Safety

*This sign-in sheet is intended to be used with the quarterly Safety Training Topic on page 35. Refer to the cutline on page 35 when removing it from the magazine.

Maine’s Forest Rangers

ByJeffreyCurrier

RegionalForest

Ranger

MaineForestService

Mutual respect and trust define professional and meaningful relationships by allowing us to protect those things in life which are most valuable to us – our families, our homes, our environment, and each other. The relationship between Maine’s Forest Rangers and our state’s hard-working, dedicated, and professional loggers is an example of one grounded in these aspects of mutual respect and trust. Many would assume that there could be an adversarial relationship between our state’s forest rangers and our professional loggers. But the keyword in this last sentence is “professional.” Maine’s forest rangers are within the Forest Protection division of the Maine Forest Service. We, along with the Forest Management and Forest Health divisions take great pleasure in working with professionals who strive to be service-oriented to their landowner clients while conducting socially and environmentally responsible logging. Professional logging is an occupation steeped in our heritage and is a backbone of Maine’s history and our overall economy.

The role of a Maine Forest Ranger goes beyond the enforcement of laws regulating the activities of our state’s timber harvesting industry. It has expanded to the position of providing investigative and protective services for our state’s logging industry. No better example illustrating this is what we refer to as “timber asset security checks.” These are highly visible, proactive, and frequent forest ranger patrol activities for the sole purpose of deterring and preventing the theft from and vandalism to costly logging equipment. Our forest rangers make it a priority all the time, but especially on weekends and holidays, to make visits to logging job sites to check on the security of the significant investments of Maine’s professional logging contractors. And when we speak of high visibility, we mean it. We want people to see us at these sites because we feel strongly about crime deterrence. We want those who know logging sites are excellent opportunities for theft and vandalism to think twice before making a wrong decision. And we would like potential thieves, and the would-be victim logging contractors who own the equipment, to see that we have been there. As such, we leave ‘Forest Ranger Courtesy Cards’ on select pieces of equipment to show our activities. Each year, we distribute tags on thousands of pieces of logging equipment in all areas of the state. The response to this work has been very favorable, and we appreciate the support for doing a part of our job that is often unseen but is hugely important.

When a logging contractor is a victim of theft and vandalism to their logging equipment, we consider ourselves a useful investigative resource. Over the last several years, Maine’s Forest Rangers have taken a more significant role in the investigation of these crimes. We take very seriously the impacts that even a simple vandalism case can have on an operation’s production, not to mention the monetary loss in repairs and replacement parts procurement. On the human side, we also consider the stress that these incidents can cause to contractors who manage this highly technical business, often operating on slim profit margins, and that is regularly under significant time quotas for deliveries. Learning that Maine forest rangers training includes evidence recovery and interview/interrogation might be a surprise to some. We are trained and equipped to collect fingerprints and even DNA evidence. We work closely with the Maine State Police Crime Lab, and we can point to numerous examples of cases where we have successfully prosecuted those who have chosen to victimize professional loggers. Our Division’s Forensic Specialist, Ranger Steve Wipperman, is an associate member of the Maine State Police Evidence Recovery Team. Ranger Wipperman has received national recognition for his work, is a fully certified evidence recovery technician and he has cleared some of our most complex logging theft and vandalism cases in Northern Maine. Also, Ranger Wipperman teaches our entire forest ranger force regularly in these essential skills and has mentored future forensics specialists.

Maine’s Forest Rangers are well known as first responders for our primary mission of wildfire control. We have statewide jurisdiction and authority for wildfires in all areas of the state. In our state’s unorganized territories, accounting for 46% of our state’s total land area, we are solely responsible for wildfire control (*another 10% of Maine are municipalities without fire departments). And as the municipal fire service in Maine continues to struggle with declining numbers of firefighters, our wildfire response role is becoming more significant in rural Maine. We also respond to fire incidents where logging equipment is involved. Our forest ranger patrol vehicles have water tanks aboard, and we have a strategically located force of fire engines and large water tenders across Maine. Our helicopters are also a highly valuable initial attack resource. Note that we plan to continue the fire prevention training of PLC-Maine members.

In speaking of our helicopters, we are fortunate to be able to provide the use of “helicopter short-haul rescue” techniques. We use this technique to insert forest rangers into remote areas for wildfire response and to “points of injury” to extract people needing emergency medical services. While most of our rescues have involved injured hikers, PLCMaine members should know that this resource is available to wounded loggers and foresters in the backcountry. Limitations on this life -saving service include an inability to perform in some inclement weather, and there are no shorthauls at night.

As mentioned earlier, Maine’s forest rangers are grateful for the support we receive from PLC -Maine. No more magnificent example of this is the legislative testimony that was given by PLCMaine Executive Director, Dana Doran, earlier this Spring: “From our perspective, the Forest Service provides vital fire suppression services for our members and their equipment. The quick work of their group could save millions of dollars of investment for family-based businesses. They also provide rescue and medevac services in difficult to reach places. With the ability to short-haul, they can deliver rescue personnel, including a paramedic, directly to the point of injury and lift an injured logger to a spot where an ambulance or LifeFlight can take them to the hospital. And lastly, the Forest Service provides critical asset security checks and you will see them on the weekends making sure that there is not theft or any damage done to our members equipment. We take that very seriously, and we thank them very much for that work.”

The relationship between our agency and Maine’s professional loggers is a strong one because it is grounded in the tenets of mutual respect and trust. We consider it a pleasure to have such a strong relationship with these professionals, and we are confident that it will not only sustain, but grow moving forward.