$127,723 raised for Log A Load for Maine Kids!

by bus from Bar Harbor and toured Downeast renewable energy and blueberry fields owned by the Jordans, visited area landmarks, and finished with a lobster dinner at Elliot Jordan & Son. The proceeds from the day all went to support this year’s Log A Load for Maine Kids effort.

The second day included a business meeting and presentations for all PLC Member contractors in the morning, with board and officer elections. A noon luncheon was held with speakers including Congressman Golden; American Loggers Council (ALC) Executive Director Scott Dane; and ALC President Andy Irish of Irish Family Logging in Peru, Maine.

The evening events included the traditional Log A

Load for Maine Kids Auction, dinner, and the PLC awards ceremony. PLC’s special guest for the evening, Pete Brock, an offensive lineman with the Patriots from 1976 to 1987, including the 1986 Bears-Patriots Superbowl XX game, took part in the auction and donated the two shirts he was wearing to the auction to help raise money, a gesture that was much appreciated by the crowd.

PLC Awards were presented to the following individuals and organizations during the evening portion of the event:

PLC Logger of the Year Award: W.W. London Woodlot Management Co. of Milo.

PLC Impact Awards: The Maine Forest Rangers

Annual Meeting

Continued Page 20

Log A Load and Lobster hosted by PLC Member Elliot Jordan & Son on May 4 was a great success! Photos clockwise from top: On the bus beginning the tour; visiting wind turbines; at “Big Rock”, a huge glacial erratic on the Jordan property in Waltham; The Jordan off-grid home on Spectacle Pond; Dinner underway at the garage in Waltham. Center, Lobster dinner was excellent. Thank you to everyone who attended and made the day a success, and a very special thanks to Duane Jordan and his entire family for organizing, hosting, and funding this special event to raise funds for Log A Load!

Annual Meeting Continued from Page 19 and Maine State Senator Brad Farrin of Norridgewock.

PLC Community Service Award: Mike Conway of Oxford, Massachusetts.

PLC Supporting Member Award: Chalmers Insurance Group of Bridgton.

PLC President’s Award: Andy Wood of Hampden.

*For the full information on each award and recipient turn to page 22.

The Annual Meeting is one of the PLC’s major fund-raisers to benefit CMN hospitals in Maine. Last year the PLC raised a record $262,403 by the end of 2022 for the cause. With this year’s funds raised so far, the total raised by the PLC for Log A Load since 1995 has surpassed $2 million. The PLC’s two Log A Load golf tournaments will be held in August and September.

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 in Bangor are CMN Hospitals.

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. BBCH joined the Log A Load effort in 2019 and all 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. BBCH and Northern Light in Bangor both have a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that has received support for years from the PLC’s Log A Load efforts.

Thank you to everyone who made this year’s meeting a success!

PLC Logging Contractor 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 2023 winner is W.W. London Woodlot Management Co. of Milo.

The London family has been working in Maine’s logging industry since the 1950s, starting out in trucking. Today the family operates three distinct companies from their garage in Milo. William W. London and Son Inc., owned by Bill London, is the original company started by Bill’s father, and handles a variety of jobs including forest road and bridge construction. W.W. London & Son Trucking LLC, run by Bill’s son, Alex, was split off from the original company in 2016 and handles woods trucking. Alex’s wife, Molly, who is a forester, joined the family business that same year. Not long after that, Alex and Molly - apparently deciding they needed more to do in their spare time - together formed W.W. London Woodlot Management Co., to focus on logging.

The company has grown as their young family has to Washington D.C. last fall to take part in the AMC’s flyin for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) While there, the Londons were key to efforts to advocate for more funding in the Forest Legacy Program and the continued use of that funding for keeping working forests working. LWCF funding was used by AMC to help purchase the Katahdin Iron Works tract that has employed the London's logging crew for 5 years, as well as to purchase the Pleasant River Headwaters Forest in 2022 that has funded 100 bridge projects completed by the Londons and ensured future work for their logging crews. These lands could have been locked up in preservation or focused completely on recreation, but instead have kept a multi-use philosophy in allowing many different partners to use a tract of land while still operating logging crews in the woods. grown. W.W. London Woodlot Management is Master Logger® certified and has quickly established a reputation for professionalism both within the industry and beyond.

While in DC, the Londons met directly with Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, and Eric Kanter of Rep. Jared Golden's office, as well as Rep. Chellie Pingree's staff members. They spoke in each meeting about the importance of conservation funding being used to keep working forests working, and also advocated for the Master Logger® Certification program as a way to be sure that harvesting is done in a sustainable manner. They also spoke firsthand about the hard times that loggers are facing in the current economy and advocated for any assistance to be allocated in a way that it can get to loggers directly, in a way similar to the PATHH program.

The Londons have also played to host to Maine teacher tours in order to educate these educators on the logging industry so they can in turn educate Maine children on the opportunities and importance of our industry.

At the PLC’s most recent Legislative Breakfast, the London’s represented the industry well, speaking from the heart on the challenges a young logging family faces in Maine today. None of the legislators in that room went away from that event with any doubt that Maine’s logging industry is struggling and needs help from its representatives.

The Londons are not afraid to tackle difficult jobs, including working on conservation lands where public scrutiny and expectations are extremely high. As Alex once said, “what we hear a lot is go cut the side of that mountain and make it look like you never cut the side of that mountain.”

The Londons have worked for years now on Appalachian Mountain Club lands, and the AMC was so impressed by their work that they invited Alex and Molly

These are only a few examples of the ways the London’s step up to represent the industry, and they can always be counted on whenever the PLC asks for their help.

Maine needs young logging families if our industry is to survive. The Londons provide a great example. They could certainly have chosen an easier path, we are grateful they chose logging.

The PLC is fortunate to count W.W. London Woodlot Management Co. among our members, and it is with great pleasure that we present this year’s PLC Logging Contractor of the Year to the Londons.