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PHOTO: The 2019 graduating class of the state’s Mechanized Logging Operations Program in Coplin Plantation. The 2021 class will graduate Sept. 16. (Professinal Logging Contractors of Maine photo)
AUGUSTA — Twelve graduates of Maine’s only college training program for operators of mechanized logging equipment will be recognized Thursday, Sept. 16, at a ceremony to be held at the site in Summit Township, in Penobscot County, where they have spent weeks harvesting timber using sophisticated state-of-the-art machines like those they will encounter in the logging industry.
Students in the 12-week Mechanized Logging Operations Program spent the summer and early fall harvesting timber at the site, gaining hands-on logging experience and benefiting from the guidance of veteran logging instructors for an educational experience that is unmatched by any other logger training program in Maine and neighboring states.
This year’s class is the fifth since the certificate program launched in 2017. The program, run out of Northern Maine Community College, has been able to continue operating throughout the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to rigorous safety protocols and the outdoor nature of most of the training, which involves students operating equipment while communicating with instructors and other students via radios.
The Mechanized Logging Operations Program was created thanks to a partnership between the Maine Community College System, the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine and industry partners.
The program gives students a broad overview of the most common mechanical systems found in modern timber harvesting equipment, and an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree species, and markets. It also includes a strong emphasis on safety.
Maine’s loggers are a vital part of the state’s forest products sector, which is worth an estimated $7.7 billion annually. Logging contributed an estimated $619 million to the state economy in 2017.
Founded in 1995 with a handful of members who were concerned about the future of the industry, the PLC has grown steadily to become a statewide trade association which provides independent logging contractors a voice in the rapidly changing forest products industry. Board membership consists of only loggers, making it an organization that is run by loggers on behalf of loggers. PLC members are responsible for 75 percent of the timber that is harvested from Maine’s forests annually.
