Dealer Profile: Maine’s Lumbery
The light bulb moment occurred when Mike Friedman ran out of space. Mike had launched a home-repair business in Portland, Me., in 2005, which, as he reports, “grew-grew-grew.
By
Carla Waldemar On
March 15, 2021
The light bulb moment occurred when Mike Friedman ran out of space. Mike had launched a home-repair business in Portland, Me., in 2005, which, as he reports, “grew-grew-grew. We’d started out in a basement, then moved to a larger space, then bought a building, but even that wasn’t big enough, with us doing so many little jobs. We had $1 million in sales and 200 handymen. We needed wood storage everything from plywood to drywall because we had to drive 35 miles for, say, a 2×4. We also had a huge garage filled with refuse we’d hauled out. So we needed a bigger place to keep more wood on hand and to sort the trash.
2020 saw a delay in providing LSWC safety workshops and job site evaluations as a result of COVID-19 related cancellations and travel restrictions. Work was able to continue on development of Vermont specific materials for several safety training workshops under contract with the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands and the Master Logger Program. Materials have now been finalized and the revised curriculum will be presented during future workshops.
In the fall, two in-person
Forest Operations Supervisor: Supervising for Safety workshops were held, following all COVID-19 guidance which significantly restricted attendance. A total of 18 individuals from 14 companies completed the training. In addition, job site safety evaluations were conducted for 7 companies (21 individuals) that met training requirements in 2019 before tightened travel restrictions halted the visits. Final certifications are pending but it is anticipated that final Safety Certified status
Grant Invests in Logger Certification to Support Green Economy
CONCORD, NH The Future Forest Economy Initiative is investing $250,000 to enhance markets for certified wood and to strengthen the supply chain for wood in the Northern Forest region through a grant to the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands (TCNEF).
“Only a fraction of the forestland in our region is green certified,” said Joe Short, vice president of the Northern Forest Center, which manages the Future Forest Economy program. “Certifying logging companies through TCNEF’s Master Logger program will increase the volume of certified, sustainably harvested wood available to the region’s mills. Certified lands alone are not enough to meet demand for certified wood in the region.”
Northern Forest Center grew out of a congressional mandate to support the development of markets for wood products. This is the fourth grant in a three-year program that will invest $2.6 million to expand innovation, create market demand and create conditions that will allow businesses and communities to benefit from these innovations.
The Northeast Master Logger program is a performance-based certification for logging companies in seven Northeastern states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. It provides a unique third-party certification of a logging company’s work in the woods rather than certifying the forestland, as other programs do.