Yes, yes, keep it coming!

It’s a little after six in the morning, and in the crisp morning light there is an air of lightheartedness. Cold is here, and “the boys” are ready to move some wood. We have to get the momentum back.

After a short meeting, Tom yells out “On your mark, get set, GO!” Then everyone goes off in different directions taking care of their own responsibilities to get the day rolling.

As the sun rises up over the landing, this is what logging is about. If an artist were to paint a perfect picture to depict a day on the job, this would be it. Wood chips lay like a yellow blanket around the job site, the smell of the pine, the cranes towering against the glow of the early morning sun and the ground just keeps growing harder.

A reader wanted to know why we just can’t harvest the trees in the mud. So things get muddy, what’s the big deal? Well, it’s not just about getting muddy, there is a lot more to it than that. There are economic reasons as well as environmental reasons why loggers hate mud.

The mud creates unneeded wear and tear on the equipment. This can cost thousands of dollars in repairs due to breakdowns that stop the workflow and cut productivity in half.

Landowners need to know that the entire health of their land is being respected and not just the trees. Erosion, the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away, whether natural or man made, can lead to a decrease in soil productivity and possibly pollution.

Think about it, a dead tree blows over on a property and the root system is near a stream. A heavy rain takes all the soil from around the roots and washes it into the stream. Now, imagine that you are a happy go lucky rainbow trout swimming along in the shimmering sunlight. You dart to and fro, chase a water bug, nibble here, nibble there, all is good when all of a sudden there’s a grittiness in your gills, a stinging in your eyes, and stones lodge in your throat. This is pollution to you, and man was not the cause of it, Mother Nature was. After all she’s just doing her job of naturally thinning the trees in the forest. Mother Nature will improve the forest though thinning, she just takes her time and oh by the way, she doesn’t have any connections at the mills like we do. We tell landowners that we can do it much faster, pay attention to the environment and the icing on the cake is additional income.

Aesthetics are very important to us. We want to leave the forest looking better and healthier than we found it. When the ground is soft or muddy, ruts are formed, and should be repaired.

The forest ecosystem is a very complex thing, soil erosion can have an impact when you least expect it. To learn more about soil erosion go to Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection’s Web site Here you can find out about the different types of soil erosion, along with examples of erosion management.

So as you can see, it isn’t just about getting muddy, nor is it just about buying timber, but it’s more about protecting the delicate balance that exists in the woods. Timber is a renewable resource, one that we need to treat with respect. This respect and attention will guarantee the future of the logging industry, as well as the beauty of the forest for generations to come.

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