I have heard both: 1) That European countries are buying wood from Eastern USA and Maine 2) That they will not buy our wood for fear of pests like the Emerald Ash Borer (and others)
No, but my understanding was, they do not buy pre-made pellets; they buy shiploads of chips that they make into pellets at pellet plants over there. This has always been an interesting issue however. Like where I live here, the hackmatack has a bark beetle infestation so my particular town is under quarantine. However when you haul loads out to the paper mill, when they ask where the wood came from, if you say a town that is under quarantine, they just say, "You meant Appleton right?" "Oh yeah, Appleton, that is where it came from", and they take it. The reason they take it is, after it has been chipped, put in the digester and made into paper, the bugs are killed, so what does it matter? But then again, how did my trees get a beetle from Finland in the first place?
VERY TRUE! In fact the USDA allows farmers to manage their woodlots for this reason. I am NOT a logger, I am a sheep farmer, and run all my wood through my farm as a sellable crop which is allowed under IRS and USDA rules. This makes sense because I am clearing my woodlot to make more room for fields so I can raise more sheep. But even if I didn't, there are just places that cannot be farmed; with either pasture or tillable crops, so it only makes sense for a farmer to manage that land area as a forest crop. Years ago it was common here for farmers to farm in the summer, and log in the winter, but as equipment got more expensive, and farms had to get so big to stay competitive; that has all but ended in Maine. Sadly farmer/loggers like me are a dying breed.
No and 6 million tons of commercial pellets went to Europe in 2015 North American wood pellet exports reached record high in 2015 | Biomassmagazine.com surely a fly or two made it alive hitchhiking all kinds of critters hitchhike on transportation systems and that's not counting the freight they're hauling.
Not to mention most pests were intentionally introduced by our genius government to combat a different pest.
That is very good news. I am not sure if we would haul to there or not...probably, it is an hour away, BUT considering the market, its not that bad. Robbins Lumber is going online this summer too. They are building (2) biomass boilers to deal with white pine biomass (tops) from their White Pine only sawmill. It is sad. I watch them blow chips into a truck, see the scale slips for #115,000 pound trucks, and see my measly $35 cut out of it. But I have to remember, that wood would just be on the ground if I cut the wood, so it is free money and cleaning up for my fields.
Hi guys, I’m new here and happen to be another casualty of the declining wood industry in Maine. Anyone remember Pinkham Lumber Company north of Ashland? I worked there as a mechanic and then a millwright back in the eighties, with a few years with a Diesel engine shop in there. We had a lot of friends back then that are scattered far and wide now, and that area of the county in particular is like a ghost town. Much like Millinocket and East Millinocket. It’s sad. As things dried up we moved east to Presque Isle, then to southern Maine in the mid nineties to where we are now. I shifted to the automotive industry and ran a couple shops then became a factory representative for an aftermarket parts company until I was medically retired about 9 years ago now. I got to visit pretty much every mill in the northeast in those years and I don’t ever remember an over abundance of enthusiasm for the future anywhere. Most were either looking or just dreading the eventual. And many people don’t understand the trickle down effect until they live it. That’s the trouble with southern Maine. The people here haven’t seen that kind of rapid decline so it’s hard for them to understand why supporting those areas is so crucial. And the tourist industry isn’t the whole answer, especially if we want to preserve some of what’s best above the place. I believe there could be a market for wood products again in Maine like pellets and firewood if our politicians would see fit to incentivize EPA stoves and boilers/furnaces sufficiently for more people to buy them. Couple that with a solid educational campaign, and we could be spending a lot less of our tax dollars helping many of these same people buy oil year after year. That’s just throwing good money after bad imho. And invest in some basic tightening up and insulating of needy families homes as another investment in the future. That worked well back in the eighties for a lot of people. The payback would be incredible, and the wood industry would respond with many new jobs. Imagine a wood or pellets stove or furnace in even 60% of the buildings in the state. Not like before I’m sure, but it would breathe new life into areas of this beautiful state that desperately need it. I see it as a win/win. Just my 2 cents. I came here to the forum recently to do research on the new wood stoves as we’re going back to wood after about 8-9 years of pellets. We’ve settled on a WS Fireview and even been to the factory with our setup in hand in form of specs and pictures to get their recommendation. So I put the pellet stove in CL and I sold it this morning. Doh! I guess we’ll be burning oil until next season. I wasn’t expecting it to go that fast but glad it did. One less hurdle. We burned wood for 30 years in various stoves and a Harman add on wood boiler so I’m really looking forward to the long burns and even heat I know the Fireview will give us. But I’m mostly looking forward to being able to laugh at power outages once again. With all the trees in this area we lose power a lot especially in the winter. I’m getting too old to deal with that crap lol. It’s great to see some fellow Mainers in here! This is a topic that never seems to get old does it?
Sorry to hear about your stove selling so quickly. I just had that happen with a bulldozer of mine, as well as other things over the years. It certainly puts a monkey wrench in a person's plans! As for Aroostook County, I have a lot of family up there to this day; but in the Fort Fairfield area. I really started noting a change in the industry for the bad when for several years in a row there was a statewide initiative to get rid of clearcutting. It definitely started the Southern Maine versus Northern Maine sentiment that exists to this day. The problem with that is; it is more of an attitude then location. I would be in South Maine and not Northern Maine if the state split, but my way of thinking does not resound with many of my neighbors. I always thought seeing as how Maine was stolen from Canada back in the day anyway, why not have the USA sell us off to get rid of the national debt we back-owe, and cut us Mainer's a break. Always seemed liked a win-win situation to me! All our wood goes to Canada now anyway! the sad part is, I am only half-joking!
I was at a work dinner the other night, and one of the people there was the salesman I work with that sells to Catalyst. He said that he's been told that they are going to be opening a mill to produce tissue in Rumford. So there might be hope yet!
It will be 20 years before the logging industry comes back to Maine I think, even with a few recent developments. By then my forest will be grown back up, so Katie and I talked and we are proceeding with our plan to really cut our wood off for the short term.
My ex fiancee worked ( works? Who knows?) At the rumford mill. That's why we moved to Maine from Wisconsin.
Hi LT I'm interested to know more about your sheep business. Do u raise for meat, wool, both?? I own a smallish woodland compared to what your working with but am interested in silvopasture. Do u do any type of silvopasture? Please forgive my livestock ignorance in advance as I'm a complete newbie. Btw thanks for your contributions on the wood market....I've learned quite a bit as a result.
I wish you were at the last sheep class I did as we were talking about Pastures and Fields. We talked a lot about that in last weeks class. (I do an adult education class every week called Sheep: For Fun and Profit. I don't do Silvilpasture here, but do Rotational Grazing. I don't have anything against Silvopasture, it its just that that would be considered pasture, and since it is not tillable land, would not be sought after so much, nor be worth as much in a farm evaluation. I really like my fields to be both Pasture/Tillable/Hay so that I can crop rotate between them, typically every 7 years or so...but that is just me. The other thing about Silvapastuse is that it is like anything that is dual-purpose; it does not really at excel at one thing or the other. Take my sheep for instance, they are dual purpose in that they are supposed to be good for both wool and meat, but honestly their wool; while better than meat sheep, is not as good as the wool breeds, and their carcass size is not as good as it could be compared to meat-only breeds. Silvapasture is the same way, not the best woodlot, and not the best pasture; but it does work to some extent. Now all that being said, I have sheep primarily for meat.
