The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Local Loggers Live Up to Green Standards

June 24, 2009 - NEW GLOUCESTER -- Logging has been big business in Maine ever since Europeans scouted the coast for the "king's pine" for England's Royal Navy.

Trees over 24 inches in diameter at breast height, within three miles of shore, were marked by a broad arrow cut into the bark, and were not to be touched under penalty of death. Many coastal communities in southern Maine owe their roots to that mast trade.

Forest products also put the city of Westbrook on the map back in 1880, when the S.D. Warren paper mill was the largest of its kind in the world. The Great Northern Mill in Millinocket stole the title in 1900.

Despite the progress of time and development, logging is alive and well here in Maine. It's still common to see trucks barreling down the roads loaded with logs for sawmills and paper companies. Ninety percent of the state is still covered in trees, making Maine the most heavily forested state in the nation. The wood products industry thrives here in the southern part of the state, contributing to a $10 billion statewide industry.

Two Cumberland County logging contractors say they are profitable, with work scheduled well into the future. They're also helping set the bar with a sustainable, healthy forest model for the rest of the nation and beyond. Of the hundreds of loggers in the state, about 120 are now classified as "master logger-certified."

The master logger program "guarantees a responsible harvest and documents that," explains Tom Cushman, proprietor of Maine Custom Woodlands in New Gloucester, one of two master logger-certified operators in Cumberland County.

The other is Richard Wing & Son in Standish.

Like many in the business, the Wings are a multigenerational logging family. Wing, 57, was in the woods with his father as soon as he could handle a chain saw. He says there's been plenty of change in the past four decades.

"I never expected it to become so mechanized," said Wing. "We always just used chain saws and bulldozers."

Today, Wing owns two modern feller bunchers, large excavator-like machines with climate-controlled cabs costing upwards of $300,000. Moving on tank treads, these units crawl up to a tree and grab it with an arm, as a 3-foot-diameter blade shears the wood clean from its stump. The logger doesn't even touch the tree.

Modern equipment makes it possible to harvest a lot of wood. According to the Maine Forest Service, 150 million cords were harvested back in 1933, and that had nearly doubled to 280 million cords by 2006. The master logger certification works to ensure a sustainable industry for companies like Maine Custom Woodlands and Wing & Son.

Much like what's happened with organic food products, producers of wood products have felt the pressure of an environmentally conscious public. Cushman and Wing say the paper industry is largely behind the drive to provide what's known as third-party-certified fiber: forest products supplied by loggers who are continuously audited and judged by a nonbiased board.

Big publishing houses like Time Inc., as well as catalog printing for environmentally conscious companies like L.L. Bean, also are pushing for sustainable forest policies. Demand for certified lumber for green housing also is increasing.

"As a master, I may have the opportunity to deliver more pulp wood to a mill because they need a higher content of certified fiber," said Cushman.

Wing recalls it was the paper industry that first contacted him about becoming certified. International Paper approached him in 2005. Wing said the process was straightforward; he felt certification would increase his opportunities in an evermore environmentally conscious society.

"We use the same equipment as most loggers," Wing said. "We're just more monitored and have to follow standards known as best management practices."

Back in 1999, the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, of which Cushman is currently president, began recognizing the need to certify wood-harvesting companies in a quantifiable way.

In January 2000, a draft that outlined the certification requirements was distributed to wood harvesters, forest products industry representatives and policy-makers.

Feedback was then incorporated into the document, and the master certification process was prepared.

Since then, the program has expanded steadily. Seven states – Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut – and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have implemented master logger programs based on the Maine model.

Cushman and Wing say many loggers in Maine are likely already fulfilling the basic guidelines to qualify as masters. "And that certification is certainly available to them," Cushman says. "It helps set environmentally conscious professionals apart."

Wing feels his company is fairly typical of many good logging outfits operating in the woods.

"Some landowners have contacted me because they've gone online and seen that I'm certified," said Wing. "I think more companies will have to go this route to survive in the business."

The Northeast Master Logger Certification Program headquarters is in our own backyard, at the Pineland campus in New Gloucester. To find out more, call 688-8195 or visit http://www.masterloggercertification.com.

DON PERKINS, Portland Press Herald, June 24, 2009


Lakes:
Regions: Sebago


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News