Program to train prospective loggers runs into resistance
The Commission to Study the Public Reserved Lands Management Fund has drafted a proposal to use money from the sale of timber on public lands to fund one-time grants to eligible public schools for logging programs, which is expected to help the forest industry, MPBN reported.
A bill to that effect is now before the Legislature’s Agricultural, Forestry and Conservation Committee. The LePage administration opposes the bill.
The 15-member commission was created by the Legislature and comprises legislators, leaders from the executive branch and members of the public representing various interest groups.
In its final report, issued in December, the commission recommends conducting a detailed forest inventory every five years, establishing an annual sustainable timber harvest level for public reserved lands, exploring increased access to public reserved lands, developing a statewide priority list of recreational infrastructure projects and Americans with Disability Act projects for those lands.
It also recommended improving wildlife habitats, purchasing additional lands on adjacent parcels, improving signage, improving accessibility for individuals with disabilities and providing up to $300,000 total for public-secondary and post-secondary educational programs related to logging.
On the last, however, Avery Day, the governor’s chief legal counsel, told MPBN that preparing more young people to enter the timber-harvesting industry isn’t an aspect of the bill he likes.
However, Sen. Tom Saviello said that with only four high schools left in the state that offer any sort of forestry program, students need to be encouraged to enter the industry and they need to be adequately trained for the demands of the job.
“They are young loggers that are willing and ready to go into the woods,” Saviello told MPBN.
Forest products make up 20% of Maine's $50 billion overall economy. Roughly 39,000 direct and indirect jobs are tied to Maine's forest economy statewide, according to the Maine Forest Products Council's 2013 report.
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