Local Wood Works brings 2019 sustainability tour to York County
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Ken Laustsen, biometrician for the Maine Forest Service, talks about wood at Maschino Lumber in New Gloucester during the 2018 Maine Wood + Sustainability Tour. This year's tour is Thursday.
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Architects, engineers and designers will gather Thursday for the day-long 2019 Maine Wood + Sustainability Tour, one part of Local Wood Works' effort to advance economic development initiatives centered around the region's forests.
In its third year, the tour will focus on local wood use and harvesting in the Sanford and Saco areas. The collaborative of seven organizations is looking for old and new ways to support local forest economies.
"Overall, we are aiming to build a culture of support for sustainable forestry and locally sourced Maine wood," said Lee Burnett, project director with Local Wood Works.
Besides the tour, Local Wood Works is is working with the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund and the University of New Hampshire Extension Service's utilization forester to set up an enhanced directory and database of wood producers throughout the region.
Local Wood Works' website already includes a Maine Wood Guide, with product categories ranging from millwork to balusters and furniture parts, with lists and an interactive map of local producers.
“We're trying to organize how people buy wood,” Burnett said after a demonstration of the site during the 2018 tour. “We're trying to make those local mills apparent to people who buy wood and may only know where Home Depot and Lowe's are. We're trying to make it easier.”
But he said Tuesday that focus on local wood, forestry, timber harvesting and more goes beyond just where people buy their wood.
"There seems to be a growing realization of Maine forests' role in climate mitigation," Burnett told Mainebiz. "One of the reason's [Gov. Janet] Mills set such ambitious climate goals is that Maine forests are already offsetting 70% of emissions produced in Maine."
This year's tour
This year's tour stops are Saco Manufacturing, 39 Lincoln St. in Saco, where owner Tony Jondrek will share the story of the company’s nearly 150-year history and the changes it has made. The company was founded in 1872 as a manufacturer of wooden water pumps, and now makes wooden columns, spindles, balusters and spires.
The tour will also visit Pleasant River Pine, 563 New Dam Road in Sanford, where plant manager Jamie Fall will give the group a tour of a high-production saw mill that converts pine saw logs into boards and pattern siding.
The third stop is Wood & Son, 36 Lefrancois Lane in Sanford. Owner Tony Wood will lead a tour of the plant, which produces wood pellet fuel from the residue of an adjacent saw mill.
The final stop will be the Ecology School, 184 Simpson Road in Saco, where Director Drew Dumsch will lead a tour of the a new dormitory and dining commons and describe his school’s decision to pioneer Maine’s first Living Building Challenge project. The low-carbon construction model raises the bar on sustainable construction and relies heavily on locally sourced wood, according to Burnett.
The group will also visit a timber harvest site, where a member of Professional Logging Contractors of Maine will demonstrate how timber is harvested in Maine and what sustainable forestry looks like.
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