Logging in the northern forest has been romanticized, with
images of log drives, plaid shirts, and bunkhouses in wide
circulation. Increasingly dismissed as a quaint, rural pastime,
logging remains ...one of the most dangerous jobs in the United
States, with loggers occupying a precarious position amid unstable
markets, expanding global competition, and growing labor discord.
Examining a time of transition and decline in Maine's forest
economy, Andrew Egan traces pathways for understanding the
challenges that have faced Maine's logging community and, by
extension, the state's forestry sector, from the postwar period
through today. Seeking greater profits, logging companies turned
their crews loose at midcentury, creating a workforce of
independent contractors who were forced to purchase expensive
equipment and compete for contracts with the mills. Drawing on his
own experience with the region's forest products industry,
interviews with Maine loggers, media coverage, and court documents,
Egan follows the troubled recent history of the industry and its
battle for survival.
Focus groups and a mail survey of loggers were conducted to determine the education preferences and attitudes among loggers in the northern New England region. Overall, safety, equipment maintenance, ...and communications and business skills were cited as high priority training topics by approximately two-thirds or more of logger respondents. Training in chain saw filing and the use of computers were given a relatively low priority. Most loggers indicated that they generally used techniques learned in safety training, and that logger certification was good for the logging industry. However, most respondents preferred on-the-job training over formal training programs. For several survey questions, significant differences in responses were detected 1) between logging business owners and logging employees; 2) among loggers who owned a conventional, mechanized business vs. a small-scale logging business; and 3) among loggers who were from Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont. Results will help guide and inform logger training and certification programs in the region.
In the United States, recent efforts to organize loggers have grown, resulting in the formation of a number of state- and region-wide logger associations. The purpose of this study was to explore ...this phenomenon by examining the reasons for both the establishment of and membership in logger associations, as well as to describe the current goals of these associations. Mail surveys of both logger association representatives and the memberships of three volunteer logger associations were conducted. Primary reasons for logger association formation and membership appeared to follow those for other rural grass-roots organizations: to influence legislation through unified action, to obtain specific business-related membership benefits, and for education and training.
Persistent concerns about the continued use of foreign labor and the viability of northern Maine's logging industry prompted further research on the cross-cultural logging workforce found in Maine's ...counties that border the province of Quebec. Two distinct populations of woods workers are employed in these border counties: Maine residents and Quebec residents. This study examined sociodemographic attributes, sense of occupational choice and prestige, and familial attachment held by these two populations of loggers, as well as barriers to business expansion felt by logging entrepreneurs. Significant differences in age, education, logging experience, attitudes toward logging, and perceptions of public image were found between Maine and Quebecois loggers. Additionally, despite an intergenerational labor supply that historically characterizes the logging industry, more than 50 percent of loggers from both countries would not encourage their children to enter the logging profession. These factors may not only pose challenges for logging business stability and labor recruitment efforts in this region but also impact the economic vitality of the forest products industry as a whole. Furthermore, the findings from this research may be of interest and pertinent to those engaged in forest products industries within other cross-border regions.
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