More than 60 percent of logging business owners who responded to a survey in Maine, Vermont,New Hampshire and New York were over 50.
In Maine, 80 percent of production is by whole-tree systems compared to only 46 percent in Vermont, and only 7 percent of Maine’s production is by tree-length systems, compared to 34 percent in Vermont.
There was overwhelming support (70 percent of respondents) for entry-level training for in-woods workers. In fact, close to 90 percent of cut-to-length contractors indicated that there was a need for such training compared to 70 percent of whole-tree and tree-length contractors.
Jeff Benjamin, associate professor of forest operations, and Bennet Leon, graduate research assistant gathered responses from over 420 contractors. Their survey provides a useful snapshot of the existing logging infrastructure, business owner demographics, harvest methods, production and capacity, and equipment infrastructure in the northeast and a baseline against which to measure change and trends over time through periodic resurveys.
Results of the survey will be presented and discussed by Jeff Benjamin at FRA’s April 4 Maine Forestry Forum. For more information contact Jeffrey Benjamin.
