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| Warm, wet weather has loggers stumped |
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2006/7/5
ST. JOHNSBURY -- Farmers aren't the only ones being hurt by unfavorable weather, rising fuel costs and tough market conditions for their products. Vermont's logging industry is hurting also.
A very wet spring and early summer, which has prevented many loggers from getting into the woods, followed an unusually warm winter in which the ground didn't freeze enough to get heavy equipment to winter logging jobs.
"I haven't had a decent week in the woods since last August," said Mike Lemieux, who heads his family's St. Johnsbury logging business. "There's very few people working at all right now because it has been so wet."
When loggers suffer, the mills that take their products do also, said Jane Currier, general manager at the Greenwood Mill in Sutton. She said her mill may have to resort to layoffs if it can't get logs delivered soon.
"How much longer can loggers withstand this?" Currier asked. "How long can they stand having equipment idle?"
Weather and financial woes faced by farmers, especially dairy farmers, have been getting a lot of attention lately. Gov. James Douglas last week held a special dairy summit and promised $8.6 million in assistance to farmers.
It's been different for the logging industry.
"The timber industry needs better recognition as an important component of our local economy," said Ed Larson, executive director of the Vermont Forest Products Association. "There's a general lack of knowledge of the industry."
Loggers across northern New England face similar situations.
Craig Clukay, owner of Treeline Timber in Jefferson, N.H., estimates his production has dropped about 35 percent due to a variety of factors, including the weather, overseas competition and the recent closure of the pulp and paper mills in northern New Hampshire.
Trying to log in wet weather causes muddy ruts that turn into wetlands, Clukay said.
"That's just not acceptable by anyone's standards," he said Monday. "So that means shutdown time, and it means employees are not able to work.
"About the only thing you can do is to try to shift lots. Where you have a piece of land that might be more rocky than others, or sandier, those tend to dry out faster and be more forgiving."
In Monroe, N.H., logger Rockey Bunnell said he's dealt with Mother Nature, bad markets and high fuel costs in the more than 30 years he's been in business, but never all at once until now. He started a job in May that he expected to take two weeks, but hasn't finished it yet. The equipment is still parked where he left it.
"It was looking good until May, then in May it started raining, and in June it just got worse," he said. "I have three men, and I've been trying to keep them in paychecks, but this is getting very hard and getting very old."
Jasen Stock, executive director of the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, said many New Hampshire mills still have decent inventories but are starting to get a bit nervous. Because white pine grows well on well-drained soil, logging of that species has continued during the rain, resulting in a glut of white pine on the market, he said.
Steve Sinclair, director of forests for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, said about 100 Vermont sawmills have gone out of business in the past several years. More mechanization has meant the state lumber production has gone up, though.
In addition to higher fuel costs, the timber industry also is facing sharply higher costs for unemployment and workers' compensation insurance.
Those who make a living moving logs are hurting along with the loggers and mills, say people in the industry.
Logging trucks often get four or five miles to the gallon, and diesel prices have been running between $2.89 and $2.95 a gallon recently.
"I've gone up on my rates but I feel guilty about charging them," said Acklin Humphrey of Sheffield, who owns two 18-wheel logging trucks. "You have to, or you'll go out of business."
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| Source:http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/ |
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