PLC Awards 2016

PLC Impact Awards: Each year, the PLC recognizes someone from the public sector who has demonstrated a commitment to the logging industry and made a significant impact for its improvement. This year the PLC recognized two individuals for this award. The winners are:

PLC Logger of the Year Award: This award recognizes a PLC Logging Contractor for their commitment to the sustainability of the industry and logging as a profession. The winner is:

William A. Day Jr. and Sons of Porter

PLC President’s Award: This award is presented to an individual or organization within the PLC which has had a significant and positive impact on the PLC and the logging industry in Maine. The winner is:

The Hanington Family

PLC Supporting Member Award: This award is presented to a PLC Supporting Member that has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to logging contractors in Maine. This year the winner is:

Milton CAT

Maine Senate President Michael Thibodeau & Maine Speaker of the House Mark Eves

Acadia Insurance Safety Award: This award is given to a company that continuously demonstrates safety throughout their business. The winner is:

GCA Logging Inc. of Avon

PLC Community Service Award: This award is given annually to a PLC Member, Supporting Member or affiliated organization that has demonstrated a significant commitment to giving back to their community. The winner is:

David Cole of American Forest Management

Congratulations to all 2016 Award Winners

As We See It June 2016

“DC-Follow-Up”

By Richard Schwab

When I first accepted the Presidency of the American Loggers Council on September 26, 2015, I presented a list of goals that I hoped to accomplish during my term. One of those goals was to increase our presence in Washington, DC and to encourage more loggers to participate in these high level discussions with our elected representatives.

I am pleased to report that we had 60 individuals present in Washington, DC this year during our Spring Fly-In that included loggers from both Vermont and Connecticut. Joe Phaneuf with the Northeastern Loggers Association (NELA) and Board member Rocky Bunnell did a great job in recruiting these gentlemen to not only participate in Hill visits, but to also sit at the table during our Board of Directors meeting on Saturday to learn more about the American Loggers Council and what other activities we are involved in.

In one and a half days, members of the American Loggers Council conducted 146 visits with their Congressmen and Congresswomen as well as their Senators and staff. They also attended briefings with USDA Under Secretary Robert Bonnie, Jeff Crane, President of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Bill Imbergamo, Director of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, and both Luke Loy and Caitlin Rayman with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

We not only continued to educate those lawmakers up on the Hill on our issues, we also learned a lot from the meetings that we attended with agency personnel and committee staff. We discovered that there are some things that we can do to possibly help with CSA scores, to assist the US Forest Service in utilizing some of the authorities that were granted to it in the 2014 Farm Bill, and that we do have a voice and a presence in issues when they impact the professional timber harvesting community.

I want to thank each and every one of those individuals who made the trip to Washington this year and the extra effort that was put forth to set up appointments and take the time to meet with a record number of offices during our brief time on the Hill. You have helped me to keep one of my promises to you, and that is to be an even more effective voice for our industry in Washington, DC.

The American Loggers Council continues to grow and gain traction in Washington, DC on many fronts, and the professionalism and engagement by all of our members is what keeps us moving forward as the only national voice exclusively representing professional timber harvesters in the United States.

If your State has not yet become involved with the ALC, please ask us how we can assist you to make that happen. Until next time, Log On! and Log Safe!

Richard Schwab is the Procurement Manager for M.A. Rigoni, Inc., a full service timber harvesting and forest management company located in Perry, Florida.

The American Loggers Council is a non-profit 501(c) (6) corporation representing professional timber harvesters in 30 states across the US. For more information, visit their web site at www.amloggers.com or contact their office at 409-625-0206.

Inside Out Communications Scholarships

Three $1,500 scholarships will be offered by the advertising agency, Inside Out Communications Inc., in memory of Mrs. Lena Pelletier, to Millinocket’s Stearns High School graduates who will be attending the 12-week community college Mechanized Logging Operations Training Program starting later this year.

The funds, a total of $4,500 disbursed as $1,500 a year for three consecutive years, can be applied by winning students at their own discretion towards books, materials, personal protection equipment or living expenses. Each scholarship will be distributed in three $500 installments, and in order to receive the full scholarship, the student must maintain a 2.0 GPA.

PLC applauds this support for the new training program in memory of Mrs. Pelletier.

For more information, contact Ms. Sue Buzzell, LSW, School Counselor at Stearns High School , at 723-6430 ext. 6509.

As We See It July 2016

“Tell Your Story”

By Nick Smith

Timber harvesting is a proud and vital profession. Logging is a part of our nation’s history and heritage. It’s also what makes our modern civilization possible. Wood products today make up 47 percent of all raw materials used in American manufacturing. And scientists are continuing to find new and exciting applications for wood fiber. In the near future, for example, many high-rises in the world’s growing cities will be built with timber, and many airplane jets will be powered by forest waste. Timber harvesting offers many benefits that society desires. So why are loggers so misunderstood?

The answer is simple to many who’ve spent their lives working in the forest. Loggers and foresters commonly joke they chose their profession so they wouldn’t have to deal with the public. But this natural introversion comes with a cost.

As the nation becomes younger and more urbanized, the latest opinion research suggests certain groups of people are becoming alarmingly disconnected with basic forest management concepts. And in today’s 24/7 world of instant information, logging opponents are actively misinforming the public about the practices and motivations of today’s timber harvesters.

These challenges aren’t insurmountable, but timber harvesters must take an active role in promoting their profession and explaining the benefits they provide for forests and people.

People love stories, and loggers have great stories to tell. But before timber harvesters engage the public, they must understand what motivates specific groups of people. Many residents of rural, forested communities support logging because they understand it’s critical to the local economy and the health of local forests. Yet urban residents and many policy makers have entirely different concerns and motivations. The sooner we recognize and embrace these differences, the better, because these are the people who will determine the future of the industry.

If people value recreation and clean water, we must show how timber harvesting results in healthy forests and watersheds. If people are concerned with the Earth’s climate, we must show how logging helps sequester carbon while reducing emissions. And if people desire sustainable and locally-sourced products, we must continue to promote wood as an essential and renewable resource. Most importantly, as the old saying goes “People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Show how much you care by telling your story. Explain what motivates you to work in the woods. Attend a public meeting on a proposed state or federal forest project. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, and attend a town hall hosted by your Congressman.

Understand and utilize social media to tell your story, or find a family member or younger employee who’s capable of using these tools. Public opinion research indicates that videos are the most effective way to educate people about forest management. If you can’t bring the public to an active logging site, shoot a video of an operation and have it uploaded to the Internet.

The American Loggers Council stands ready to help tell your story. There are many other organizations that are working to promote the industry, its people and the use of wood. But the perception and future of timber harvesting depends of the ability of those who are working in the forests, every day, to explain how and why they are providing the products and benefits our society desires.

Nick Smith is Executive Director of Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities- healthyforests.org

The American Loggers Council is a non-profit 501(c) (6) corporation representing professional timber harvesters in 30 states across the US. For more information, visit their web site at www.amloggers.com or contact their office at 409-625-0206.

and heavy duty cab guards. The company also specializes in aftermarket tag and pusher axle installations, as well as custom fab work and repairs – ranging from small jobs to complete overhauls.

New members Continued from Page 6

Enhanced Supporting Members

Chalmers Insurance Group of Maine - Chalmers Insurance Group of Maine joined the PLC as a new

Enhanced Supporting Member in April of 2016. Chalmers Group has 158 years of customer service experience and is dedicated to providing quality Maine and New Hampshire insurance products at competitive rates for local businesses, individuals and families to serve a wide variety of personal and business insurance needs.

The company is a Maine-based family business now managed by the fourth generation of the Chalmers family.

Legislative Success Continued from Page 1

The biomass industry is struggling in the face of competition from cheaper natural gas and loss of renewable energy credit agreements in neighboring states: Covanta Energy has idled its two Maine biomass plants and ReEnergy Holdings has stated its four Maine plants are imperiled if conditions do not improve. REnergy recently idled its Lyonsdale, NY facility but has kept its four Maine plants running thanks to the opportunity for a short term contracting option on the horizon.

The loss of the biomass market would be a huge blow to the logging industry in Maine, which has sold woody biomass waste from logging operations to the plants for years. The idling of the two Covanta plants has already had a direct effect on a large percentage of Maine loggers who are struggling with paper mill closures in 2015 and early 2016 that have limited markets for wood fiber.

The PLC has estimated total economic losses to the state of Maine from the loss of the biomass industry could be as high as $300 million per year.

LD 1676 is designed to preserve the industry by providing stable, short -term revenue for Maine biomass plants to buy time for other steps that can lead to their long-term health, including the planned comprehensive study of biomass opportunities in Maine.

The bill directs the Maine Public Utilities Commission to secure 2-year contracts for 80 megawatts of new or existing biomass resources with the highest likelihood of providing in-state economic benefits such as permanent direct jobs, payments to municipalities, and payments to Maine loggers for fuel purchases; all criteria that favor biomass in Maine. It will be paid for by money that would otherwise have gone into the Maine Budget Stabilization Fund, more commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund. The cost over two years would be a maximum of $13.4 million.

The bill as amended in final negotiations includes strong accountability language for biomass producers as well as a provision for the Maine Public Utilities Commission to deny contracts if none are deemed to be competitive, which provided reassurance to some legislators worried about risking the expenditure.

The Maine Farm Bureau joined the PLC in advocating for passage of the sales tax exemption bill. The provisions of LD 1481 later included in the omnibus spending bill will provide relief to industries including professional loggers and farmers by exempting them from sales tax on off-road diesel – used in commercial wood harvesting and farming.

Farmers and loggers predominantly use off-road diesel. In 2002, the average price of off-road diesel was 93 cents per gallon, and the state sales tax was 5 percent. By 2014, the average price was up to $3.51 per gallon and the state sales tax was 5.5 percent. This represents a 280 percent increase in cost from 2002 for both industries, whereby arguably they were paid less to produce more.

In 2011, the 125th Maine Legislature provided commercial fisherman with a sales tax exemption for offhighway fuel used on commercial fishing vessels.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Vermont and other states with major timber and agriculture industries do not tax diesel fuel used off road. In a very competitive global economy, this has put

Maine farmers and loggers at a disadvantage.

At this point Maine loggers are looking forward to the sales tax exemption and awaiting the results of the biomass legislation, as the contract process lies ahead and will influence biomass market conditions in the short term even as the planned study of biomass opportunities gets underway this fall and will influence the market in the long term.

While these were the major wins this session, the other victory for the PLC in the legislative process was higher visibility for the organization and the logging industry. Many legislators and members of the media unfamiliar with the PLC and Maine loggers learned a great deal about both, and will carry that knowledge and awareness forward as they consider future issues that may impact the industry.

Meeting Continued from Page 12

Thanks to all who contributed to this year’s Log A Load for Kids Campaign. PLC set a new record for funds raised for kids including our Champion Child, Henry, thanks to your generosity.

Maine loggers truly are the backbone of Maine.”

The event at Jeff’s Catering also included luncheon remarks from American Loggers Council (ALC) National President Richard Schwab on the national perspective for loggers.

“

After all that loggers have been through in the last eight months, it is truly inspiring to see this kind of generosity from PLC members,” Dana Doran, Executive Director of the PLC, said. “Loggers are some of the most generous and humble people. Our 2016 Annual Meeting shows just how unselfish this group is and how they will rally together to help those in need. Maine loggers truly are the backbone of Maine.”

Congratulations to new members of the PLC Board of Directors elected at the Annual Meeting. The board is critical to the efforts of the PLC and the organization could not be successful without the participation of members willing to donate their time and energy to serve. New board members include:

Wes Dube of Tate Brook Timber Co., Wayne Tripp of W.C. Tripp Forest Products, Gary Voisine of Voisine Brothers Inc., Andrew Madden of A.S. Madden Logging Inc., Brent Day of William A Day Jr. and Sons Inc., and Greg Adams of GCA Logging Inc.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to recognize the latest loggers to become Master Logger certified through the Northeast Master Logger Certification Program. New Master Loggers included: AD Forestry Specialist, Andy Dillon, Madison, ME; SDR Logging, Chuck Ames, Sebec, ME; Jerimoth Forestry, Robert Thurber Foster, RI; Lincoln Farm Timber Harvesting, Sam Lincoln, Randolph Center, VT; WC Tripp Forest Products, Wayne Tripp, Frankfort, ME; David Gordon Logging, David Gordon, Farmington, ME; Chaplin Logging, Caleb and Corey Chaplin, Naples, ME; GCA Logging, Greg Adams, Avon, ME; and AS Madden, Andrew Madden, Greenbush, ME.

The meeting concluded with award presentations. Thanks to all who made the day a success!