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PHOTO: Graduates and instructors of the 2022 class of Maine Mechanized Logging Operations program. (Submitted photo)
SUMMIT TOWNSHIP – Graduates of Maine’s Mechanized Logging Operation program were recognized Sept. 15 at a ceremony held at the site in Penobscot County where they have spent weeks harvesting timber using sophisticated machines using in the contemporary logging industry.
Students recognized are Wyatt Ryder, of West Paris; Wyatt Baruch, of Madison;, William Osgood, of North Yarmouth; Stephen Pare, of Milford; Mason Rowe, of New Vineyard; Isaac Valley, of Sanford; Eligh Norwood, of Gray; Cole Chamberlain, of Caribou; Andrew Shaw, of Whitefield. All have already secured employment in the logging industry or received job offers they are considering.
The program is the only one like it in Maine, and helps provide needed trained workers for the state’s $619 million a year logging industry. Students in the 12-week Mechanized Logging Operations Program spent the summer harvesting timber at the site, gaining hands-on logging experience.
This year’s class is the sixth since the certificate program launched in 2017. The program, offered through Northern Maine Community College, provides students an overview of the most common mechanical systems in modern timber harvesting equipment and an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree species, market flux and a strong emphasis on safety. Courses are taught hands-on in a forest environment, operating the most current equipment in the industry, with supplemental classroom training. Students pay no tuition or fees, and the program provides all required personal protective equipment.
The program was created through a partnership between the Maine Community College System, the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, and the Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine’s Workforce. Some $1 million in dedicated federal funding has been secured to expand the program in 2023 and 2024 and add commercial driver’s license instruction to train the next generation of timber haulers.
The funding secured on behalf of NMCC was one of U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s federal Community Project Funding requests. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill with Golden’s request March 9. It subsequently passed the U.S. Senate with support from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine.
