

Laser pulses are fired at the trees below and the time it takes for wavelengths to bounce back is used to create a 3D picture of what lies beneath. The data is combined with information from satellites to give an accurate “fix” of the UAV position. LIDAR can record information starting from the top of the canopy to the ground, which is highly valuable for understanding forest structure and shape of the trees.

UAVs can also produce an orthophoto mosaic, Guay said, “which essentially is taking a photo and correcting it so the features that are in the photograph are in their true map position. So you’re taking a photo or set of photos and turning them into a map.”

Search and Rescue Assistance Another application that’s important to Maine’s forest industry, where workers are often in remote locations, is search and rescue.

“Increasingly, UAS are proven to be essential tools for a wide range of lifesaving missions around the world,” said Dr. Robert Bowie of Down East Emergency Medical Institute (DEEMI), a nonprofit based in Orono.

In 2015, DEEMI became the first civilian search and

rescue organization to receive FAA permission to use drones.

They’ve proven their value in search and rescue, he added, by helping find people in places helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft can’t reach.

UAS with heat sensors can spot lost or injured people and deliver precision location information, Bowie said. They can even send information about the lost person’s medical status so that rescuers can bring the right treatment. They also can deliver supplies, including cell phones.

Just Scratching the Surface As Ranger Jeff Currier emphasized, people across the state are discovering ways that UAS can make a difference in Maine’s forests.

Remember Currier’s video of the forest fire caused by lightning? Because Currier had a UAS, he directed rangers to the exact GPS coordinate of the fire. An engine with 1,000 gallons of water was brought to a nearby road and rangers strung out 1,500 feet of hose. In an hour, the fire was out.

“We are just scratching the surface with the very most rudimentary uses of unmanned aerial systems and there are tons and tons of resources out there that are going to help us fine-tune it,” Currier said. “I think we’re going to show people very quickly that we can save time and money and put them to use to do good.”

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OCTOBER30, 30,2020 2020 FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • October

2020 MECHANIZED LOGGING OPERATIONS PROGRAM GRADUATION HELD OCT. 9 Courtesy of Professional Logging Contractors of Maine

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he Mechanized Logging Operations Program (MLOP), a training program of the Maine Community College System (MCCS) in collaboration with the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine (PLC), graduated 10 students in a socially distanced, live-streamed event at an active timber harvest site in the woods northeast of Old Town, on Friday, Oct. 9.

Students in the 12-week certificate program spent the summer and early fall harvesting timber at the site using sophisticated state-of-the-art machines like those they will encounter in the logging industry. The hands-on experience students gained operating equipment is something unavailable anywhere else in Maine and neighboring states.

This year’s class is the fourth since the program launched in 2017. The program, run out of Northern Maine Community College (NMCC), was the first and remains one of the only post-secondary training programs

PLC First Vice President Tony Madden.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PROFESSIONAL LOGGING CONTRACTORS OF MAINE in Maine to hold classes in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

This was possible thanks to rigorous safety protocols and the outdoor nature of most of the training, which involves students operating equipment while communicating with instructors and other students via radios.

Speaking at the event, which was streamed on Zoom for friends and family of the graduates, Dana Doran, Executive Director of the PLC, thanked the students for their hard work and dedication, congratulating them on completing the program despite the challenges of the pandemic.

“I couldn’t be more proud to stand in front of you today,” Doran said. “I want to commend you on your perseverance, I want to commend you on your patience, this has certainly not been an easy summer for any of you, but your hard work will pay dividends.”

PLC First Vice President Tony Madden, owner of A.W. Madden, agreed, telling the students that even though the logging industry is struggling right now the importance of the MLOP program to the industry remains high, the industry will be strong again, and the skills and education the students have gained will allow them to succeed in that industry.

“I wish we had a program available like this when I started logging, I learned the hard way and made a lot of

FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • October 30, 2020 77

Recent graduate of the Mechanized Logging Operations Program Noah Holesha of Bangor.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PROFESSIONAL LOGGING CONTRACTORS OF MAINE expensive mistakes,” Madden said. “Trained operators like you are needed now, and will be in even higher demand in the future. The future is yours, never stop learning, you will succeed.”

2020 graduates include: Matt Southard of Frankfort, Chris Meakin of Dedham, John McAvoy of Sidney, Noah Holesha of Bangor, Tory Porter of Hampden, Carl Ross of China, Brian Lynch of Camden, Greg Stewart of Harmony, John MacNiell of Millinocket, and Chris Pedersen of Winterport.

The Mechanized Logging Operations Program was

created thanks to a partnership between the MCCS, the PLC, and industry partners. The program gives students a broad overview of the most common mechanical systems found in modern timber harvesting equipment, and an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree species, and markets. It also includes a strong emphasis on safety.

Mechanized logging operators are among the highest paid members of the logging workforce. Demand for skilled operators of the feller bunchers, harvesters, grapple skidders, forwarders, delimbers, and other mechanized logging equipment that now harvests more than 95 percent of all timber in Maine is strong even in a down economy. Many current operators are reaching retirement age and the steep costs of training new operators is driving up demand and wages.

The program is working in tandem with the state’s current vocational training system and has drawn many of its students from within the logging industry itself as well as from Maine’s five Career and Technical High School logging programs in Dyer Brook, Farmington, Frenchville, Norway/South Paris and Rumford/Mexico.

For the first time, logging operators are being trained similarly to other advanced trade occupations with a high school and postsecondary pathway approach.

The program is only made possible thanks to generous

support from industry partners including Milton CAT/ Caterpillar, Nortrax Inc./John Deere, Weiler, Pro Pac, Labonville Inc., Davco, Katahdin Fire Company, Waratah, American Forest Management, Randall Madden Trucking, and Madden Timberlands, Inc. The program has been supported since its inception

by Maine Quality Centers, a MCCS program to develop and support skilled in-demand and high wage occupations in Maine.

Learn more about the PLC at www.maineloggers.com.

A Babineau Trucking and Logging Inc. forwarder in action in Summit Township.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PROFESSIONAL LOGGING CONTRACTORS OF MAINE

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October 30, FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • OCTOBER 30,2020 2020

STUDY REVEALS MAINE LOGGERS CONTRIBUTED AN ESTIMATED $619 MILLION TO STATE ECONOMY Courtesy of the Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine

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he Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine in March released results of a comprehensive study of the economic impact of Maine logging, showing the industry contributed an estimated $619 million to the state economy in 2017.

The study, The Economic Contribution of Logging and Trucking in Maine, conducted by the University of Maine and the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, revealed that in 2017 logging supported approximately 9,366 Maine jobs either directly or indirectly, generated $342 million in labor income, pumped an estimated $25 million into state and local tax coffers, and remains critical to a range of industries and communities across Maine.

“This study demonstrates the vast impact logging has on the Maine economy and highlights its role as the foundation of the state’s entire $7.7 billion forest products industry,” said Dana Doran, Executive Director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. “It also shows what Maine stands to lose if the mounting challenges to the logging industry are not overcome.”

To better understand the nature of the harvesting industry in Maine, analysts combined a traditional input-output (IMPLAN) analysis with primary data gathered from member companies of the PLC, the logging trade association representing companies that together harvest more than 75 percent of all timber harvested in Maine. The study calculates the economic impact of logging in the state of Maine for 2017 through both the IMPLAN analysis as well as a survey delivered to members of the PLC in 2018. Where appropriate, results were also compared with findings of a previous, similar study on the 2014 impact of Maine logging to identify industry trends. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other appropriate sources was incorporated in the analysis to present a complete picture of the industry’s status.

In addition to overall economic impact and jobs, findings of the study and associated research included:

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According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the real average wage for workers in the logging industry in 2017 was $47,289 (in 2018 dollars). This represents a 3.2 percent increase in wages since 2014.

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The survey sent to PLC contractors showed mechanization remains dominant in the industry: Fully 56 percent of surveyed firms were identified as whole tree harvesting operations, and another 35 percent as cut-to-length harvesting operations – both of which use combinations of mechanized logging equipment such as feller bunchers, delimbers, grapple skidders, forwarders and harvesters to cut, yard and process wood. Only 8 percent were identified as conventional hand crews using chainsaws. Respondent companies employed slightly fewer crews on average in 2018 than in 2014. Interestingly, the proportion of cut-to-length crews in mechanized logging (while still a minority) increased in 2018.

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Maine’s logging sector is heavily dominated by small businesses, with an average (between 2006 and 2016) of 67% of employing establishments in the industry employing fewer than 5 people. Additionally, 1,719 nonemployer entities in the logging and harvest sector were reported in Maine during 2017. These entities are overwhelmingly (94%) sole proprietorships.

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Survey respondents reported an average of 13 full-time equivalent employees per firm. As in 2014, the majority of respondent employees work in the woods, on average 7 per firm; an additional average of 2 per firm provide office support, 3 trucking and 1 mechanical support. It is notable that the average number of wood-based employees per firm, as calculated from survey responses, is a little more than half of what it was in 2014.

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On average, survey respondents had 42 operational weeks in 2018 and harvested 1,621 acres per firm.

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Trucking remains critical to the logging industry. Most survey respondents (26%) trucked either all or the majority (37%) of the material harvested by their firm. Thirteen percent rarely (less than 50% of the time) trucked their own material and 24% contracted with an outside source for all their trucking needs.

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Logging is a capital-intensive industry. Survey respondents reported $21.1 million in new capital investment – 76% of which was spent on new equipment.

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For 2018, Maine Forest Service data showed 11,817,367 tons of timber were harvested in Maine including 4,222,170 tons of saw timber, 5,391,052 tons of pulp wood and 2,204,145 tons of biomass. That was an overall decrease of from 2014, when data showed 14,188,085 tons of timber were harvested in Maine, including 4,004,051 tons of saw timber, 7,289,270 tons of pulp wood and 2,894,764 tons of biomass.

The economic study released today comes in the wake of a 2019 Maine Logger and Log Trucker Employment Availability and Wage Analysis Report prepared by the Maine Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Southern Maine that found Maine is facing a shortage of loggers and log truckers that will grow and which could hinder the growth of the forest products industry in the state if wage growth does not occur. That study revealed wages for logging equipment operators and log truckers in Maine are lower than those for comparable jobs in competing industries in the state, and this combined with a tight labor market and looming retirement for large numbers of loggers is concerning for Maine’s forest economy.

The heart of the issue identified by the 2019 study is profit margins for logging contractors have dwindled as costs of doing business have risen, limiting the ability of contractors to raise pay for workers. With low unemployment and strong competition for skilled operators of heavy machinery and trucks, logging contractors are struggling simply to keep the workers they have, let alone attract new ones.

“The inevitable conclusion based on a review of the new study and of the wage and employment study released last year is that logging is a critical Maine industry under

threat that must be preserved if the state is to avoid a collapse of its forest products industry and the deep and irreversible impacts that would have on Maine’s economy, rural communities, and character,” Doran said. “The challenges facing loggers are not insurmountable, but failure to overcome them would be disastrous for Maine.”

Harvesting is an integral part of Maine’s forest products industry. Wood pulp, wood, and paper and paperboard are Maine’s 5th, 6th and 7th most valuable exports, respectively, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In an increasingly global world, the competitiveness of these exports relies on the economic feasibility and health of the harvesting industry that makes it all possible. The industry today faces many challenges but is meeting them by seeking new and nontraditional markets, increasing the focus on professionalism and safety, utilizing the latest technology, and working to educate a new and highly skilled generation of loggers for the future.

One key to the future of the increasingly complex logging industry is education, and this means the Mechanized Logging Operations Programs (MLOP) created by the PLC in partnership with the Maine Community College System, and with support from the state and industry partners, is critical to training a new generation of loggers ready to enter to the industry as older workers reach retirement age. More information is available at maineloggers.com/mechanized-logging-operations-program.

Maine’s loggers are a vital part of the state’s forest products sector, which is worth an estimated $7.7 billion annually.

Founded in 1995 with a handful of members who were concerned about the future of the industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a statewide trade association which provides independent logging contractors and truckers a voice in the rapidly changing forest products industry. Board membership consists of only loggers, making it an organization that is run by loggers on behalf of loggers. Learn more about the PLC at www.maineloggers.com.

FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • October 30, 2020 11

PLC OF MAINE RAISES $59,439 AT ONLINE LOG A LOAD FOR MAINE KIDS AUCTION

FUNDS RAISED FOR CHILDREN’S MIRACLE NETWORK HOSPITALS IN MAINE Courtesy of Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine

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he Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine held its annual Log A Load for Maine Kids Auction as a virtual event for the first time on Friday, Oct. 16, raising a record $59,439 for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in Maine.

The evening auction was live streamed by a WABI-TV crew from the Randall Madden Trucking, Inc. garage in Milford with brief presentations, live interviews and auctioneer Scott Hanington leading the show in his usual fun and energetic fashion. It drew participants from across Maine and beyond.

Results exceeded expectations, setting a new record for funds raised in the annual auction despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the online nature of the event. Last year’s auction raised $51,866.

“It is frankly amazing that in the most difficult year Maine’s logging industry has ever faced, and despite the challenges of holding the auction online, PLC members,

supporters, friends and families have rallied to raise a new record amount for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals,” PLC Executive Director Dana Doran said.

“This group should be very proud of this accomplishment.”

The PLC partners with the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (BBCH) and Northern Light Health Foundation for its annual Log A Load fund drive. BBCH in Portland and Northern Light’s Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor are Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

The PLC’s Annual Meeting each spring traditionally includes a Log A Load Auction that starts the fund drive for the year. This year, due to the pandemic, the PLC was forced to postpone the meeting and auction until the fall, holding both online.

The PLC and the Northern Light Health Foundation (formerly Eastern Maine Health Systems Foundation) have partnered in the Log A Load fundraising effort since 1996. Donations have gone to support research

and training, purchase equipment, and pay for uncompensated care, all in support of the mission to save and improve the lives of as many children in Maine as possible. Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor includes a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that has received support for years from the PLC’s Log A Load efforts. More than $1.3 million have been raised by the PLC since efforts began.

The South Carolina Forestry Association started the Log A Load for Kids program in 1988. Originally, the concept was for loggers, wood-supplying businesses, and other industry supporters in various states including Maine to donate the value of a load of logs to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Nationally, Log A Load for Kids is a leader in CMN Hospitals’ fundraising, raising more than $2 million annually through golf tournaments, fishing events, dinners, truckloads of log donations and other events.

For more information, please visit www.logaload.org.

Maine’s loggers are a vital part of the state’s forest products sector, which is worth an estimated $7.7 billion annually. Logging contributed an estimated $619 million to the state economy in 2017. Founded in 1995 with a handful of members who were concerned about the future of the industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a statewide trade association which provides independent logging contractors a voice in the rapidly changing forest products industry. Board membership consists of only loggers, making it an organization that is run by loggers on behalf of loggers. PLC members are responsible for 75 percent of the timber that is harvested from Maine’s forests annually. Learn more about the PLC at www.maineloggers.com.

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OCTOBER30, 30,2020 2020 FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • October

TRUST TO CONSERVE NORTHEAST FORESTLANDS (TCNEF) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NAMED TO FSC U.S. BOARD OF DIRECTORS By the Forest Stewardship Council

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rust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands (TCNEF) Executive Director Ted Wright has been elected to serve a three-year term on the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) U.S. Board of Directors, effective Sept. 1, 2020.

Wright is a Maine native and Executive Director of both the TCNEF and the Northeast Master Logger Certification Program, which the Trust oversees. In 2019 under Wright’s leadership, the TCNEF received an FSC Ted Wright Leadership Award.

“I’m honored at the opportunity to serve on the FSC U.S. Board and represent the interests and perspectives of professional loggers who are committed to the responsible management of forests for all as well as the protection of small rural communities that they reside and work in near FSC-certified forests,” Wright said.

The FSC U.S. Board of Directors is the organization’s highest governing authority and consists of up to 15 individuals, all of whom are U.S.-based FSC members.

Each of the three FSC chambers (Social, Economic and Environmental) has three representatives who are elected

by US-based FSC members and serve for a three-year term. An additional two individuals may be appointed in each chamber by the Board, typically to ensure a full range of perspectives and expertise.

The Board leads the development of national strategy, oversees the chief executive, ensures effective financial oversight, and approves the National Forest Stewardship Standard and Controlled Wood National Risk Assessment. In addition, the Board plays an important role in FSC globally, working on issues affecting the broader FSC community.

Wright will serve on the Social Chamber of the Board.

Steve Hanington, President of Hanington Brothers, a Macwahoc Maine Master Logger company, noted this is the first time a representative of the logging industry has served on the FSC U.S. Board and said this is significant for both FSC and the industry.

“It is very important for the ones who are actually implementing the outcomes of certification in the forest to have a say,” Hanington said. “A representative who can provide the board with our knowledge and experience of the on-the-ground performance of continued improvement policies will have a great impact, and this is a good thing for both certification and the companies working in the woods.”

Wright grew up in Aroostook County on a potato farm in Littleton, ME and began harvesting wood from the farm and discovered he really enjoyed the work. He attended the University of Maine at Fort Kent and graduated in 2005 with an Associate’s degree in Applied Forest Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies, then went to work at LouisianaPacific in Houlton for a year. He then took a job at the Region Two School of Applied Technology in Houlton teaching in their Wood Harvesting/Forestry program for

ABOUT THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL

years before accepting accepting the TCNEF Director’s job in seven years the fall of 2015. He and his wife Maggie Maggie and and their their children, Madigan andMadigan Ben, liveand in Brunswick, children, Ben, live in Maine.

Brunswick, Maine.

Northeast Master Master Logger Logger Certification Certification Program Program The Northeast in 2000 the Professional Logging Contractors was created created in by 2000 by the Professional Logging of Maine (PLC) as the first in the world point-of-harvest Contractors of Maine (PLC) as the first in the world pointcertificationcertification program, offering third party independent of-harvest program, offering third party certification certification of logging companies’ In independent of loggingharvesting companies’practices. harvesting 2003, PLC created to administer theadminister program with practices.

In 2003,TCNEF PLC created TCNEF to the the broader goal “enhancing health of working forest program with theofbroader goal the of “enhancing the health of ecosystemsforest through exceptional accountability” working ecosystems through exceptional throughout the Northern Forest region. Forest region. accountability” throughout the Northern the Master In addition additionto administering to administering the Logger Masterprogram, Logger TCNEF administers an FSC®-certified group of family program, TCNEF administers an FSC®-certified group of forest landowners throughout New England and New family forest landowners throughout New England and York.York.

Under thisthis arrangement New Under arrangementforest forestlandowners landowners can gain access access to to FSC® FSC® group group certification. certification. inexpensively gain TCNEF is the administrative body that holds the FSC certificate and has overall responsibility for compliance with the FSC® Northeast Regional Regional Standard.

Standard. administers an FSC®-certified FSC®-certified group of TCNEF also administers an information trail, Chain of Custody that provides an established and audited according to rules set by FSC, for Master Loggers and wood products companies to ensure that wood comes from certified certified forests. forests. more information information on the the Master Master Logger Logger program or For more contact Ted Ted Wright Wright at at (207) (207) 688-8195 688-8195 opt. 2 or TCNEF, contact executivedirector@tcnef.org. Additional information is masterloggercertification.com. also available at masterloggercertification.com.

The Forest Stewardship Council, the world’s most trusted forest certification, is an independent nonprofit organization that promotes environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous management of forests. FSC was created in 1993 to set the standards by which forests are certified, offering assurance to consumers and businesses that the wood products they buy originate from well-managed forests. More than 5,000 companies and nearly 160 million acres of forestland are certified under FSC in the United States and Canada. For more information visit www.fsc.org.

FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • October 30, 2020 13

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FOREST PRODUCTS • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • October OCTOBER30, 30,2020 2020

PROFESSIONAL LOGGING CONTRACTORS OF MAINE RECEIVES FAME EDUCATION AT WORK FOR MAINE AWARD Courtesy of the Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine

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he Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine received the Finance

he Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine received the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) Education at Work for Maine Award on Nov. 22, 2019 at FAME’s annual meeting and awards event, Showcase Maine, at 2019 at FAME’s annual meeting and awards event, Showcase Maine, at Portland’s Holiday Inn By The Bay. Portland’s Holiday Inn By The Bay. Nominated for the award by Northern Maine Community College (NMCC), PLC Nominated for the award by Northern Maine Community College (NMCC), PLC was was selected for its role in creating Maine’s only postsecondary training program selected for its role in creating Maine’s only postsecondary training program for for operators of mechanized logging equipment, the Mechanized Logging Operations operators of mechanized logging equipment, the Mechanized Logging Operations Program (MLOP).

Program (MLOP).

The program was launched in 2017 thanks to a partnership between three Maine The program was launched in 2017 thanks to a partnership between three Maine community colleges including NMCC, the PLC and industry partners including community colleges including NMCC, the PLC and industry partners including Milton Milton CAT and Nortrax/John Deere. It has been supported since its inception CAT and Nortrax/John Deere. It has been supported since its inception through Maine through Maine Quality Centers, a program to develop and support skilled inQuality Centers, a program to develop and support skilled in-demand and high wage demand and high wage occupations in Maine.

Authority of Maine (FAME) Education at Work for Maine Award on Nov. 22,

Please keep your brush piles at least 50’ away from structures.

To speak with a Forest Ranger about preventing wildfires near your home, please call 207-287-4989 or visit www.maineforestservice.gov For open burning complaints, timber theft or other forestry violations, call 207-827-1800.

Find us at “Maine Forest Rangers” on Facebook and Twitter.

“The PLC is honored to receive this award on behalf of our members and pleased occupations in Maine. that it will bring additional visibility to the program, which continues to grow in “The PLC is honored to receive this award on behalf of our members and pleased that success and in importance to the future of the logging industry in Maine,” said Dana it will bring additional visibility to the program, which continues to grow in success and Doran, Executive Director of the PLC. “We would like to thank FAME for the award in importance to the future of the logging industry in Maine,” said Dana Doran, and for recognizing the value of the program and the collaboration it represents. The Executive Director of the PLC. “We would like to thank FAME for the award and for logging contractors of the PLC deserve credit for both identifying a need for skilled recognizing the value of the program and the collaboration it represents. The logging new workers in the industry and for tackling this ambitious solution to meet it, and contractors of the PLC deserve credit for both identifying a need for skilled new workers we are grateful to the community college system, state lawmakers, Maine Quality in the industry and for tackling this ambitious solution to meet it, and we are grateful to Centers, and our valued industry partners for joining us in making it a reality.” the community college system, state lawmakers, Maine Quality Centers, and our valued Students in the program spend weeks harvesting timber using sophisticated industry partners for joining us in making it a reality.” state-of-the-art mechanized logging machines. Classes have been held annually Students in the program spend weeks harvesting timber using sophisticated state-ofsince 2017, with the location changing each year to bring the program to different the-art mechanized logging machines. Classes have been held annually since 2017, with regions of Maine.“This program provides a direct pathway to a good paying, exciting

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the location changing each year to bring the program to different regions of Maine. career in the Maine woods at a time when there is huge demand for new workers,” Doran said. “There is “This program provides a direct pathway to a good paying, exciting career in the Maine woods at a time no better or more efficient way to gain the experience and knowledge you need to become an equipment when there is huge demand for new workers,” Doran said. “There is no better or more efficient way to gain the operator in the logging industry.” experience and knowledge you need to become an equipment operator in the logging industry.”

The program gives students a broad overview of the most common mechanical systems found in The program gives students a broad overview of the most common mechanical systems found in modern modern timber harvesting equipment, and an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree timber harvesting equipment, and an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree species, and species, and markets. It also includes a strong emphasis on safety. markets. It also includes a strong emphasis on safety.

Students accepted into the program pay no tuition, but are responsible for transportation, housing and Students accepted into the program pay no tuition, but are responsible for transportation, housing and food food costs. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is provided by the program. costs. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is provided by the program.

More information on the program is available online at www.nmcc.edu/industry-customized-training/ More information on the program is available online at mechanized-forest-operations. www.nmcc.edu/industry-customized-training/mechanized-forest-operations.

PLC Executive Director Dana Doran accepting the FAME award on behalf of the PLC

Showcase Maine is FAME’s annual celebration of its successful partnerships with Maine’s business, lending, governmental, and higher education communities. The evening featured a reception, including a showcase of exhibits by Maine businesses and educational organizations that partner with FAME, a dinner and awards presentation, and a keynote speech by Maine’s own U.S. Army Staff Sgt. (Retired) Travis Mills entitled “Never Give Up. Never Quit.” FAME is a quasi-independent state agency that provides financial solutions that help Maine people achieve their business and higher education goals. FAME helps to create a Maine workforce with good-paying jobs by focusing on the nexus of economic and educational development.

FAME recently was recognized for the fifth year in a row as one of the Best Places to Work in Maine. To learn more about FAME, please visit www.famemaine.com.

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HELPING LANDOWNERS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS Courtesy of Wadsworth Woodlands, Inc.

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adsworth Woodlands, Inc. is a forestry company based in Cornish, Maine whose foremost objective is to help landowners achieve their goals of natural resource management through land management plans, sustainable and responsible harvests of wood products, and active forest product marketing. This ensures the greatest return on your forestland investment, forest health, and promoting multi-use woodlands. Our mission is to continue growing a long-term forest management company in order to provide continuity to current landowners, as well as future generations.

Wadsworth Woodlands, Inc. was established in 1994, and is a multi-generational family-owned business that has now been in operation for 26 years and offers over 87 years of combined forestry experience.

We proudly serve small and large landowners and have written land management plans for over 162,000 acres of private land as well as for Land & Conservation

Trusts in Maine and New Hampshire. We believe that good forestry practices begin with good landowner relationships, and that long-term sustainability is achieved through responsible resource management.

We offer the convenience of being a full-service forestry company, utilizing the expertise of our professional foresters who are licensed in Maine and New Hampshire. Our foresters are very diverse, having worked all over the great state of Maine from Fort Kent all the way to the New Hampshire/Vermont border; and we pride ourselves on offering a wide range of experience, knowledge and technology coupled with excellent customer service. As with any vocation, we are always evolving and incorporating new technology and techniques; but are steadfast in remaining stewards of the forest.

It is so important to utilize a licensed forester in developing management objectives as well as providing guidance and expertise to satisfy the landowners’

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objectives for forest management and harvests. Our land management style focuses on uneven land management resulting in long term sustainability, and leaving behind the best growing stock to grow for future generations.

We specialize in Selective Timber Harvesting and utilize several different harvest techniques which include: Biomass Whole Tree Harvesting, NonBiomass Whole Tree Harvesting, and Traditional Hand Crew. We facilitate and manage harvests from start to finish ensuring that the landowner’s objectives are met. We are a preferred supplier to the majority of local mills which allows us to guarantee the greatest financial return for the landowner’s wood products.

We utilize professional loggers who are both economically and environmentally focused, and create a healthy and improved forest stand poised to increase growth rates for the future. This includes working with many Maine Master Logger companies that are dedicated to professional harvest planning and the application of logging techniques that protect soil and water resources, cultural heritage, wildlife, and forest aesthetics while still maintaining returns for landowners.

We offer all the timber harvesting, forestry consulting and land management services a landowner would need to successfully manage their woodlot and grow their timber investment. Our team consists of four full time foresters all with BS degrees in Forestry from the University of Maine – Orono. On a daily basis all of them are either meeting with landowners, inspecting woodlots, writing Forest Management Plans, cruising and assessing your timber, supervising harvests, amongst a plethora of other activities.

Our clients put their trust in our qualifications and judgement, and allow us to treat the woods with our professional expertise. The working relationships we’ve built allow us to view the woods on a personal level with a “treat the lands as if you owned it” mentality; and we feel it is of the utmost importance to maintain frequent communication, be accessible, and provide continuous care regarding a client’s land; and these qualities cannot be underestimated.

One of the many strengths at Wadsworth Woodlands, Inc. is our ‘family’ mindset. Our family approach, we feel, creates a foundation of trust and gives each of our team members the drive to perform with accountability, purpose and to work together to manage the moving parts and sustain momentum.

From the foresters to the administrative staff we diligently work together to ensure your experience with us is as seamless, and as easy as possible.

The foundation of our company is to create and maintain strong, lasting relationships with both our clients and the mills. We feel strong relationships go hand in hand with good forestry practices; and we are committed to serving the individual forestry needs of our clients and their woodlands. As professional foresters, our mission is to provide landowners with a wide array of economical forestry services and bring our expertise and experience to responsibly work with their woodland.

We strive to always do our best in satisfying our client’s objectives, and in return we can feel good about our accomplishments. We believe that good forestry practices begin with good landowner relationships, and that long-term sustainability is achieved through responsible resource management. A well-managed, sustainable woodlot is good for you and even better for the forests!

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CELEBRATING THE NORTH MAINE WOODS IN OUR LIVES Courtesy of Irving Woodlands

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he woods in our lives have never played such an important role as they do today. From their natural beauty, to their functional strength, to their ability as nature’s air and water filters. The air we breathe. Clean water. Habitat for plants and animals.

The trails we enjoy with family and friends.

A healthy and diverse working forest provides a sustainable source of wood fiber to make many of the wood products that are part of everyday life. Hardwood, spruce and fir are used for lumber, wood chips for pulp and paper as well as tissue and paper towels. We’re planning 80 years ahead to ensure the future of this diverse wood supply and every year we are growing more than we harvest.

Trees are also nature’s air filters and as the world deals with climate change, healthy growing forests are a big part of the solution. A recently published report in Science made headlines around the world, detailing how planting 1 Ked Coffin poses with a 400+ year old tree which is part of one of our conservation sites, for the tree and the bear den under its roots trillion trees could erase nearly 100 years of carbon PHOTO COURTESY OF IRVING WOODLANDS emissions. Today we are planting over 60% of the trees in

Maine – a promise to renew the forest that we have been keeping since 1957.

In the forests we manage in Maine and Canada, 92 million tons of carbon dioxide is being absorbed every 50 years by growing trees – that’s equal to 350,000 cars off the road every year for 50 years. This year we planted over 2 million trees in the north Maine woods to ensure healthy forests for the next generation.

In addition to wood for mills, our team of foresters in Maine are also caring for wildlife habitat, wetlands, lakes and streams as well as renewing the forest. From 29 sites in the 1980’s, today our voluntary program includes over 260 award winning conservation areas. But we always need to get better at it so we are collaborating with universities and environmental groups and investing every year in forest research that includes moose, deer and songbirds. A full-time wildlife biologist and naturalist are unique for most forestry companies. We value the ongoing training and guidance they provide for habitat conservation.

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In addition to the benefits of forests and wood products to the environment, wood sustains jobs for families. For the team in the woods and our sawmills in Maine, over 2,300 direct, indirect and induced jobs in Maine are generated, representing over $93 million in wages.

We couldn’t do it without local suppliers – the majority are small businesses. Local purchases mean over $120 million into the Maine economy.

During these challenging times of Covid-19, we’re working hard to keep one another safe and to date have had no lay-offs and no cases of Covid-19 in our Maine forestry and forest products operations.

At Irving Woodlands, we’ve been part of the north Maine woods for over 70 years and consider it a privilege to be a steward of such an important resource.

Let’s take this opportunity to appreciate all that Maine’s diverse forests provide in a sustainable way.

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LOG A LOAD FOR MAINE KIDS GOLF TOURNAMENTS RAISE OVER $75,000 Courtesy of the Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine

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he Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine recently held its annual Log A Load for Maine Kids Golf Tournament fundraisers with great success once again. Two tournaments, a northern tournament at JATO Highlands Golf Course in Lincoln and a southern tournament added just last year at the Kezar Lake Country Club in Lovell, raised a combined $76,643 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine.

The PLC partners with the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (BBCH) and Northern Light Health Foundation to hold the tournaments. BBCH in Portland and Northern Light’s Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor are Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

“The generosity of the PLC’s members, friends, and supporters has never been more inspiring than now, with every individual, business and organization that stepped up to participate in this effort dealing with unprecedented challenges because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” PLC Executive Director Dana Doran said. “This is easily the toughest year our industry has experienced since PLC’s Log A Load efforts began 25 years ago, yet this group always comes through for the Log A Load cause and the kids.”

The PLC and the Northern Light Health Foundation (formerly Eastern Maine Health Systems Foundation) have partnered in the Log A Load fundraising effort since 1996. Donations have gone to support research and training, purchase equipment, and pay for uncompensated care, all in support of the mission to save and improve the lives of as many children in Maine as possible. Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor includes a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that has received support for years from the PLC’s Log A Load efforts. More than $1.3 million have been raised by the PLC since efforts began.

The South Carolina Forestry Association started the Log A Load for Kids program in 1988.

Originally, the concept was for loggers, wood-supplying businesses and other industry supporters in various states including Maine to donate the value of a load of logs to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Nationally, Log A Load for Kids is a leader in CMN Hospitals’ fundraising, raising more than $2 million annually through golf tournaments, fishing events, dinners, truckloads of log donations and other events.

For more information, please visit www.logaload.org.

A golfer lines up a shot at the southern golf tournament PHOTO COURTESY OF PLC OF MAINE

Maine’s loggers are a vital part of the state’s forest products sector, which is worth an estimated $7.7 billion annually. Logging contributed an estimated $619 million to the state economy in 2017. Founded in 1995 with a handful of members who were concerned about the future of the industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a statewide trade association which provides independent logging contractors a voice in the rapidly changing forest products industry. Board membership consists of only loggers, making it an organization that is run by loggers on behalf of loggers. PLC members are responsible for 75 percent of the timber that is harvested from Maine’s forests annually. Learn more about the PLC at www.maineloggers.com.

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