HOULTON, Maine — Houlton Rotary Club met virtually Monday, July 13, with Rotarian Gregg Swallow hosting Dana Doran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors (PLC) of Maine.
Doran is a Maine native and a 1996 graduate of Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history/government and law. He was awarded his master’s degree with a focus on public administration from the University of Connecticut in 1998. He and his family currently reside in Belgrade. Doran has been executive director of PLC since 1994.
“Our members are dedicated to promoting logging as a profession, advocating for logging professionals, cultivating responsible forest management, and sustaining a strong forest products industry” according to the PLC mission statement.
PLC members are contractors from stump to roadside, affiliated contractors, and forest contractors. They are committed to logger advocacy, business innovation, responsibility, quality harvest operations, education and training, as well as community impact.
For every two jobs in a saw mill or pulp mill, one job in the logging industry is supported, and for every four jobs in paper manufacturing, one job in the logging industry is supported. Expansions at the Jay Mill will require just over 100 jobs in the logging industry. Occupational forecasts by the Maine Department of Labor project an average annual number of job openings of 984 for Heavy Truck Drivers across all industries and 195 annual job openings for Logging Equipment Operators through 2026. Openings are largely a result of replacements of current workers.
The age structure of the logging industry is older than other production-oriented industries, including manufacturing. Sixty-two percent of logging industry workers are 45 or older. Attracting younger generations of workers will be critical in replacing the retiring workforce. PLC is very involved with the education and training of young people. They have a logging program through Region Two in Dyer Brook, and are affiliated with NMCC, conducting a 14-week program with students beginning this summer.
During the past 20 years, Maine loggers and the forest products community have raised over $1.3 million for children’s miracle network hospitals in Maine. Doran explained “Log A Load For Kids” has raised these funds by holding an annual auction, as well as an annual Golf Tournament which is coming up this year on Sept. 17.
Doran reports that based on a survey of PLC members in May 2020, 88 percent of respondents have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. American Loggers Council and PLC have requested $2.5 billion for a Logger Relief Fund. The purpose of this fund is to give logging and log-hauling businesses the opportunity to make adjustments in their operations as disrupted markets following the Covid-19 pandemic begin to stabilize.
This is not a grant program; it is a loan program with low interest loans that are forgiven if certain volume/revenue criteria are met. PLC is seeking parity with other agricultural and fishing commodity producers that have already received assistance in other stimulus funding packages.
