WW London at AMC fly-in in D.C

Alex and Molly London of PLC Member WW London Woodlot Management Co. in Milo traveled to Washington D.C this fall at the invitation of the Appalachian Mountain Club to take part in their fly-in for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

Alex and Molly London of PLC Member WW London Woodlot Management Co. in Milo were invited by the Appalachian Mountain Club to join in their fly-in this fall for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in Washington DC. The Londons joined with other conservation partners across the country to accomplish two tasks, 1) to celebrate the $900 million in funding that was made permanent through the Great American Outdoors Act in 2020, and 2) to advocate for more funding in the Forest Legacy Program and the continued use of that funding for keeping working forests working. LWCF funding has been used in many places across the state and country. Specific to the Londons, the 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 a future of 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. 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 mentioned the Master Logger Certification program as a way to be sure that harvesting is done in a sustainable manner. (W.W. London Woodlot Management Co. is Master Logger Certified®). They also brought light to 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.